What's the reality of safety in Buenos Aires?

[FrankPintor]

Lots of Peruvian restaurants around too, for those who can handle some rocoto.

 

[Ries]

Try to dress like locals.

This always befuddles me.

I ride the colectivos almost every day.
I look out the window, and I observe what locals are wearing.

I see encargados, dressed head to toe in Pampero work clothes (I love Pampero, and often wear it)
I see lawyers, dressed in fitted suits and shiny leather shoes ( I only have one suit here, a nice gray sharkskin, but I do have a couple of pairs of shiny black shoes)
I see skaters, dressed in cargo shorts and vans (I used to wear Vans, when I was much younger, but the flat soles make my feet hurt now. I do still have a pair of slipons stashed, though)
I see preppies, wearing Kevington chombas (golf shirts) and tailored patterned shorts (not a look for me)
I see pampas hippies, wearing bombachas, alpargatas, and tie died t shirts (I own all those things)
I see goths. Lots of goths, studded, platform booted, fake and real leather, with eyeliner (I seldom wear my really tall platforms, still own an original ramones style leather jacket though. Not big on eyeliner)
I see older dudes from the estancias, wearing those quilted jackets from Arandu, with elegant sneakers, and really tight fitting jeans, looking like a million dollars, because they are worth that, easy, just in cattle. (I have the tight jeans, but I am somehow missing the million dollars)
I see futbol fans, wearing either head to toe track suits, looking like russian mobsters, or basketball shorts and a boca jrs jersey, both enormous (again, not really my look, but I can dig it)
I see a million ordinary joes, wearing running shoes, jeans, and rock band t shirts. (not a big Nirvana guy, but I have all those things, although my sneakers are leopard print)

We wont even start on the womens clothes, except to say there are probalby twice as many different looks.

So- which of these looks is looking like a "local"?

I do know, if you want to be identified as a tourist, without doubt, you wear all expedition wear- shorts, long sleeved shirts, and floppy brimmed hats, from patagonia or north face or some other outdoorsy label, with each garment covered in pockets. Tourists and people on cruise ships are convinced that there are no pockets in Argentina, so they bring extra. Who, exactly, NEEDS 3 pockets on their hat?
They also wear 300$ climbing/running/orienteering boot sneakers that take a half hour to lace.
Antarctica starts here.

I will say, that in all my travels around Argentina, and every day in Capital, there are two things that pretty much all Argentines have in common-

1- good, recent haircuts. Everybody except destitute street people has been to the barber or the salon in the last two weeks. That includes goatherds in the andes, cartoneros, and everyone else.
2- clean, respectable shoes. I have seen, very rarely, a hipster, usually german, with intentionally worn and scuffed shoes. Every single Argentine I know always has great looking shoes, clean and polished if needed, blindingly white, unscuffed, and new looking.

You wanna look local, go to the barber (many now serve coffee or cocktails), and buy yourself some decent new shoes.

 

[Alby]

I do know, if you want to be identified as a tourist, without doubt, you wear all expedition wear- shorts, long sleeved shirts, and floppy brimmed hats, from patagonia or north face or some other outdoorsy label, with each garment covered in pockets. Tourists and people on cruise ships are convinced that there are no pockets in Argentina, so they bring extra. Who, exactly, NEEDS 3 pockets on their hat?
They also wear 300$ climbing/running/orienteering boot sneakers that take a half hour to lace.
Antarctica starts here.

I got a chuckle out of this. Exactly the same advice I give to people.

This is a fascinating thread for the way we are revealing our mental stereotypes about the world. The initial post set the tone: an "American" would stand out in Argentina (where everybody is an American and the normal distinction is from which American country someone hails, the USA in this case), presumably because all males here are short and brown with a long curly mustache and a guitar. "Asia", we discover is really just northern and eastern Asia, the part a flat representation of the globe shows us as being closest to the US.

 

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

This always befuddles me.

I ride the colectivos almost every day.
I look out the window, and I observe what locals are wearing.

I see encargados, dressed head to toe in Pampero work clothes (I love Pampero, and often wear it)
I see lawyers, dressed in fitted suits and shiny leather shoes ( I only have one suit here, a nice gray sharkskin, but I do have a couple of pairs of shiny black shoes)
I see skaters, dressed in cargo shorts and vans (I used to wear Vans, when I was much younger, but the flat soles make my feet hurt now. I do still have a pair of slipons stashed, though)
I see preppies, wearing Kevington chombas (golf shirts) and tailored patterned shorts (not a look for me)
I see pampas hippies, wearing bombachas, alpargatas, and tie died t shirts (I own all those things)
I see goths. Lots of goths, studded, platform booted, fake and real leather, with eyeliner (I seldom wear my really tall platforms, still own an original ramones style leather jacket though. Not big on eyeliner)
I see older dudes from the estancias, wearing those quilted jackets from Arandu, with elegant sneakers, and really tight fitting jeans, looking like a million dollars, because they are worth that, easy, just in cattle. (I have the tight jeans, but I am somehow missing the million dollars)
I see futbol fans, wearing either head to toe track suits, looking like russian mobsters, or basketball shorts and a boca jrs jersey, both enormous (again, not really my look, but I can dig it)
I see a million ordinary joes, wearing running shoes, jeans, and rock band t shirts. (not a big Nirvana guy, but I have all those things, although my sneakers are leopard print)

We wont even start on the womens clothes, except to say there are probalby twice as many different looks.

So- which of these looks is looking like a "local"?

I do know, if you want to be identified as a tourist, without doubt, you wear all expedition wear- shorts, long sleeved shirts, and floppy brimmed hats, from patagonia or north face or some other outdoorsy label, with each garment covered in pockets. Tourists and people on cruise ships are convinced that there are no pockets in Argentina, so they bring extra. Who, exactly, NEEDS 3 pockets on their hat?
They also wear 300$ climbing/running/orienteering boot sneakers that take a half hour to lace.
Antarctica starts here.

I will say, that in all my travels around Argentina, and every day in Capital, there are two things that pretty much all Argentines have in common-

1- good, recent haircuts. Everybody except destitute street people has been to the barber or the salon in the last two weeks. That includes goatherds in the andes, cartoneros, and everyone else.
2- clean, respectable shoes. I have seen, very rarely, a hipster, usually german, with intentionally worn and scuffed shoes. Every single Argentine I know always has great looking shoes, clean and polished if needed, blindingly white, unscuffed, and new looking.

You wanna look local, go to the barber (many now serve coffee or cocktails), and buy yourself some decent new shoes.

You forgot the 80s cumbia aficionados, Recent haircuts are not their thing?

 

[Ries]

You forgot the 80s cumbia aficionados, Recent haircuts are not their thing?

I know a few of them, they look like hippies, but usually there is a lot more hair care going on than you might think.

 

[arvest]

Lots of Peruvian restaurants around too, for those who can handle some rocoto.

Any recommendations in particular for Peruvian restaurants?

 

[FrankPintor]

Any recommendations in particular for Peruvian restaurants?

We like to go to Asumare in Palermo, their lunch menu isn’t bad, and I believe one of their locations does a lunch buffet as well.

We also liked La Causa Nikkei, though we haven’t been there for a while.

We also liked Tanta, quite a bit more upmarket, of course.

The two restaurants we know in Belgrano, El Cocoroco and Imperio del Sol, seem to have disimproved.

 

[Rich One]

For the big spenders a resto in Palermo Arevalo and Nicaragua.

La Mar, Cebichería Peruana

lamarcebicheria.com.ar

 

[FrankPintor]

For the big spenders a resto in Palermo Arevalo and Nicaragua.

La Mar, Cebichería Peruana

lamarcebicheria.com.ar

Well, now you've really gone upmarket But we don't know what @arvest would prefer, a simple place like Primavera Trujillana in Belgrano (good food, but omigod they were sloow), or a place like Nemuri Tera, for example (it self-identifies as a Japanese restaurant, idk what pronouns to use, but they have ceviche on the menu, there are a couple of places that offer Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine).

When I lived in Lima I used to order the executive lunches from an entirely unpretentious place called La Nueva Tropicana on the corner of La Paz and Schell, everything you could eat for maybe USD 3. The only thing that would tempt me out in the evening to eat was the promise of a good sudado de pescado. Cocoroco in Belgrano have that, but they got mean with their portions.

By the way, is Tanta still operational? I vaguely remember reading that Gaston Acurio wanted out of BA.

 

[Redpossum]

Spicy food exists.
Mostly korean. Bi won, cancion de corea, mr. Ho, fa song song, nanum are all good, in various parts of town, ca ting is decent vietnamese, for ba. Lots of Chinese catering to chinese, spicy is available. Xi bei feng, or mian are both good. And you can go to flores, the big Korean neighborhood and there are tons of restaurants. Plus most ingredients are sold in barrio chino.

Fa Song Song is excellent. I used to live just down the street. Check their schedule carefully; they have odd hours.

If you like spicy food, eat there rather then getting take away. When you get your food, ask for hot sauce and they will give you a little white dish with some evil-looking red sauce in it. But it's not actually that hot, you will have to ask for more at least once.