Tips for getting settled in BA

[TWB103]

Settled..? Noone is 'settled' in Argentina. Get ready for some crazy.

 

[jblaze5779]

Antipodean: Do any of those ship beans to the provinces?

I've got a pretty good source from BA that ships to the interior. Very easy and hassle free.

 

[antipodean]

Not sure about shipping but here are a few online stores you can try:

Café en Grano

Café de especialidad de alta gama. Paquetes de 250 g y 1 kg en grano o molido y accesorios para preparar el mejor café.

ninina.com

https://www.kapselmaker.com

Modo Barista

www.modobarista.com

https://coffeetowncompany.com/productos.php[/UR

LAB TOSTADORES DE CAFE

Comprá online productos de LAB TOSTADORES DE CAFE desde $400. Tenemos café colombia la catalina 1kg, café colombia la catalina 250grs y más. Hacé tu pedido y pagalo online.

shop.labcafe.com.ar

 

[jblaze5779]

Tienda Online de La Tienda del Barista

Comprá productos de Comida y Bebida por internet. Tenemos mÉtodos de filtrado , equipamiento y más. Hacé tu pedido y pagalo online.

tiendadelbarista.com

This is the only place I've found that has coffee and good brewing equipment in stock. I do t buy equipment from them because everything is twice the price as the states but it's good to know it's there incase I have an emergency. The coffee is really good too with a broad selection.

And I just arrange whatever coffees I want through whatsapp and they show up 3 days later right to my doorstep.

 

[Dougie]

Hi All, I'm moving to BA from the U.S. I have a remote job and I'm very excited about the move. If there are any insights you could provide on making this transition a smooth one, what to expect, (the good and the bad), any tips you can provide, I would greatly appreciate it.Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and knowledge.

Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but be aware just because you can book flights for October, November, whenever you're planning on arriving doesn't mean that the flight won't get cancelled due COVID restrictions. Then you'll need some type of residency to enter.

Of course things can change by then, and "tourists" may be allowed to enter and flights will normalize, but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[¡Sencillamente yo!]

Bring as much cash with you as you can, in clean, crisp, unblemished 100 dollar bills of the latest series. When I came in 2014, the limit before having to declare it was 10K. Obviously, spend what you must for a decent quality money belt to wear under your clothes.

Learn the difference between the official exchange rate and the "blue" rate. Don't pay in dollars and get ripped off with the official rate. Learn Florida street and find a cueva you like.

Don't bring an expensive iPhone and flash it around in public; thieves will snatch it right out of your hand. Learn to carry your wallet in a front pocket of your pants, not in the hip pocket as we do in the USA.

Be wary of buying anything from street vendors.

Learn about futból, what is called soccer in the USA, or you won't be able to make small talk.

Be prepared for the fact that the local Spanish is very different from that of Mexico. There are different names for everything, a different pronoun for second-person singular informal, and a new verb form for that pronoun. The Y sound, whether from an actual Y or a double-L is pronounced as an SH, (or sometimes more like a ZH, in those upper-class people who went to a fancy school).

Make an effort to learn the metric system. You will be glad you did.

Cultivate patience, and philosophical acceptance of broken plans, or Argentina will drive you crazy. Expect people to be half an hour late for appointments and agreed meetings.

Be prepared for disappointment on the subject of coffee. There are only two choices. There is Brazilian coffee, which is cheap and ubiquitous, but tastes like muddy goat piss. From a diseased goat with bad kidneys. Or there is Colombian coffee, which is the divine elixir of the gods, but hellishly expensive.

If you like to burn rope, be prepared for disappointment. The good stuff is unobtainium here. There are no dispensaries like in California, and it's still illegal.

The red wine is very good to excellent, but the white is mostly undrinkable; it's sweet as pancake syrup. Others can give you better guidance on this subject. I have only a waiter's knowledge of wine, and I'm from California, where the default is a Chardonnay almost as dry as vinegar. User The Rich One is our local gourmet/gourmand, and his advice is always impeccably good on anything to do with food or wine.

Don't eat the seafood here in Buenos Aires, and for the love of GOD don't eat shrimp. The beef is excellent, and cheap. The pork is great if it's fresh.

Stay strictly out of all political discussions until you have at least 2 years in-country. There are no direct parallels between US politics and those of Argentina. Its all different. Kirchneristas are not Democrats, and the PRO/Cambiemos are not Republicans. Peronism is neither of the Left nor of the Right. Cristina is not the devil, nor is she guilty of all the things of which she is accused, but you would think both of those things from some comments here on these forums. Then again, she is damn sure not a saint; she's a politician, with "feet of clay" up to her cooter.

Last but by no means least, welcome to Argentina. Contrary to the naysayers' pessimism, you can be very happy here. You can learn to love Argentina. Just be aware that somewhere around the 90 day mark in-country, you may suffer a psychological crisis of sorts, when the homesickness is all but unbearable, and the problems here seem insurmountable. Tough it out and it will pass in 3 days or less. Don't give up and leave in the throes of that very-temporary despair. This is a wonderful country with many excellent advantages, not least of all a very low cost of living. You just need to accept that some things will never be like they are in the USA. There is no bacon, and there is no Charmin.

All of the above is just my opinion, and many here will substantially disagree.

AWESOME POST.

I would like to talk about the money belt thing though:

Assuming you are a male, carry a "DROP WALLET!"

A drop wallet is a second wallet that you carry on your person that has a token amount of cash in it along with some expired credit or debit cards (Hopefully form a previously closed account from you past or better yet, useless cards from someone else that don't have your name on them.) alone with some other typical meaningless stuff such as a business card or similar.

Carry your drop wallet in the pocket you have carried your normal wallet all of your life. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!!! Because if you are ever held up, you will instinctively be reaching there for your wallet. You want your had to go to the drop wallet with out thinking!

Carry you real wallet in a different pocket. Preferably a front pocket, like Red suggested.

Even in your real wallet, you should not carry an abundance of cash, nor should you carry all of your plastic with you. If something ever goes wrong and you flub up, or are searched, losing both wallets, at least you will have back up back wherever you live. It could take some time to get more cash or replacement plastic here.

Another tip, make foot copies of your most important documents that you may carry with you. It could make getting replacements a bit easier depending on what they were and where or what you have to go through to get them re-issued.

 

[¡Sencillamente yo!]

Thanks for the great tips. I have never been to Argentina and I do not speak Spanish. I would like to visit and if possible get involved in a Spanish
immersion language program. Do you have any recommendations for Spanish language training if I decide to visit? Thanks for your help.

Why wait?

Conversation Exchange - Language learning with native speakers

Through Conversation Exchange you can have three types of language exchange: face to face conversation by meeting up with native speakers, Correspondence (pen-pal), text and voice chat

www.conversationexchange.com

Check out Conversation Exchange and find a language partner or two and start learning today.

There are other great websites as well, I just think this is a very good one.

 

[on the brink]

My two cents worth:

1) Never exchange money with one of Florida's arbolitos, those guys standing on a corner offering incredible rates. They are expert as passing along fake pesos. Deal only with brick and mortar cuevas.
2) No need to carry your real ID - carry a good photocopy and, if stopped, explain that the original was stolen and you are waiting for a replacement. Cops are keenly aware of the fact that they can't stop street robberies, and they accept that explanation.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

My two cents worth:

1) Never exchange money with one of Florida's arbolitos, those guys standing on a corner offering incredible rates. They are expert as passing along fake pesos. Deal only with brick and mortar cuevas.
2) No need to carry your real ID - carry a good photocopy and, if stopped, explain that the original was stolen and you are waiting for a replacement. Cops are keenly aware of the fact that they can't stop street robberies, and they accept that explanation.

Bad idea. They want to know, nowadays, if you are breaking the quarantine. Better you have your passport with you with its stamp in it. Passports are medieval quarantine tools.

 

[¡Sencillamente yo!]

My two cents worth:

1) Never exchange money with one of Florida's arbolitos, those guys standing on a corner offering incredible rates. They are expert as passing along fake pesos. Deal only with brick and mortar cuevas.
2) No need to carry your real ID - carry a good photocopy and, if stopped, explain that the original was stolen and you are waiting for a replacement. Cops are keenly aware of the fact that they can't stop street robberies, and they accept that explanation.

POINT #2 - Is an excellent point. (It really never occurred to me.)

You just gave me one more little detail in preparation for what I hope never happens to me.

Thanks!