Packing For Short Term Assignment

CiscoR

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I will be going down to BA in the coming weeks for a 6 month stint. I've been down there once this year..but for only a week. All my other work travels are similar....one to two weeks max. Starting to plan what I will be bringing down. Any input is appreciated...don't want to overpack...but also don't want to get down there and forget some basic items that may be hard to find or much more expensive in BA as compared to the US.
 
Everything is much more expensive, so bring everything and the kitchen sink.
 
as mentioned above, (almost) everything is much more expensive here, and of very poor quality, or you can't get it at all. bring everything you can possibly think of, and THREE kitchen sinks!
 
hey Cisco - I'm headed down for a 3 month stint (which could turn into more) for work as well, this coming Monday! I haven't started packing, but I've got a furnished apartment booked, and I'm actually looking at it as a much welcome opportunity to purge myself of the things I don't really need.

Well, let me restate that....I'm trying to rid myself of the things I don't need, except for my electronics haha.. Phone, computer, ipad, cameras and lenses.

But, what I mean is, in hopes that this stint will turn into a year long thing, Im going there with pretty much just some clothes, and hoping it will show me all the "stuff" I don't really need to get back to the basics and just enjoy the company of the people I've met down there. That's the main reason I wanted to get back there in the first place. From the people I met at least, it seemed like people just enjoy their free time a bit more than we do here. We'll see how it works out.

Oh, and of course I'll be bringing my dollars :)
 
Bring any food you can't do without. There's not much here apart from meat, bread, pasta, fruit and veg and you'll be cooking from scratch every day, maybe even making your own yogurt. My skinny husband loses several kilos more when we're here.
Deodorants cost an arm and a leg and, haha, often the aerosols stop working when they're 2/3 full. The soaps here give you BO, the toothpaste will either give you the runs or mouth ulcers. Bring enough clothes and trainers that you won't have to buy any new ones.
 
Bring any food you can't do without. There's not much here apart from meat, bread, pasta, fruit and veg and you'll be cooking from scratch every day, maybe even making your own yogurt. My skinny husband loses several kilos more when we're here.
Deodorants cost an arm and a leg and, haha, often the aerosols stop working when they're 2/3 full. The soaps here give you BO, the toothpaste will either give you the runs or mouth ulcers. Bring enough clothes and trainers that you won't have to buy any new ones.
I think this is a bit exaggerated. I am the first one to say when something is not done properly. However I have lived here for 7 years, have never had a deodorant aerosol stop working at 2/3 full nor have I had any adverse reactions to toothpaste. I always buy the cheapest of both products (from Día supermarket, store brand) as I read the ingredients on them and they are exactly the same as the brands that cost 4x as much.
 
No food?
Not the same Buenos Aires that I live in part time.
I get fat.

I eat all kinds of fruits and vegetables, I buy yogurt from the middle eastern shops on Scalabrini, along with lots of other middle eastern stuff.

Its true, there is no Marmite, or cottage Cheese, or Captain Crunch cereal or Dr. Pepper.

but in pretty much every food group, there are all kinds of choices, and there is more and more organic, local, and gourmet food all the time.
I go to the farmers markets, to the big old fashioned mercados, to El Galpon, and I find a lot of really good stuff to eat.

I must admit, I do like fresh pasta, things like salmon and basil raviolis, and I do like pizza- but I make lots of salads, fresh fruit smoothies, cook vegetables, and make thai and indian and mexican dishes all the time. You can certainly adapt the available ingredients to many different dishes.

I also wonder about the clothes thing that comes up so often.

If all you wear in the USA is the cheapest, made in China crap from Walmart, then, yes, argentine clothes are more expensive. But I dont. I have found, and bought, reasonably priced Argentine mens designer clothes, great shoes very reasonably priced, mens work clothes, quality cotton undershirts, and much more. Its not as cheap as walmart, but its much cheaper than higher end stuff is in the USA.
I have a pair of handmade leather low boots, I bought them in Buenos Aires from Correa for about what a midrange pair of Nike Air Jordans cost in Seattle . I would say they are competitive in quality with John Lobb, in London, which starts at about $2800 for their off the rack shoes, well over $3500 for their custom ones.

I have found similar deals on things like leather coats, or really any leather goods- as in, dirt cheap by international standards.

I would absolutely agree- bring electronics. bring spare power cords for your mac laptops- 20 bucks on ebay in the usa, unobtainium in BsAs.
Bring extra camera batteries, extra chargers, extra cords and bring blank CD-Rs if you use em- all those kinds of things are expensive here.
Anything Apple is stratospheric in price.

Bring good liquor- buy duty free on your way in- any imported liquor is very expensive.

But mostly, beyond electronics, just learn to go native.
Eat local, buy local.
 
Those are my exact Carpincho desert boots in the foreground at the beginning of the video- and they were around 800 pesos in January- at the blue, you can barely buy a made in China pair of leather boots for that in the USA.

http://vimeo.com/41487143
 
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