My Divorce From Argentina

[Cordobese]

After thinking about it for awhile, I have decided to run as fast as I can away from Argentina.

I arrived approx 3 years ago with tons of spirit, plenty of cash, and a love of Argentina (as I am half Argie). The past two years have been a good lesson which has taught me....come back to Argentina only for vacation. Because living here is a freaking disaster. The other thing it taught me is how lucky I am to be American (yes, everyone on these continents is american, spare me your boredom).

My major reasons for leaving include the pending economic disaster here in Argentina, my frusteration with how inefficient everything is here, the lack of entrepreneurial opportunities (here in Argentina, the rich get richers and the rest just try to live), and currently the price of everything. This is a 3rd world country with 1st world prices at the moment.

The things I will miss about Argentina.........The style....The style of speech, attitude (sort of), and the style of clothes. Beef.........it is lovely here and cheaper than dirt. and the gorgeous women. The things I wont miss are in the hundreds so I wont bother listing them...perhaps just a everything else category.

To look forward to: A ton! Great food (Indian, Mexican, Even home cooked American!), being able to speak english most of the time!, Ebay, an Iphone that doesnt cost a fortune, awesome clothing at great prices, real business opportunities, real life long friends, and plenty more.

In retrospect, if I would do it again, I would pick Brasil.

And Argentina, you cruel difficult girl..........I will come see you from time to time.....but no chance of marriage!

 

[sesamosinsal]

I've known many people who stay for a while and leave, and they always end up missing everything. Perhaps you'd call it an "open, abusive relationship."

Brazil is a lot like Argentina in my experience. Bureaucratic, corrupt, and more expensive than Buenos Aires. With that said, unless you live in the country's interior, there's probably a beautiful beach nearby. That counts for something!

Hope your return to the U.S. is a good one.

 

[jade2108]

I travel to Brazil every 3-4 months and I find it to be a lot more cheaper than Argentina, the people are friendlier and have a different vibe. I do prefer Brazil to Argentina and a few months from now, I am also fixing to leave.
All the best on your return to USA!

 

[sleslie23]

I've seriously been debating whether to go back to the US, but other than a few materialistic things (I also miss Ebay, Amazon, etc. not to mention convenience in general) I can't see any reason to go back.

Not that being paid 3x as much in a stable currency is a trivial thing. However, the US that I left 7 years ago is quite different than the one I would go back to.

 

[earlyretirement]

Great post and definitely I understand how you feel. I will always love Argentina but I don't have any desire to live there full time anymore. The USA of today is much different than the USA of many years ago.

Everything is on sale today! Back before during the bubble, things were just horribly expensive. Even in desirable cities, you can find real estate that is 35% to 40% cheaper than it was back then.

Great variety of food in the stores (and it's actually fresh), banking system is super efficient and works, everyday life is so great and efficient. Mailing a letter or picking up a package doesn't take all day. Order something on Amazon.com and you have it next day or 2 days. Utilities work. Internet always works. It's safe. Great diversity in restaurants and dining options and it's cheap compared to Buenos Aires now.

Yeah, I love Argentina but when I want to visit, I'll come and visit a few weeks but I absolutely LOVE living in the USA again. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I moved back. Everything actually works and is so efficient. People actually follow traffic lights and pedestrians have the right of way.

The sad thing is things will get worse in Argentina before they get better.

 

[earlyretirement]

Brazil is a lot like Argentina in my experience. Bureaucratic, corrupt, and more expensive than Buenos Aires. With that said, unless you live in the country's interior, there's probably a beautiful beach nearby. That counts for something!

I totally agree! Brazil is VERY expensive. More so than Buenos Aires. I'm talking major cities like Rio or Sao Paulo. Try buying an equivalent nice apartment in a great area like Recoleta or Palermo in Sao Paulo and you'll pay much more! Groceries, taxis, dining out....it's all VERY expensive in the major cities in Brazil.

Also, there is tons of red tape there as well. Plus their immigration controls for tourists are much stricter. Brazil is great but I don't think moving there is a solution either.

 

[surfing]

Good luck Cordobese. I can't take issues with any of your gripes.

 

[nodux]

I'm a local just got back from the US, lived there for a while and you are right about everything. Unfortunately is not easy for us to relocate there. To be honest I don't get it why you guys move it here in the first place. I love my country and all but is very hard to live here just be happy that you are American, many people would give anything to live there, some even risk their lives and believe me is not an easy place to relocate there, many decent workers living like criminals, not very welcoming. Brazil is the same, all the things you hated here are there as well, well the beach is nice but overall is the same or worst. There are bad things everywhere, economy is not booming in the US now, saw many Americans loose their jobs and having a hard time as well. But is cheap to live there right now, like you said food can be better, even meat if you can afford it, and most importantly, you born there...I guess there is no place like home

 

[sergio]

Just returned from USA. Ate at a Brazilian steakhouse and, sorry to say for Argentina, I have never had better meat -- by that I mean different cuts of beef + lamb, pork. chicken. It was a Radizzio style where waiters (every single one was Latino!) kept coming around offering more and more. All the meat was SPECTACULAR - all from Texas and better than the best here, in my opinion (and an Argentine friend with me agreed). So don't worry about the meat -- you can get it there.

A

 

[earlyretirement]

I'm a local just got back from the US, lived there for a while and you are right about everything. Unfortunately is not easy for us to relocate there. To be honest I don't get it why you guys move it here in the first place. I love my country and all but is very hard to live here just be happy that you are American, many people would give anything to live there, some even risk their lives and believe me is not an easy place to relocate there, many decent workers living like criminals, not very welcoming. Brazil is the same, all the things you hated here are there as well, well the beach is nice but overall is the same or worst. There are bad things everywhere, economy is not booming in the US now, saw many Americans loose their jobs and having a hard time as well. But is cheap to live there right now, like you said food can be better, even meat if you can afford it, and most importantly, you born there...I guess there is no place like home

I totally agree with this statement. I always believed that Americans were some of the most fortunate in the world. Sure it has it's fair share of problems but the quality of life is MUCH higher there in most major cities vs. Buenos Aires.

I think the biggest reason before to have moved to Buenos Aires was if you could have taken advantage of an 'arbitrage' type of situation. After the previous crash in 2002 there were several opportunities but for the most part all of those arbitrage situations have totally vanished. Life was not only much cheaper but much easier without all the controls/restrictions/regulations in place now.

Very few ex-pats are truly successful in Argentina these days (especially the ones operating in white). There are several ex-pats that are here illegally. Operate their websites and market to other ex-pats but they don't contribute very much to society in Argentina, they don't pay taxes, etc. To do everything legally in Argentina, while attainable is not really the norm for expats.

From living in Argentina many years I've mainly seen these groups that move there:

1) People that fall in love with someone from Argentina and their significant other can't move to the USA so they are stuck moving there to be with the one they love.

2) People that were laid off or lost their job. They figured they would take a sabbatical and move to Argentina because they heard good things about it or the cost of living was much lower (not now). But the vast majority in this group didn't even take the time to learn Spanish, mostly partied and wasted a possible opportunity to come to Argentina and improve themselves.

3) People that might have lost their jobs but don't even pretend to want to do anything productive. They want to party, they want to goof off and they want to stay here until their money runs out. Then they know they are back to the USA (or wherever they are from).

4) People that are determined to create the next "widget" and get rich in Argentina. They try to start some business but then figure out how brutal it is to do business in Argentina and end up moving back.

5) People that do provide some service but never get their DNI or get legal. They are a perma-tourist and just staying in Argentina year after year. Many of these people are able to work over the telephone or internet so they can earn foreign income and still live here.

6) People that are retired or drawing some stable cash flow in foreign currency or pension and moved here when it was cheap but now that it's more expensive they are having second thoughts. A few bought several properties in Argentina after the crash and although things are more difficult they are still earning very stable income renting out their properties. They truly love Argentina and will probably ride things out there as they have lots of cash flow, no debt and plenty of assets.

7) People that work for a multi-national company or a company that had a division in Argentina where they had the opportunity to transfer to Argentina and get paid in dollars/euros/etc.

There are I'm sure other groups that I'm forgetting but probably 98% of the people I met fell into one of these groups. And most of the people I met already left. Only a small handful of ex-pats I met were truly successful in Argentina in business. A few (including some on this website) but not too many when you look at a city the size of Buenos Aires one of the largest cities in the world.