Suggestions for other towns

[Reply Guy]

I'm 33. I just don't like loud Americans

You're 33 and have a 64 year old sister?

 

[Jenn King]

Wow, okay. This is more than I bargained for. I think I'll just forget Argentina; if it doesn't even offer a significantly lower cost of living then there's really not much left for me other than the weather and I can find that in any number of places.

For Ries: Yeah I kind of do live in Mayberry. I live in a small town in Minnesota. Lots of people live in small towns. I'm not sure why that should lead to people I have never met having a negative view of me but I'm certainly not going to lose sleep over it.

For Greg S: Although I happen to have been born in the USA (not within my control, by the way) I am not large (5' 0" and 105 lb). I can't imagine why that would matter. It is so ironic that you would say 'loud' because one of the first words people who know me use to describe me is 'quiet.' I am more introverted than most introverts. I avoid most gatherings partly due to a quiet personality and partly due to Crohn's Disease, which is a chronic autoimmune disease that often leads to uncomfortable situations. In addition, you should not be so quick to judge those you do not know at all. Yes, born in USA. Also adopted a child from Haiti. Went to Haiti. To Port Au Prince. Alone. Stayed in Haiti. Visited orphanages in Haiti. I may be born and raised in the USA and live in Mayberry too. The point is there is a lot more to anyone than what you think you know from a few posts on some online forum. That applies to everyone here, including me.

For Caribbean Cool: You may be correct. I don't know. I was thinking that it would be intelligent to communicate with people who actually live in Argentina prior to going there in the hopes of obtaining information that would not be readily available elsewhere and would likely be more accurate, detailed, and up to date. That's it. Yes, I am relying on information of those who have already experienced the locations I was considering. I don't really see anything wrong with that and it is not in my nature to pack up and leave and hope for the best. I plan and research nearly every major decision I make and that will never change. This was meant to be part of that process. As an unlarge quiet American with no real ability in self defense, I think that makes sense.

For steveinbsas: Thank you.
For Camel: Thank you.

 

[NomadTrader]

Best wishes to you, dear.

 

[Caribbean Cool]

Wow, okay. This is more than I bargained for. I think I'll just forget Argentina; if it doesn't even offer a significantly lower cost of living then there's really not much left for me other than the weather and I can find that in any number of places.

For Ries: Yeah I kind of do live in Mayberry. I live in a small town in Minnesota. Lots of people live in small towns. I'm not sure why that should lead to people I have never met having a negative view of me but I'm certainly not going to lose sleep over it.

For Greg S: Although I happen to have been born in the USA (not within my control, by the way) I am not large (5' 0" and 105 lb). I can't imagine why that would matter. It is so ironic that you would say 'loud' because one of the first words people who know me use to describe me is 'quiet.' I am more introverted than mostWe introverts. I avoid most gatherings partly due to a quiet personality and partly due to Crohn's Disease, which is a chronic autoimmune disease that often leads to uncomfortable situations. In addition, you should not be so quick to judge those you do not know at all. Yes, born in USA. Also adopted a child from Haiti. Went to Haiti. To Port Au Prince. Alone. Stayed in Haiti. Visited orphanages in Haiti. I may be born and raised in the USA and live in Mayberry too. The point is there is a lot more to anyone than what you think you know from a few posts on some online forum. That applies to everyone here, including me.

For Caribbean Cool: You may be correct. I don't know. I was thinking that it would be intelligent to communicate with people who actually live in Argentina prior to going there in the hopes of obtaining information that would not be readily available elsewhere and would likely be more accurate, detailed, and up to date. That's it. Yes, I am relying on information of those who have already experienced the locations I was considering. I don't really see anything wrong with that and it is not in my nature to pack up and leave and hope for the best. I plan and research nearly every major decision I make and that will never change. This was meant to be part of that process. As an unlarge quiet American with no real ability in self defense, I think that makes sense.

For steveinbsas: Thank you.
For Camel: Thank you.

Dear Jean....each person experiences a city in a personal way. And Buenos Aires is so big...so diverse....that explanations can at best encourage or discourage in a very personal way. If you come here you too will have YOUR personal experience. And here in Buenos Aires, you would find the most interesting, deep, and handsome guy who could only be from Minnesota, of course.

 

[Stephano]

Wow, okay. This is more than I bargained for. I think I'll just forget Argentina; if it doesn't even offer a significantly lower cost of living then there's really not much left for me other than the weather and I can find that in any number of places.

For Ries: Yeah I kind of do live in Mayberry. I live in a small town in Minnesota. Lots of people live in small towns. I'm not sure why that should lead to people I have never met having a negative view of me but I'm certainly not going to lose sleep over it.

For Greg S: Although I happen to have been born in the USA (not within my control, by the way) I am not large (5' 0" and 105 lb). I can't imagine why that would matter. It is so ironic that you would say 'loud' because one of the first words people who know me use to describe me is 'quiet.' I am more introverted than most introverts. I avoid most gatherings partly due to a quiet personality and partly due to Crohn's Disease, which is a chronic autoimmune disease that often leads to uncomfortable situations. In addition, you should not be so quick to judge those you do not know at all. Yes, born in USA. Also adopted a child from Haiti. Went to Haiti. To Port Au Prince. Alone. Stayed in Haiti. Visited orphanages in Haiti. I may be born and raised in the USA and live in Mayberry too. The point is there is a lot more to anyone than what you think you know from a few posts on some online forum. That applies to everyone here, including me.

For Caribbean Cool: You may be correct. I don't know. I was thinking that it would be intelligent to communicate with people who actually live in Argentina prior to going there in the hopes of obtaining information that would not be readily available elsewhere and would likely be more accurate, detailed, and up to date. That's it. Yes, I am relying on information of those who have already experienced the locations I was considering. I don't really see anything wrong with that and it is not in my nature to pack up and leave and hope for the best. I plan and research nearly every major decision I make and that will never change. This was meant to be part of that process. As an unlarge quiet American with no real ability in self defense, I think that makes sense.

For steveinbsas: Thank you.
For Camel: Thank you.

No offense Jenn, but from reading your posts it looks like you were thinking to move to Buenos Aires, or somewhere in Argentina for the wrong reason. I might be wrong but it looked like your were trying to find a place like the one you want to leave (quiet, clean, odorless, solo female safe…), just cheaper and warmer (it is not too difficult to be warmer than Minnesota! ). I think you move to Buenos Aires because you love the place, the culture, the language, the people, the liveliness and culture this place can offer, being cheaper is just a bonus Just my two cents and good luck.

 

[Ries]

My people were actually from Minnesota, but most moved to Chicago before WW2.
My bias is I love cities- I have lived in Halifax NS, Chicago, Mexico City, Washington DC, and Seattle before I was 20, and since then, lived in LA and Buenos Aires, and spent a lot of time in most major US cities, from Miami to Phoenix to SF to Milwaukee, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
I have also visited and loved Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok, Rome, Paris, Barcelona, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, and many more.

ANY city has similar issues- the idea of maintaining situational awareness, not flashing wealth, and getting to know the habits and culture are essential to live in any city.
ALL cities have good and bad neighborhoods, and places to avoid alone at night.

By my standards, Buenos Aires is an easy comfortable city, and, largely, quite safe.
No maniacial drug addicts living on the corners, no guns to speak of, very little violent crime. Sure, there are bad neighborhoods, but the women I know here think nothing of riding their bicycle home from a restaurant at 10pm to midnight, of taking the bus home from a club at 2am, of walking downtown after dark.
Most of these things are simply not possible in any city in the USA.
My wife is over 70- last week she went out dancing to a lesbian EDM band alone, and came home, walking part of the way, around 1am. She could not do that in pretty much any other city I know of in the world, but she does things like that here.

So- to me, BA is just not scary. We have had houses and business broken into in Seattle, cars burglarized in LA and Vancouver, purse snatched in Madrid and bag slashed in Rome, pickpockets in Java and Sri Lanka, my son had his car stolen in Bellingham Wa and his phone snatched in a bar in Brooklyn.
Everywhere in the world has its safety issues.
I live part time on a farm in the rural Skagit Valley in Washington State, and the grocery store parking lot had several robberies at gunpoint last year.

My advice is, to anyone considering it- First, visit Buenos Aires for a few weeks to a month first, before making any decisions.
Dont expect it always to be cheap- the exchange rate varies depending on local and global conditions, and its NOT predictable.
Move to Buenos Aires if you love Buenos Aires. If not, not.

 

[Reply Guy]

My advice is, to anyone considering it- First, visit Buenos Aires for a few weeks to a month first, before making any decisions.
Dont expect it always to be cheap- the exchange rate varies depending on local and global conditions, and its NOT predictable.
Move to Buenos Aires if you love Buenos Aires. If not, not.

Good advice. Come visit and see if you like it. Everyone has different tastes.

People need to keep in mind it's a major city. There is dog crap. The garbage can be a problem in some neighborhoods.

For a major city it's fairly safe if you use common sense. Everyone I've known who has been in BA 10+ plus years has been robbed, burglarized, or pickpocketed.

If you fear petty crime or foul smells, BA may not be the place for you.

Maybe try Mendoza, might be more your speed and you'll be close to the border.

 

[GMan_27]

Good advice. Come visit and see if you like it. Everyone has different tastes.

People need to keep in mind it's a major city. There is dog crap. The garbage can be a problem in some neighborhoods.

For a major city it's fairly safe if you use common sense. Everyone I've known who has been in BA 10+ plus years has been robbed, burglarized, or pickpocketed.

If you fear petty crime or foul smells, BA may not be the place for you.

Maybe try Mendoza, might be more your speed and you'll be close to the border.

+1 for Mendoza. If you stay in or around centro you are pretty close to all the activity and are near Parque San Martin. Alternatively, Chacras in Lujan might be more her speed. Safe, clean, more space, just a nice vibe and close to some nice bodegas. Although in Mendoza you are never far away from wine...
Avoid Las Heras and you should be fine.

 

[Ries]

One good way to think about Buenos Aires is, population wise, the city itself has about the same population as Los Angeles, and the greater urban area is also about the same size as the Greater LA area. (BA- 2.7million in city, 12 million in urban area, LA- 3.8 million in city, 12.8 in urban area)

So if you would never want to live in LA, you may feel similarly about BA. Having spent over ten years in both, I love em.

I did do a project in small town Minnesota, in 2008, spending about a week in St. Cloud doing some installation work. It was very sleepy, mostly auto oriented, large chain stores and giant parking lots, and, no, I didnt feel endangered. But my guess is now, there is poverty, homelessness, and drug use even there. Pretty much everything was closed by 9pm. Here, its 24/7...

I find US towns like Seattle or Phoenix to be incomparably worse in terms of the sad sight of people dying on the streets, living in their cars, using the sidewalks for bathrooms, taking drugs, drinking, and going nuts in public daily- None of which I see in BA.
I have been riding the bus in Buenos Aires for 15 years now, these days often 2 rides a day. Thousands of trips. I have seen ONE drunk person on a bus, and he was singing an old tango song well enough that everyone applauded when he finished. In Seattle, on buses and light rail, you see things that would curdle your milk pretty much every day- ranters, yellers, pukers, people passed out and smelling, aggresive behavior- its just a common part of life in most all US cities.

 

[Quilombo]

I've spent over a decade now living in/visiting BsAs. and I think my main complaint is the barriers to entry that exist for renting or owning a home here, but this isn't CABA specific, it's all of Argentina, whether it's wanting you to have a deed to a home already (in which case, why would you be renting?) or mortgages having died out in the 2000s. Now, if you have money, this is a non-issue of course.

In terms of smells, I'd say the only ones that bug me are the guys that piss on the sides of the giant trash bins from the city. There's a constant ambient piss smell directly near them, but not elsewhere, and the city collects the trash every night. That being said, the cartoneros will often not put the trash back in so that makes a mess, but it usually doesn't smell, though they've thrown their lit cigarettes in a couple times and you can smell burning garbage once or twice a year, and last year one actually caught on fire and the fire department had to come and the bin melted.
The dog shit problem is honestly a lot better than the first time I visited here in the early 2010s.

Buenos Aires is gritty and "dirty" in the way that many big cities are, but it's also beautiful too. I was living up in Canada for a bit in Toronto and it's a ugly IMO compared to BsAs. Besides being architecturally, well, whatever the ROM pyramid is, like most North American cities it has a lot of unhoused people and people with untreated mental illness/drug addictions living in the streets and on public transit. I wouldn't want to live in Villa 31, but it's better than living under and overpass when it's 20 below outside.

It also depends on the neighborhood, if you live in Puerto Madero for example it has a higher HDI than many American States and Canadian Provinces, it's its own little world, like living in the Hamptons, far from us plebs.