La Plata (A couple questions)

[anabeeare]

This is just a question to see what is out there, but I want to see what expats have to say about this one.

I am currently working on getting a scholarship that would allow me to investigate a topic of my choice. Without going into too much detail, I decided that the best place to get the best results was La Plata. It's a pretty decent city (full of students, of which I am ), full of resources, and I have my carta de invitación from a university there.

It's also close to Buenos Aires (but far enough away so that I don't go crazy! )

My question is, how hard is it to find a good, furnished monoambiente that I could rent for 8-9 months? I have been browsing around your typical sites but most of the information is for renting houses or unfurnished 2-3 bedroom apartments and that is the exact opposite of what I would ideally like. Also, they want a garantía which complicates things a bit. A friend of mine from Ushuaia has offered to do it on my behalf but I'm not sure how that would fly.

I'm also a bit curious about the, ehem, practices of the landlords there. Are they as 'scheming' (for lack of a better word) as the ones that I read about so often in Buenos Aires?

Also, is there an expat community there? I went a few times visiting the university and for a couple concerts but I did not see too many indications that expats were there.

 

[fifs2]

With no useful suggestion on accommodation can I only warn that 4 of my friends were/are living in City Bell (10kms northeast of La plata) and described it as turning into bandit country in terms of increasing home invasions, fear of walking the street. 3 of these are Argentinean and 1 an expat- the latter choses to keep living there as property is cheaper than Capital and he lives well, crime aside.
I know this is a friend of a friend says so this is just a gentle reminder to not only care about the cost of accomodation but the security of its location

 

[anabeeare]

I had asked a friend who lives in Gran La Plata where to avoid and City Bell was not recommended by him! He more or less said the housing is cheaper but it comes at a great cost to security and he is not a huge fan of it.

Glad to see that his recommendation has a bit of weight from someone else chiming in.

 

[ndcj]

I lived in La Plata for a year. There is no expat community to speak of, and there is little to no availability of temporary apartments like there is in the touristy parts of Capital.

You'll probably have better luck with student accommodation, or renting an apartment on a two year contract and paying a year in advance to avoid the garantia. Remember you can leave any time after six months on a two year contract with a fixed by law penalty (1.5 months for 6-12 months into the contract, one month between 12-24 months).

La Plata is a nice place with lots of plazas and a slightly less hectic pace than most parts of Capital. Just like everywhere, there are good areas and bad areas -- if you need any info, PM me.

 

[ndcj]

I had asked a friend who lives in Gran La Plata where to avoid and City Bell was not recommended by him! He more or less said the housing is cheaper but it comes at a great cost to security and he is not a huge fan of it.

Glad to see that his recommendation has a bit of weight from someone else chiming in.

The problem is that parts of City Bell and Villa Elisa are really, really nice, and other parts are dangerous and insecure.

Also, if you don't drive, you'd be very isolated in either area.

 

[Ries]

I was there in December, and a friend took me over to the neigborhood near Calle 17 and Calle 71, a mile or two east of the centro, and there is a very cool community arts center in an old train station, a big group of cool cafes and boutiques and art galleries, all very bohemian and low key- not touristy at all, as there are no tourists, but more an organic neighborhood with live music most nights, weekend craft fairs, good food, and hip young people. I would live there, if I was moving to La Plata. Easy bike ride to any central neighborhood, or a collectivo ride, quiet and pretty streets with casa chorizos, and great ambiance.

 

[mulderfox]

la plata as buenos aires is surrounded by other cities that are not strickly part of la plata. la plata itself is safer than buenos aires, it is also cheaper but bus is more expensive. as for appartments to rent i have relatives and friends who have places to rent there so i could ask if you want to. they are not asking for garantia but they do require a deposit i believe. i`ve seen a few french and japanese people living there learning spanish by inmersion and attending to university.