Questions from a newcommer (más amigo)

[JPD]

Buenos días

We are two guys from Denmark who is coming to Buenos Aires in the beginning of October and will stay there until the end of December. We have a couple of questions that I hope someone here will be able to answer.

First of all; we are trying to find a place to live and reserve it before we arrive. So far we have been looking at the furnished apartments offered at these sites:

http://www.bytargentina.com/
http://www.alojargentina.com/
http://www.buenosairesrentals.com.ar/
http://www.apartmentsrental.com.ar/

Does anyone knows of them and is they good to trust or should we look elsewhere in order to find a place to live?

We are trying to find a 2-3 bedroom apartment with a rent within a 1000 USD per month. We are mainly looking for apartments in Recoleta and Palermo and it seems like it is possible to find a decent place at the before mentioned web pages.

The second thing is that we have been thinking about booking an apartment for one month only and then try to find something cheaper once we are a bit established. Does this sound like a good plan in your ears, and is it possible at all to find some furnished apartments at a lower price once you have arrived?

The third and last preoccupation we have, is that it seems like all the before mentioned web pages wants to receive payment in USD. We will fly in from USA, but I am not sure how many USD we can bring in cash. Is it possible to withdraw or change in Buenos Aires without paying too much in addition?

Hope someone will be able to help us out a bit

Saludos,
Jakob

 

[John.St]

Buenos días

We are two guys from Denmark who is coming to Buenos Aires in the beginning of October and will stay there until the end of December. So far we have been looking at the furnished apartments offered at these sites ...

Hej Jakob og velkommen hertil om 2½ måned - også til din ukendte ven.

Der er også
ADELSUR Apartments in Buenos Aires
http://www.adelsur.com/alojamientos.php
og
BestRentals
http://bestrentalsba.com/

men eftersom jeg bor i Mendoza (og hader BsAs siden jeg boede der under den store krise i 2001-02 med den uhyggelige fattigdom, jeg så da - føj, det var slemt) , kender jeg ingen af dem, inkl. dem du nævner.

I hører helt sikkert fra andre udensognsboere, folk her på sitet er flinke til at hjælpe.

The second thing is that we have been thinking about booking an apartment for one month only and then try to find something cheaper once we are a bit established. Does this sound like a good plan in your ears, and is it possible at all to find some furnished apartments at a lower price once you have arrived?

Det er helt klart muligt, jeres problem kan muligvis blive, at I er her så kort tid. Det tager lidt tid at finde ud af, hvordan musikken spiller.

Det er altså muligt, måske især nu med den internationale krise, hvor det er blevet svært at leje ud - herude vestpå står lejligheder tilleje i månedsvis, mens prisen stille og roligt falder med 1-200 pesos/måned.

Prøv at finde et antal lejligheder, som ser lovende ud, tag kontakt med udlejerne og giv en fin finte om, at der jo er mange ledige lejligheder og gå så i gang med at prutte om prisen - husk på, at I har de penge, udlejerne gerne vil have, og de har en vare, som mange andre sælger - bare gå på med frisk mod, høfligt, men bestemt.

Lykkes det ikke, kan I altid roligt vende tilbage til en af dem, I har talt med tidligere.

The third and last preoccupation we have, is that it seems like all the before mentioned web pages wants to receive payment in USD. We will fly in from USA, but I am not sure how many USD we can bring in cash. Is it possible to withdraw or change in Buenos Aires without paying too much in addition?
Hope someone will be able to help us out a bit
Saludos, Jakob

Problemet er inflationen.

I midten af november 2008 stod en peso i DKK 1,80, siden da er kursen faldet støt til idag 1,38 - ouuuuch! Sidst jeg var i BsAs (det var vist i 2007) stod USD i 3,05 - nu er kursen ca. 3,79. Derfor er Euro og USD meget eftertragtede, men normalt kan man betale i pesos, USD bruges så som det faste udgangspunkt til omregning.

Hilsen og håndkantslag fra John

PS: Jeg prøver at dressere folk her på sitet til at skrive Danmark - en hjælpende hånd er velkommen

PPS: Ifald du ikke har opdaget det, er der øverst på siden "Thread Tools". Der kan du vælge at abonnere på dene tråd og få øjeblikelig email-notifikation, når der kommer et svar.

PPPS: Det er lige før jeg føler mig fristet til at myldre til BsAs, når I er ankommet - har kun haft mig selv at tale dansk med siden september sidste år - dog kun lige før.

 

[BlahBlah]

I did not know this was Danish page.

I would rent for a week and if you like the place try to rent it longer term. That way you don't need to pay to long in a place you don't like and once you negociate with the owner you can easily get 15-25% of the price if you rent long(er) term

It's not hard to change pesos to dollars untill now, it's not really that expensive, most landlords also accept Euro's

 

[BlahBlah]

If you fly through the USA you can also withdraw money there, it will probally only be fractional cheaper though then change it in Argentina

You both can bring up to 10.000 dollar into the country but Euro's are easier because they have much larger bills

 

[JPD]

@ John:

Tak for svarene. Det primære formål med besøget er - udover at nyde livet på den anden side af kloden - at øve det spanske, så i forvejen tror jeg vi vil forsøge at holde det danske til et minimum

Lyder ellers til at du har haft en halvkedelig oplevelse i Buenos Aires. Jeg har ikke rigtig nogen idé om hvad man skal forvente sig, men vi har netop valgt at forsøge at finde bolig omkring Palermo for at undgå det allerværste slum. En noget ignorant indstilling måske, men grundet længden af opholdet, bliver alt andet hurtigt meget kompliceret.

@Blah blah:

Sorry for all the Danish talk. John is writing that he hasn’t spoken Danish in almost a year, so I think he needs to get it out somehow

The only thing that's worrying me about only booking for one week is that none of us now shit about Buenos Aires. My Spanish is ok after 1 year on and of living in Spain, but my friend’s vocabulary is limited to una cerveza más, por favor.

How about the web pages I wrote about earlier. Do you have any knowledge what so ever about good or bad experiences from people booking apartments there and are there other pages we might should take a look at?

 

[BlahBlah]

The main problem about appartments in BA is that you don't know if the noise bothers you, the only way to find that out is if you live there. A week(or 2) should be enough to find that out.

If you like the place there is no reason not to stay and if you don't you can walk a bit around to feel which places you like and then you rent another appartment with the same agency

The expat target living area isn't really that big, you should be able to get to know most places in 1 or 2 weeks

 

[BlahBlah]

I only rented with bytargentina about 5 or 6 times and I was happy everytime

 

[John.St]

I did not know this was Danish page.

It isn't. It's an international page as in "many countries".

Anything of common interest I write in English,which is the dominating language on BAexpats and which is understood by all members, sometimes mixed with a little Spanish, but a 'hello countryman' can of course be written in Turkish, French, Hakka-chinese, Norwegian or Kiswahili on an international page

 

[katti]

most landlords also accept Euro's

Be careful about the rate. Most argentines know very well what the exchange rate of the dollar is, but don't know much about the Euro. Years ago when 1€ was 1 $ it was very easy, but now you mostly pay too much in euros.

If we need dollars we always exchange our euros into dollars before we go to Argentina (for us the best rate is in Belgium). To get pesos we put euros on our argentinian euro-account and take it out in pesos.

 

[John.St]

@ John:

Tak for svarene. Det primære formål med besøget er - udover at nyde livet på den anden side af kloden - at øve det spanske, så i forvejen tror jeg vi vil forsøge at holde det danske til et minimum

The common language on this site is English, which everybody understands - sometimes mixed with a little Spanish.

I wrote in dansk as a welcome to a fellow countryman.

If you want to enjoy life in Argentina it is - IMO - an excellent idea to spend at least a month travelling the provinces from Iguazu to Santa Cruz (if there, give my love to Paula who works in the municipalidad office - she is very pretty and 150 cm tall (well, small), easier to find than "do you know a chap named Jensen living in Aarhus?" - haven't seen her since her vacation in Mendoza in 2006).

Practicing Spanish in Argentina - well, I first learned Castellano in Castilla in España, where people speak muy claro y distinto (con 't', no 'd' nada) - you'll find the more and more separate Argentino to be based on the soft Andaluz dialect and highly influenced by the languages of diverse immigrants, mostly Italian - a number of letters are pronounced very differently from the Castellano you have probably learned in Danmark. e.g. many 's'-es have disappeared from words, 't' is pronounced as 'd', you don't say 'tu' but 'vos', plural 2nd person (danish 'I', jer) isn't used at all, etc. etc.

I suggest you buy the dictionary "Oxford Pocket Edición Rioplatense" ISBN-13: 978 0 19 431245 5 or (with a CD) 978 0 19 431245 3, which you can get here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diccionario...2453/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1248543444&sr=8-1 at GBL 13,- It can be bought in Argentina, where it is somewhat cheaper (around AR$ 60) but delivery time when ordered here may run into several weeks.

As for money there is usually a limit of AR$ 370 on cajeros automáticos/ATMs - I am told this it is an attempt to reduce taking a person hostage while using their bank cards to clear out their bank account - hard work with only 370 at a time.

Some American bank based cards have a higher limit or one can cash US-checks in Amexco = American Express (?) and possible elsewhere, but as your CCs are probably either Euro/Master from SEB, Master or VISA from a Danish bank, that is probably not an option. The VISA limit should be a little higher than 370, don't know because I have forgotten my VISA PIN. Traveller's checque is an option but entails a fee when you buy it and a lower exchange rate.

Anyway, using a Danish CC with inherent minimum fee of DKK 50 for MC or 30 + 2% VISA when getting AR$ 370, adds some 10 per cent to your expenses, so avoid it when possible. As a foreigner on a tourist visa you cannot open a bank account, strange as it may sound.

Money transfer through e.g. Western Union with more than a thousand offices in DK cost around 4,9% depending on amount - bigger is better with optimums at DKK 12,000 and 17,500. See http://www.fexco.dk/dk/products/wu-money-transfer/transaction-fees.aspx - Note that you cannot use "Next Day Service" DK -> Arg. 'Money in minutes' is the only option.

Do not bring bills of USD 100, as you may find Arg. bank and cambios very reluctant to accept them, only USD 50 or less, also any bill which has been torn and taped will probably be rejected. Never exchange money in the street without an ultraviolet lamp + a test stick - counterfeit AR$ are common as even 100 bills can be easily be produced using a color photocopier - when I show people an ordinary DKK 100 with the 20 or so high tech security features, their chin hit the chest in amazement.

Crime is rampant in BsAs as in any big city, mostly non-violent like pick pockets and the 'bird shit' scam - read through the threads in Expat Life and Newcomers, which both contain many threads telling what to expect.

Avoid traditional wallets (tegnebøger) spread your money in small portions in several front pockets - get a couple of cheap plastic check covers from your bank. I have also found an old fashioned, soft Esp.: Plumier DK: penalhus, add: Eng,: Pencil case extremely useful

measure in cm, fit for U$S, AR$, Euro, DKK, Chilean pesos.

Run belt through loop, stick plumier inside trousers - careful when having sex with strangers

Enjoy your stay - ¡Suerte amigos!

BTW: If you bring a couple of kg Super Piratos for me, I shall definitely make the 2,600 km bus ride (ida y vuelta) to BsAs - I could kill to get my hands on a bag of Super Piratos