arlean said:
In the last crisis (2001) Argentines had their safe deposit boxes opened and gold and USD taken out and replaced (I think) with pesos though I'm not even sure about that. So be aware!
That's the first time I heard that one. I wonder if this possible legend, like most, had its roots in something real?
For example, the government at that time did indeed steal dollars from a large portion of the people here, but not literally committing burglary as described.
The banks closed and people couldn't get their money out. The government ordered that all US Dollar accounts be converted into pesos. And then, overnight, the exchange rate went from 1 peso to 1 dollar to 3 pesos to 1 dollar. Suddenly everyone who had their savings in Dollars lost 2/3 thirds of their money! Of course - the government kept the dollars.
If I remember correctly, mortgages were affected too. I believe they allowed people to take out mortgages in dollars previously and suddenly they were valued in pesos (revalued at the new exchange rate unlike their savings) and their loan values were three times what they had been. Many people couldn't pay their mortgages. I used to go to a barber in an apartment where I used to live about 4 years ago who was thusly affected.
Also, you ask why some of us are still here, when we post a lot of crap about Buenos Aires and Argentina.
Well, some of us came here for business, for exploring, what-have-you. Personally, I stayed because I married. Most people who stay also earn their money from outside of the country or have money outside in some fashion.
There are very few people who stay here and just hate the place completely. I don't hate it. But I DO hate high inflation, lack of things to purchase, bad service, rude people, etc. And as I have described many times, this forum sometimes gives me a chance to unload some of the frustration I feel and accept life here.
Having said all that, I've seen an inordinate number of moving sales recently. I spoke with two different expats from whom I'd purchased something. They both had their own reasons for leaving, but weren't particularly unhappy to be going.
And I'm thinking myself of moving to Paraguay, where my wife is from. I've had this thought before, but it's becoming stronger as I watch a bunch of idiots in this government, led by a highly-visible idiot, do really stupid things to screw this country into the ground and isolate the country even more than it did when it defaulted on loans and refused to pay billions of dollars internationally.
And as for it being a beautiful city - there is some beauty here, no doubt about it. But I've lived in many places and seen the ugliness too. It's easy to forget some of that living in the city and particularly in places like Palermo, Recoleta, etc. I used to live out in the suburbs where the majority of people live worse than where I once lived in Houston in the 5th Ward, which is a slum. I lived in a closed neighborhood near Pilar, surrounded by poverty.
Enjoy life, but don't be blind to what goes on around you as well, nor pretend that Buenos Aires is all beauty and wonder.
But instead of white doves, they should have drank the blood of all these pigeons to get rid of the pigeon infestation in the freakin' city.