The issue is not just absolute cost but more importantly value - that is, the relationship of price to quality. I just returned from six weeks in Europe. London and Amsterdam are indeed more expensive than Buenos Aires, but all of Spain (outside of Madrid) is surprisingly much cheaper, especially for things like coffee and beer, which is pretty much 90% of my diet.
Yet none of that matters, because the more expensive food and hotels in Europe and America are incomparably better than anything you can get here. I lived in DC for ten years and routinely feasted on low cost, high-quality ethnic food. Sure, there are obscenely expensive restaurants in Washington and New York, but the bang for the buck is vastly superior. And you can always dine cheap on very good asian, mexican, peruvian, whatever. On the other hand, I have eaten a lot of bad "moderately priced" meals in Buenoss Aires, many of them the oft-celebrated US$15 steaks.
Argentina is a great place, no doubt. But there's no dispute that the VALUE of the experience - the price to quality ratio - relative to other countries is on the decline and in fact may have already hit the disincentive inflection point.
Yet none of that matters, because the more expensive food and hotels in Europe and America are incomparably better than anything you can get here. I lived in DC for ten years and routinely feasted on low cost, high-quality ethnic food. Sure, there are obscenely expensive restaurants in Washington and New York, but the bang for the buck is vastly superior. And you can always dine cheap on very good asian, mexican, peruvian, whatever. On the other hand, I have eaten a lot of bad "moderately priced" meals in Buenoss Aires, many of them the oft-celebrated US$15 steaks.
Argentina is a great place, no doubt. But there's no dispute that the VALUE of the experience - the price to quality ratio - relative to other countries is on the decline and in fact may have already hit the disincentive inflection point.
