What do you like here in BA?

[steveinbsas]

Steve, you might be better with "Atencion a parejas" or you could feel a little left out!

Both "atencion a parejas" and "lesbanismo" appear in most of the ads along with a variety of "other" services. Besides, it's nice to be able to take a break and still be entertained.

 

[ssr]

Personally I can't think of anything you can do in New York that you can't do here with the possible exception of certain cuisines.

Ah, if only this were true. And I have noticed that one major reason that, er, older gentlemen settle in South America is the ability to convert their dollars or euros or pounds into sex that they couldn't possibly get back home, but that's not my thing. To each their own, though, sir.

 

[Mano Negra]

Ah, if only this were true. And I have noticed that one major reason that, er, older gentlemen settle in South America is the ability to convert their dollars or euros or pounds into sex that they couldn't possibly get back home, but that's not my thing. To each their own, though, sir.

Name me 5 things of any significance (i.e. that actually make a difference to your quality of life) that you can't get in BA? I can't think of anything! The only things you mention in your posts are "pizzas, bagels and deli sandwiches", are you maybe a bit of a pie smuggler? Personally, I would quite happily pay for a nice evening with three gorgeous young women, if one, my girlfriend approved of them (they would have to be of very high quality) and two, I didn't spend most of my money on very fast horses (something that the Argentines excel in breeding).

Age is a state of mind my son and I enjoy my life like a teenager!

 

[Matt84]

If you want excitement and something new take a Villa 31 tour.
I wont be held responsible for anything that may happen, but I'm not kidding.
If you dress appropriately there are ways to enter it and getting out discretely. You don't have to talk so no one will notice your accent, and there's a good percentage of blondes so even if you're normal white you wouldn't stand out.

The whole camouflage thing is pretty exciting and you get to see for (20 minutes) a whole different world. It's not that dangerous during daylight, with kids playing and even a church. If you fail at the dress code then at worse you'd be taken for a Religious type. You get in, don't talk, just nod, enjoy the perspective of the city and get out having put all this sameness into perspective

pm for instructions, at your own risk (though one exaggerated)

 

[DA]

If you want excitement and something new take a Villa 31 tour.
I wont be held responsible for anything that may happen, but I'm not kidding.
If you dress appropriately there are ways to enter it and getting out discretely. You don't have to talk so no one will notice your accent, and there's a good percentage of blondes so even if you're normal white you wouldn't stand out.

The whole camouflage thing is pretty exciting and you get to see for (20 minutes) a whole different world. It's not that dangerous during daylight, with kids playing and even a church. If you fail at the dress code then at worse you'd be taken for a Religious type. You get in, don't talk, just nod, enjoy the perspective of the city and get out having put all this sameness into perspective

pm for instructions, at your own risk (though one exaggerated)

Matt84 is right, To visit a Villa can be a real exciting and educating daytrip, I done it, Anthony Bourdain did it and we both found some interesting things, do a search on www.youtube.com for Anthony Bourdain in Argentina you will find him visting and eating great in the Villa.

 

[ssr]

If you want excitement and something new take a Villa 31 tour.
I wont be held responsible for anything that may happen, but I'm not kidding.
If you dress appropriately there are ways to enter it and getting out discretely. You don't have to talk so no one will notice your accent, and there's a good percentage of blondes so even if you're normal white you wouldn't stand out.

The whole camouflage thing is pretty exciting and you get to see for (20 minutes) a whole different world. It's not that dangerous during daylight, with kids playing and even a church. If you fail at the dress code then at worse you'd be taken for a Religious type. You get in, don't talk, just nod, enjoy the perspective of the city and get out having put all this sameness into perspective

pm for instructions, at your own risk (though one exaggerated)

My girlfriend actually used to volunteer in Villa 31 (before we met) but I've never been myself. I appreciate the suggestion and I'm certainly curious about the food that Anthony Bourdain found over there (it wouldn't surprise me in the least if food was far better in the villa) so I'm going to check that out on YouTube now (thanks for the tip, DA) but as for what perspective a visit to the villa might offer me, well, I've been in South America for a while now (almost three years now) so tremendous shantytowns are nothing terribly new to me. I don't tend to wander into them but it is so damn hard to find spicy food here in Argentina that if I see Anthony Bourdain chowing down on some tasty looking stuff in the villa I might just have to make the trip myself.

 

[Matt84]

I just checked, it's in pt 2. of the youtube vid. great show all of it.
I haven't been to Villa 20. I've been a couple of times to Villa 21 (in between Recoleta and the Port, another place I love). The parrilla brochette was great each time.

I taught Geography classes to kids on those street, made them make their own maps in between makeshift soccer matches. They loved it.

 

[steveinbsas]

Matt84 is right, To visit a Villa can be a real exciting and educating daytrip, I done it, Anthony Bourdain did it and we both found some interesting things, do a search on www.youtube.com for Anthony Bourdain in Argentina you will find him visting and eating great in the Villa.

Interestingly enough, Bourdain does not eat in any "sit down" restaurants in the Argentina episode, and grudgingly only enters one commercial eatery to sample empanadas (which he finds surprisingly good).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKOCJLErXnM

The main dish served up in the villa was locro [Argetine stew with pork ("pig parts"), porotos (beans), and veggies]. If you like to cook, it's easy to make.

 

[Ries]

I find lots of things I love in BA.
But I find lots of things interesting wherever I go- just weird that way, I guess.

In Buenos Aires, I like the music, myself- there is a whole thread here about music,
http://baexpats.org/newcomers-forum/5674-great-argentine-bands.html
lots of different opinions are expressed.

I second the recommendation of Konex on monday nights- they always have a different guest musician with the drummers- could be a jazz horn player, or a choir, or a DJ.
Also, I always enjoy CAFF- kind of the argentine equivalent of "Americana" style bands in the USA like Wilco or Neko Case.
http://www.fernandezfierro.com/caff/
Its cheap, not a pickup scene, and no crowds of drunken laddettes.
Thelonius always has good jazz.
If all the DJ's sound the same, check out Zizek- they are a group of DJ's who make their own music, so it all sounds unique. At Niceto sometimes, or other venues.
http://www.zzkclub.com/
Two of argentinas most interesting musicians, Gaby Kerpel and Axel Kreiger do their DJ thing with Zizek.

I usually check whatsupBuenosAires for the options of the night- music, art, and other stuff.

BA is a great film town as well. The best is when BAFICI is on, in April-
http://www.bafici.gov.ar/home/web/en/index.html
468 films in a little over a week. Most are foreign, lots in english with subtitles.
Last year, we saw 3 Chaplin silent shorts, each with a different argentine band improvising a soundtrack to it- it was great.
But the arteplex theaters always show interesting stuff-
http://www.cinesarteplex.com/encartel-abelgrano.php
The various cultural centers, all around town, usually have interesting film, art, and performance-
Recoleta, next to the cemetery, or on Florida upstairs from the Galleria Pacifico, are two good ones, but the government pays for a good half dozen in BA.

There is a cool little observatory in Parque Centanario-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parque_Centenario
I think its free on weekend nights. You can look at stars.

I am a big museum hound, and there are some very cool museums here- Xul Solar, for example, which looks like an ordinary house on the outside, inside, its a wacky Escher print come to life, and Xul Solar himself lived there til he died.
Or the museum in the waterworks on Cordoba, with its hall of toilets.
The arms and armor museum, in Retiro- in a classic palace, full of swords and guns of unbelievable splendor.
The Che Guevara museum is supposed to be pretty fun.
http://www.buenosaires-argentina.com/attractions/museo-ernesto-che-guevara.html

Or, go to Tierra Santa- the cheezy religious theme park- where the mechanical Jesus is resurrected every 18 minutes.
I have it on good authority that the worlds largest hairball is lurking in the pool at Punta Carrasco- I would consider an expedition to see that, myself.

I like to take the collectivo out to the Chacarita Cemetery- its not touristy at all, its bigger than the Recoleta Cemetery, and its a whole city of the dead. Usually, on weekdays, its practically empty.
Just outside, around the parque Los Andes, on Corrientes, is a great flea market on Saturday afternoons- need Power Ranger pajamas, or fake fur mushroom shaped hassocks, or incense or shoe repair or cheap glitter thong underwear? Or junk from a hundred attics and garages? Along with cheap munchies, of course.

Pretty much anything at La Rural is fun. La Rural itself, in July, the actual nationwide county fair, is the best- Giant Cows!
But the book fair, or ArteBA, or Caminos y Sabores, or the Artisan fair in December are all pretty great too. Me, I like the weird industrial trade shows as well.

I like taking the subte or collectivo to a new, non-tourist neighborhood, and just walking around.
A great resource for this is Robert Wright's website-
http://www.wrighton.com.ar/

I am working my way thru this book as well-
http://www.littlebookroom.com/authenticbuenosaires.html
the places in this are the real buenos aires- cheap, authentic, and usually pretty decent eats, too.

 

[syngirl]

As someone else said, watch out, you're sliding into depression -- there's a typical path that most Expats go down, and they either come out the other side embracing their new country and staying on, or returning home disgruntled with their whole experience. It's essentially stages of Culture Shock, you can read through and see. Since you're here for a relationship you are kind of forced to embrace your life here, so you need to find something that makes you happy.

I personally am so happy to own a bike here (right now it's out of commission, blew a tire and still haven't replaced the inner tube and it's driving me crazy being without!) -- with the bike I head out all around the golf course, the Rosedal, out by the airport down to the river, or out to Olivos. On Sundays when there's no traffic I tend o explore around Devoto, V. del Parque, Saavedra etc.

I brought down my wetsuit so this year I'm determined to actually get over my "ick" feeling of the river and get out windsurfing a few times. We're also planning on finally getting our sailing licenses this summer -- it's only a few hundred pesos to do the courses.

You can do kayaking out in Tigre -- if you look up the municipal de tigre on their page they list a few providers -- there used to be a guy from Panama that came down in the summers from Florida, not sure if he is still around but he ran great groups and he did evening and full moon tours where you paddle out and then go and have an asado on one of the beaches there. It's a nice break from the city.

However you say you're really into NYC life, so maybe these outdoor ideas don't interest you. If you're into City life then there's really nothing in BA you can't get there, the one thing that might be missing is your own grasp of Spanish. Corrientes is the Broadway of BA, in fact most large Broadway shows get translated into Spanish and play on Corrientes at some point or other -- tickets are much cheaper than NYC as well. I think pretty much every Neil LaBute play written has come through BA. Last year we had Hairspray, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, Phantom and more. There's also a huge equivalent of the "off-Broadway" scene here -- you can go to the turismo BA website for a whole agenda of activities going on.

As far as food goes, you can get more exotic food, it's just a matter of searching for it. We went to the Japanese Associacion's restaurant (Nikkei) on weds night, the fish was very fresh, very good, we got a huge combinado platter, a few asahi beers, along with miso and an amuse bouche for 65 pesos a head.

Buenos Aires has a huge Armenian population so you can get some very good Armenian food here. I could go on about restaurants but really, it's just a matter of looking. In Zona Norte there's a place I really like in Bajo Martinez Sud something or other, I also think the cocktails and food at Pipi Cucu (Belgrano) are great. Browse Guia Oleo for others.

A walk around Tigre on a sunday has a stupidly busy market, but it's nice to get out of the city for the afternoon. I prefer going to the promenade in Olivos, it's a bit more tranquil. The reserva ecologica is nice but there's no tree cover, so in the summer it gets way too hot out there to really do a wander.

Portenos have more hobbies than any other population I've encountered, and they do some of the most diverse activities. If there's some obscure hobby you'd like to pick up, I bet you anything there is a class for it here. It's just a matter of searching around on google.com.ar -- don't use the US version, you won't get any hits, or on argentina.com, or todoar.com -- you can find everything from jewelry making, woodworking, interpretive dance, welding, pottery, chocolate making, sushi classes, yoga, rock climbing, reggaeton classes, zouk, guitar lessons, tennis, drums, computer classes, languages, tae kwon do, cooking, shoe making, leatherworking, bookbinding, caligraphy, origami, typography, whatever. If you can think of it, there's probably a class for it. A friend of mine learnt how to make her own tango shoes while she was here, there's few places in the world you can do that, so believe me BA has pretty much anything you want.

It's just like quality food here -- it all exists, it's just a matter of you going out and finding it. You can't be lazy in a city like BA -- things do not come easily here, you have to go out and find them.