Thoughts on Being an Expat in Buenos Aires

[Rich One]

Some may believe that to produce the correct Spanish sounds one must attempt to read the word.. Wrong one must listen carefully and look at the speaker's mouth, lips and tongue position, the entire phonetic Articulation. Then mimic the entire process. Unless all the elements are in place the sound won't be correct.

 

[darksider415]

I’ve built a solid group of friends in the year or so I’ve been in Argentina, and I’d put my life in their hands. In a couple of cases, when we packed nine people into a compact SUV, I have.

Admittedly, they’re not all Argentine, but rather a mix of Argentines and Brazilians, with an odd Paraguayan or Venezuelan thrown in the mix, which explains why I speak better portunhol than castellano

 

[JeffR]

Never heard the term "passport bros", very funny! However don't be too harsh on them: the vast majority of the norteamericanos never even contemplate the idea of moving to another place, so those who land here are either very brave or very desperate. I have met countless people in the United States who find the idea doing it at the same time unthinkable and amazing, and usually have excuses why not doing it. I remember sending a rather lengthy email to a friend of mine telling my touristic experience in Bogota, Colombia, and all he replied was "Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world"! I don't think Bogota is the safest place, but discarding a wonderful country like Colombia just because of hearsay is certainly a pity.
I agree with you that girls in Argentina are not overly impressed by your blue passport, and that is why when talking to people I usually tell them I am Italian as opposed to American, despite me being out of my home county for almost a quarter of a century. Somehow this gets more attention, maybe because in Buenos Aires the vast majority of people have at least an Italian ancestor.
By the way, and very OT, I have browsed the web site of your company and I really liked it. If I am going to buy a property in Argentina I will certainly contact you.

Would you mind sharing the website address? I thought I saw it on a previous thread but now can not locate it.

 

[Redpossum]

If you're looking for local friends, Venezolanos are a good prospect. Like you, they are far from home.

It's also worth pointing out that most of the Venezolanos here are of the educated middle class. The poor ones walked across the border to Colombia or Brazil. Anybody who made it as far as Argentina had at least some financial resources.

I like the Venezuelans I meet here. They are polite and friendly, they have a good work ethic, they are all-around good folks, in my book. And they have been horribly screwed-over, in large part by their own government, but also by the sanctions leveled against their country by our dear old Uncle Sam.

 

[earlyretirement]

If you're looking for local friends, Venezolanos are a good prospect. Like you, they are far from home.

It's also worth pointing out that most of the Venezolanos here are of the educated middle class. The poor ones walked across the border to Colombia or Brazil. Anybody who made it as far as Argentina had at least some financial resources.

I like the Venezuelans I meet here. They are polite and friendly, they have a good work ethic, they are all-around good folks, in my book. And they have been horribly screwed-over, in large part by their own government, but also by the sanctions leveled against their country by our dear old Uncle Sam.

I agree that the Venezolanos are really great. The vast majority of the Ubers I get are from Venezuelan. I don't necessarily think they have that much "financial resources". But enough to get to Argentina and they are VERY hard workers. For the most part, Argentines are lazy compared to Colombians or Venezuelans.
I agree with you Redpossum. I've never met a Venezuelan I didn't like. I always chat with them in taxis or Uber and ask their story how they ended up here.

The great thing is there are SO many here they have friends that tell how wonderful Argentina is and Venezuela is a real sh*tty country for the most part. The people are so beautiful. The people are warm and friendly. They are hard workers. The women are beautiful. (I think Colombians and Venezuelans are the most beautiful in South America).

The great thing is Argentina opens them with welcome arms. All my friends always talk about how wonderful it is to have them which is remarkable for a country with such a horrible economy. That speaks volumes of how hard of workers people from Venezuela are.

 

[FrankPintor]

Venezuelans who got to Argentina were not the poor ones, the price for bus travel through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile to here was about $500 one-way, plus they needed to show $500 in cash to enter Chile. The "walkers" got as far as Colombia and Ecuador.

Argentina has been very welcoming to Venezuelans, both at the official level (strictly speaking, Venezuelans shouldn't get the Mercosur visa), and also at a personal level, with very little resentment among Argentinians. And Argentina has also made it easy for them to get citizenship. Many of them are very overqualified for whatever work they do here, whether it's Uber, fitness trainers, massage therapists, call centre workers or whatever, quite often they're engineers, lawyers, and teachers.

I don't really know why the Venezuelan mafias like the "Tren de Aragua" aren't present in Argentina, maybe with the unending economic crises here it's just now attractive for them. Whatever the reason, I'm very grateful that we don't have a situation like in Chile with those mafias, resentment, and sporadic murders of immigrants.

 

[earlyretirement]

Venezuelans who got to Argentina were not the poor ones, the price for bus travel through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile to here was about $500 one-way, plus they needed to show $500 in cash to enter Chile. The "walkers" got as far as Colombia and Ecuador.

Argentina has been very welcoming to Venezuelans, both at the official level (strictly speaking, Venezuelans shouldn't get the Mercosur visa), and also at a personal level, with very little resentment among Argentinians. And Argentina has also made it easy for them to get citizenship. Many of them are very overqualified for whatever work they do here, whether it's Uber, fitness trainers, massage therapists, call centre workers or whatever, quite often they're engineers, lawyers, and teachers.

I don't really know why the Venezuelan mafias like the "Tren de Aragua" aren't present in Argentina, maybe with the unending economic crises here it's just now attractive for them. Whatever the reason, I'm very grateful that we don't have a situation like in Chile with those mafias, resentment, and sporadic murders of immigrants.

But "poor" is a subjective term. The ones that I spoke to don't have a lot of money and busting their asses working like 12 hours in day in Uber. I'm not sure what all the ones you're meeting are doing? The ones I met are cutting hair, in Ubers, nail salon girls, etc. Definitely not a lot of money. They are struggling.

When I'm there I get deep in conversation with them. I always like hearing peoples story. And none of them I spoke to have much money. Most of them are in debt to their eyeballs but it's a much better life then their crappy country.

I'm not saying there aren't people with more money from there. But it sounds like you run in more "rich old white guy" circles than I do. I just hang out and talk to the common man. LOL (Just kidding) But I'm mostly encountering them in Ubers and the places I mentioned. They very well could be in other places too so I'm not sure. When I'm in town I'm in about 10-13 Ubers a day going around to meetings. And most are from there.

 

[FrankPintor]

But "poor" is a subjective term. The ones that I spoke to don't have a lot of money and busting their asses working like 12 hours in day in Uber. I'm not sure what all the ones you're meeting are doing? The ones I met are cutting hair, in Ubers, nail salon girls, etc. Definitely not a lot of money. They are struggling.

When I'm there I get deep in conversation with them. I always like hearing peoples story. And none of them I spoke to have much money. Most of them are in debt to their eyeballs but it's a much better life then their crappy country.

I'm not saying there aren't people with more money from there. But it sounds like you run in more "rich old white guy" circles than I do. I just hang out and talk to the common man. LOL (Just kidding) But I'm mostly encountering them in Ubers and the places I mentioned. They very well could be in other places too so I'm not sure. When I'm in town I'm in about 10-13 Ubers a day going around to meetings. And most are from there.

I think we're misunderstanding each other. The Venezuelans who got here weren't poor in Venezuela, they were able to save $1000 plus whatever they needed to get started here ( a few month's rent basically). That was a lot to be able to save in Venezuela where people I know earn $20-40 per day. And then they got to scramble here. They don't have much money (because, Argentina), and they're generally hugely overqualified for what they do here.

 

[Redpossum]

I think we're misunderstanding each other. The Venezuelans who got here weren't poor in Venezuela, they were able to save $1000 plus whatever they needed to get started here ( a few month's rent basically). That was a lot to be able to save in Venezuela where people I know earn $20-40 per day. And then they got to scramble here. They don't have much money (because, Argentina), and they're generally hugely overqualified for what they do here.

Yes, exactly. My buddy Jimai has an MBA, and he's working as a butcher.

 

[earlyretirement]

No worries. Sometimes online it's difficult but no worries. I think we're both saying don't have that much money. Wow, a butcher with an MBA. That's awesome. Did he try to go in the corporate world at all? How much does a butcher make in BA?