Moving to Buenos Aires...

[syngirl]

WMost of the blacks I come across are flogging junk jewellery from a case,they are mainly african french speakers.

Yes there are quite a few people coming from DR Congo and also I believe from Nigeria (and probably Angola now that CFK has decided they are her best bet for new business). A fair few are illegals, and a lot of those that are legal don't speak much of the language, so get into the fake watch/jewelry gig -- but are usually selling drugs as well.

Unfortunately this isn't going to help portenos open their perspectives to other races. Same as a lot have terrible attitudes about "chinos" -- which are actually all asians, regardless whether you're from japan, korea, taiwan, or china, a lot have the same attitudes towards blacks -- though I find it somewhat funny that the term negro gets applied to everyone from a paraguayan, an indian, a black african, to a white guy with black hair.

At the same time, I have to say Argentines have suspicions about everyone -- they are not quick to trust anyone at all, so sometimes things that might come off as racist are actually not based on your race, but in a general distrust of absolutely everyone that they cross paths with.

 

[syngirl]

And yes, unfortunately we heard about proximity (or lack thereof) of the nearest beaches. I hear the beaches in the next country over are quite nice and can't wait to visit.

If by next country over you mean Uruguay, don't get your expectations up. Very popular yes, but nice as far as beaches/water go... nothing spectacular. Argentine beaches are like going to, I don't know, Maine maybe. Uruguayan are like going to Cape Cod.
For nicest beaches you have to go up to Brasil.

 

[Beachcouple2011]

Argentine beaches are like going to, I don't know, Maine maybe. Uruguayan are like going to Cape Cod.
For nicest beaches you have to go up to Brasil.

Thanks! You just saved us some time and money. The Maine and Cape Cod comparisons are enough to keep me away from those. We definitely make it closer to the equator and fly to Brasil for any beach visits.

But back to the question at hand, only one person replied with a suggested neighborhood for us to consider settling into and mentioned Palermo Soho. We are looking for a trendy, fun area near bars, restaurants, cool people and shopping. Safe as well!

 

[Davidglen77]

Yes there are quite a few people coming from DR Congo and also I believe from Nigeria (and probably Angola now that CFK has decided they are her best bet for new business). A fair few are illegals, and a lot of those that are legal don't speak much of the language, so get into the fake watch/jewelry gig -- but are usually selling drugs as well.

There are some blacks in Buenos Aires, and nobody really cares if you are black, blue, green, or any other color. Here it's more about your looks than your actual race. If you are black and attractive you will be treated nice but if you are white and ugly people will not warm up to you.
If you are from one of the countries that border with Argentina, such as Chile, Bolivia, or Paraguay, you will generally be treated poorly and insulted, but if you are from Brazil or Uruguay you get a warm welcome. The black people that live here either dominican, brazilian and all of the guys who sell costume jewelry on the street, just like in New York City, are from Senegal. Nobody here really knows what African American means or is all about. And just to clear things up - there is no such thing as an "illegal" immigrant in Argentina. It is not illegal to be here if you have come to this country and not gone through the immigration process. You simply have "irregular" immigration status and there is no law against that. You just won't be able to get a DNI or CUIT, to be able to work on the books, but many of these people sell merchandise on the street and rent rooms by the month so it doesn't matter to them. They live better here than they do in the country they came from. There are no immigration prisons here. And I know for a fact that many of the Africans here are granted political asylum rather quickly as many of them come from a place where there is an on going civil war between ethinc/religious tribes and were in danger of being killed. If you can say anything good about the political situation here, it's how fair it is to people that want to immigrate here.

 

[JuanPremoli]

David you have made a great summary about this topic.

 

[Tourist2008]

My advice would be to understand that you are moving to a racist country, by any reasonable definition of the word racist. Once you start with that mindset, assuming you are happy to move to a racist country, things will be much easier.

 

[PhilipDT]

1. Up your rental budget a tad.
2. Live in cañitas, its as hip as you can get.
3. Take the train to the centro to go to work (~13min travel time).

4. Like everyone else said, Argentina is racist, but usually not against black people, just amerindians. On one of my first days in Argentina,I had a well-educated, US-raised, diplomatic passport-holding Argie explain a protest to me by saying "Don't worry its just the niggers here for their free sausage sandwich", when he realized that I was completely gobsmacked and just staring at him in complete shock he clarified, "Oh no, don't get confused, I wasn't talking about black people, just the peruvians and bolivians," as if that was supposed to make what he said ok.

 

[sleslie23]

1. Up your rental budget a tad.
2. Live in cañitas, its as hip as you can get.
3. Take the train to the centro to go to work (~13min travel time).

4. Like everyone else said, Argentina is racist, but usually not against black people, just amerindians. On one of my first days in Argentina,I had a well-educated, US-raised, diplomatic passport-holding Argie explain a protest to me by saying "Don't worry its just the niggers here for their free sausage sandwich", when he realized that I was completely gobsmacked and just staring at him in complete shock he clarified, "Oh no, don't get confused, I wasn't talking about black people, just the peruvians and bolivians," as if that was supposed to make what he said ok.

This reminds me of a taxi ride I had years ago. The cab driver was talking about how bad Bolivians and Peruvians were, how they were the cause of all crime, etc. Ironically, I had been in Spain the week before and listened to a taxi driver say the exact same thing about Argentinians. I made sure to tell him that before I got out of the taxi.

 

[RAus]

Hi!

Palermo definitely fits your criteria, but while you're visiting you should check out some of the surrounding suburbs like villa crespo/colegiales/chacarita.

good luck!

 

[PhilipDT]

Hi!

Palermo definitely fits your criteria, but while you're visiting you should check out some of the surrounding suburbs like villa crespo/colegiales/chacarita.

good luck!

Calling those neighborhoods suburbs is a bit of a stretch. What would you call Adrogue and Pilar, middle of nowhere?