Ries
Registered
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2008
- Messages
- 3,566
- Likes
- 4,898
Cant we just admit that BsAs is no longer cheap, and get over it?
Frankly, I am glad. When a City has a buzz, worldwide, as being incredibly cheap, it attracts the worst sort of travellers and expats- junkies, brits who just get drunk all day every day, shiftless hippies of all sorts- I know, I used to be one.
In the 80's, I ended up being thoroughly disgusted by the scenes in some of the "cheap" places- I saw Bali overrun by sleazy So-Cal business hippies who claimed things like "I invented the carved wooden frog holding an umbrella" and proceeded to get rich selling em to Pier 1 imports.
Cheap is a bad thing to be.
Now I do agree, there is a legitimate issue when the people who live in a city cannot make enough money to afford the prices in said city- and there is some of that in Argentina, due to strange government practices, historical oddities, geography, and economic meltdowns, both in Argentina, and, now, everywhere.
And its not good, when jobs are scarce, inflation is high, and people are hurting.
But thats a separate, and much more complex, issue, than, "is coffee cheap in Buenos Aires".
Me, I spend time in Buenos Aires because I love it for what it is. I love the culture, the unique blend of history and people, the way its sort of a Bizzarro world reinterpretation of North America, an inverted take on the melting pot and the blank slate of a new continent, populated by people from all over the world. I love the amazing trove of period architecture, crafts, furniture, antiques, and pop culture from the 1880's to the 1960's, which is often more available, and CHEAPER, than anywhere else in the world.
I love the people- I have great friends in BsAs- crazy, intense, intellectual, arty, cultured, educated, and fun.
I actually enjoy the fact that, since you cannot make $10,000,000 this year in an internet startup, people dont expect it as their birthright, and, unlike the USA, there is much less obsession with the latest biggest car, the most expensive house, the trendiest consumer goods, and so on.
If you really need all that stuff, there are plenty of countries where Mammon is worshiped. Where money is god. Where you can get the latest cheap crap from china for pennies, where consumer electronics are often the main topic of conversation, and, indeed, the focus of many people's lives.
There are also plenty of places in the world that are CHEAP.
I was in this town once, on the southern coast of Sumatra, where you couldnt spend money if you tried...
Of course, its where Lord Raffle's entire family died of malaria, but you cant have everything.
Sure was cheap, though.
Frankly, I am glad. When a City has a buzz, worldwide, as being incredibly cheap, it attracts the worst sort of travellers and expats- junkies, brits who just get drunk all day every day, shiftless hippies of all sorts- I know, I used to be one.
In the 80's, I ended up being thoroughly disgusted by the scenes in some of the "cheap" places- I saw Bali overrun by sleazy So-Cal business hippies who claimed things like "I invented the carved wooden frog holding an umbrella" and proceeded to get rich selling em to Pier 1 imports.
Cheap is a bad thing to be.
Now I do agree, there is a legitimate issue when the people who live in a city cannot make enough money to afford the prices in said city- and there is some of that in Argentina, due to strange government practices, historical oddities, geography, and economic meltdowns, both in Argentina, and, now, everywhere.
And its not good, when jobs are scarce, inflation is high, and people are hurting.
But thats a separate, and much more complex, issue, than, "is coffee cheap in Buenos Aires".
Me, I spend time in Buenos Aires because I love it for what it is. I love the culture, the unique blend of history and people, the way its sort of a Bizzarro world reinterpretation of North America, an inverted take on the melting pot and the blank slate of a new continent, populated by people from all over the world. I love the amazing trove of period architecture, crafts, furniture, antiques, and pop culture from the 1880's to the 1960's, which is often more available, and CHEAPER, than anywhere else in the world.
I love the people- I have great friends in BsAs- crazy, intense, intellectual, arty, cultured, educated, and fun.
I actually enjoy the fact that, since you cannot make $10,000,000 this year in an internet startup, people dont expect it as their birthright, and, unlike the USA, there is much less obsession with the latest biggest car, the most expensive house, the trendiest consumer goods, and so on.
If you really need all that stuff, there are plenty of countries where Mammon is worshiped. Where money is god. Where you can get the latest cheap crap from china for pennies, where consumer electronics are often the main topic of conversation, and, indeed, the focus of many people's lives.
There are also plenty of places in the world that are CHEAP.
I was in this town once, on the southern coast of Sumatra, where you couldnt spend money if you tried...
Of course, its where Lord Raffle's entire family died of malaria, but you cant have everything.
Sure was cheap, though.
