Culture Shocks from Living in Argentina as an Expat?

[Pink Panther]

I found this video by accident today after watching a video on Meloni. But it got me wondering, what are your cultural shocks for you about living in Buenos Aires or Argentina as an expat?

Here is a video below about some of them from expats. For me when I first got here it was a big shock of paying for everything with cash. It is such a cash culture and only recently changed in the past 1.5 years with the MEP rate but prior to that it was cash for everything. That took a while to get used to coming from the USA where we never deal with cash. What about you all? What were cultural shocks for you all?

 

[James Bond]

For me it was that Porteños are a fairly closed knit group of people. They are nice enough and I would get invited to asados and events but most people have a close group of friends and some of them are like family. It took me a while to really enter into some groups and relationships. I spent almost 2 years here without making very deep friendships that I would say were more casual friendships.

Then at the other end of the spectrum, once I started getting serious with my girlfriend it took me a while to figure out just how important family is here. It's everything for them. In the UK even living in the same city I may go some time without seeing my parents or family. Here in Argentina it's a constant, every weekend type of thing. I did learn to appreciate it but there were many weekends when I just didn't want to go to another asado or family event but here it is very important which can take a while to adjust to.

 

[earlyretirement]

Great topic @Pink Panther. I understand what James Bond is saying. I got really fortunate that I made a close friendship with a local very early after moving here. I doubt my experience in Argentina would have been as satisfying if that wasn't the case. I got really lucky because one of the companies that I invested in when I first moved to Argentina (a travel agency) there was a University intern finishing his degree and I became really close with him. We became like brothers and he introduced me to all his friends and early on I had an amazing group of friends. I think this totally separates an ok experience in Argentina with an amazing experience in Argentina.

Although Argentines are friendly and I'd get invited to events, dated a lot of girls and had a great social life. It wasn't until I entered this close friendship did I really fall in love with Argentina. In fact, once I had kids my local friends became Godmother and Godfather to my 2 kids born there. And to this day have a better relationship than true family.

There are too many things to list that I had a cultural shock with. Probably the biggest was all the red tape and inefficiencies that exist there and to this day 22 years later I still absolutely hate. Nothing really works well there and very slow compared to the USA. Corruption and red tape are a part of life there. Nothing works as it should and people there for the most part are lazy compared to the States.

As a business owner, this type of thing could drive you crazy. And don't get me started on all the public holidays they had there! Great if you're an employee but horrible if you're an employer. Many of the employment and tax laws there were just obscene.

Things have improved there over the years but many things are still terribly broken and inefficient there. Even with a new President and administration, I fear that these types of things will take a long time to fix.

 

[Betsy Ross]

Definitely the cash thing is a good point but today it is not a big problem like before being able to use your credit card. That is one thing I have to credit to Alberto that they started this even before Milei came to power. It was a major pain only using Western Union and cuevas. Now being able to charge to my American credit cards is wonderful. The hassles of transferring in cash every few months was a pain. Still have to deal with that but less so now.

Bureaucracy and red tape is a nightmare as @earlyretirement mentioned. I had some packages shipped to me and total nightmare. Getting my DNI here was great but total nightmare getting all the documents, etc and even when I had everything was insane getting paperwork rejected.

I almost got hit by traffic a few times after moving here. The lack of respect for pedestrians took me a while to get accustomed to. People here are terrible drivers. Thank God I don't own a car here.

It also took me a while to get used to how late they eat here. It took me some time to get adjusted to this.

Somethings still are frustrating like the lack of electronics or things that cost 3-4 X the cost of back in the States.

 

[Uncle Wong]

I don't live here and just visited last year. I was really surprised with how late night culture it is there. I read that but it was amazing how late people eat there. Also, I don't know when locals sleep. I met a few locals and besides Monday or Tuesday they would go out very late and then go into work the next day. I don't know if I could do that on a work night. Some places wouldn't even get going until 2 AM and go until sunrise.

One thing is no one is on time. I know from Mexico that people are late all the time but in BA often times people would be late up to 1 hour all the time. That would get frustrating after a while.

Customer service isn't too good here in stores and restaurants but I could adjust. I couldn't tell if it was like this because economy was bad and people were in a bad mood or this is the norm here. Some places had huge lines and only a few people working like some supermarkets. Getting through customs at the airport literally took me 2 hours.

 

[IrishLad]

For me it was just how loud of a city Buenos Aires can be. My first several trips to BA I rented the same Airbnb for most of my visits or in the same building and it was very quiet. Then after I moved here I figured out that the apartment was an oddity. I tried several other places and just very loud. Not just with traffic noise but also with neighbors. I was fortunate in the first apartment it was very quiet. I never heard my neighbors. But in subsequent buildings people are very loud and some buildings no respect for neighbors. That took some getting used to.

 

[Bill]

Argentines can be very direct and to the point. Not necessarily rude but not as gentile as other Latin American countries. It took some getting used to. They have a way of joking with one another. Even people I just met at an Asado that I got invited by another friend. They would joke very rough with one another. I'm didn't experience that in other countries that I visited. It was funny hearing everyone call one another boludo (stupid) to one another. I laugh now but the first time one of the friends I met here introduced me to his girlfriend, he kept calling her gorda (fat). But I learned that is an affectionate term that people call their significant other.

Again, the first meeting with some people I just met there was one of the people a bit darker skinned and they were calling their friend negro as a nickname. I couldn't tell if that friend liked it or not but that sort of thing can come as a shock if you're not used to it.

 

[Starfish]

They eat very late at night and that took some getting used to. When local friends would all meet up for dinner it was the time that I usually go to bed. I couldn't cope at first but had to learn to adjust. I still don't like eating that late at night. Especially steak and beef. My stomach gets upset eating that late. When I first moved here, many places wouldn't even open up until later.

Another is I spoke a bit of Spanish but it is much different here than Mexico and it took a while to adjust. They also speak very fast here. Took forever to adjust.

Also, everyone here is obsessed with mate. So much so that you almost feel forced to drink it. I didn't even like the taste of it but I almost felt like I was insulting someone not taking a sip. Of course after COVID it's fine not to accept to sip from the same straw. But when I first moved here it was strange to see everyone - even strangers drinking from the same straw.

 

[Blockchain]

I don't live here and only on week #2 here but it's a bit freaky seeing no black people here. Like none. I have spent a while visiting other major metropolitan cities this big and literally never been in a situation like this seeing no black people. I live in Dallas where there is a lot of black people. I'm not saying it's good or bad. It's just weird. Not even tourists. I don't think I've seen any black people in the entire 2 weeks I've been here.

Nothing wrong with that but just commenting.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

how important family is here

almost everyone i meet is daily interacting with family; i've gone a year without talking to my parents (they're still working in their late 60s) and 6 months without hearing from my sibling, and never thought it was weird; life's just busy. but my Disco/Cencosud delivery team in Cordoba for 3 months was a pair of brothers, worked 6 days a week together, their dad owned the logistics business, and they essentially only networked/worked/did business with family. it's sort of like in Argentina nothing changed from the historical extended-family unit. perhaps it's because of the Italian heritage? fascinating and VERY different than big cities in the USA

 

[StatusNomadicus]

negro

one of my Uber drivers explained this quickly, but i thought he was saying that Argentines use this as a sort of "dude" word - i didn't get the impression that it was used to refer to a black/more melanin guy. my Spanish isn't perfect and he was talking fast, but it seemed more like a 'nigga' or 'bro' affectionate word than anything related to the actual N-word or racism. but we'd have to ask @Betsy Ross and @Vince and @earlyretirement and @steveinbsas to clarify

obsessed with mate. So much so that you almost feel forced to drink it. I didn't even like the taste of it

don't feel bad about not enjoying hot-grass-water it sucks. i thought Green Tea was bad without a splash of Whole Milk - mate is just plain bitter and bad. it's like when you first start drinking coffee and you try a Folger's drip coffee, black. why the hell does anyone drink this?? ahahaha

black people

there are many black dudes selling stuff on blankets outside the Recoleta train station in BsAs, and around downtown Cordoba. i see black couples every now and then on the weekend, but overall just like other countries/cities with historical immigration patterns, sometimes it's just different demographics (but time will even it all out). you'll see the same with the huge Norwegian population in cities like Rapid City, South Dakota - there just haven't been a lot of black folks that moved there. like 1% or less, maybe? @BowTiedMara talked about the CABA demographics recently, poking fun at Woke estadounidenses:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1792974495319216568

https://twitter.com/x/status/1788379746184638924

 

[Uncle Wong]

I don't live here and only on week #2 here but it's a bit freaky seeing no black people here. Like none. I have spent a while visiting other major metropolitan cities this big and literally never been in a situation like this seeing no black people. I live in Dallas where there is a lot of black people. I'm not saying it's good or bad. It's just weird. Not even tourists. I don't think I've seen any black people in the entire 2 weeks I've been here.

Nothing wrong with that but just commenting.

I had already heard before I came down there so I knew but it was interesting to see that. Especially when you travel all over South America and you can see it in many countries. I saw more in Iguzu but it was mostly people from Brazil.

almost everyone i meet is daily interacting with family; i've gone a year without talking to my parents (they're still working in their late 60s) and 6 months without hearing from my sibling, and never thought it was weird; life's just busy. but my Disco/Cencosud delivery team in Cordoba for 3 months was a pair of brothers, worked 6 days a week together, their dad owned the logistics business, and they essentially only networked/worked/did business with family. it's sort of like in Argentina nothing changed from the historical extended-family unit. perhaps it's because of the Italian heritage? fascinating and VERY different than big cities in the USA

Many Asian cultures are also like this and very family centric.

one of my Uber drivers explained this quickly, but i thought he was saying that Argentines use this as a sort of "dude" word - i didn't get the impression that it was used to refer to a black/more melanin guy. my Spanish isn't perfect and he was talking fast, but it seemed more like a 'nigga' or 'bro' affectionate word than anything related to the actual N-word or racism. but we'd have to ask @Betsy Ross and @Vince and @earlyretirement and @steveinbsas to clarify


don't feel bad about not enjoying hot-grass-water it sucks. i thought Green Tea was bad without a splash of Whole Milk - mate is just plain bitter and bad. it's like when you first start drinking coffee and you try a Folger's drip coffee, black. why the hell does anyone drink this?? ahahaha


there are many black dudes selling stuff on blankets outside the Recoleta train station in BsAs, and around downtown Cordoba. i see black couples every now and then on the weekend, but overall just like other countries/cities with historical immigration patterns, sometimes it's just different demographics (but time will even it all out). you'll see the same with the huge Norwegian population in cities like Rapid City, South Dakota - there just haven't been a lot of black folks that moved there. like 1% or less, maybe? @BowTiedMara talked about the CABA demographics recently, poking fun at Woke estadounidenses:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1792974495319216568

https://twitter.com/x/status/1788379746184638924

Yes they don't use negro as derogatory. But one day I asked a girl at a party when I heard her calling one of her male friends negro, I asked her about that and she did give the example of how affectionate people use "nigga" in the States. I was shocked and I told her that is a VERY derogatory word in the US and no one would think about using that word unless there were two black people talking amongst themselves. Something must have got lost in translation because when she used the example of "nigga" I was surprised. But she assures me it's a loving term accepted between friends when they call someone negro.

We drink a lot of hot tea in the Asian culture. But not to the level of mate. I didn't understand how and why people started drinking mate. Is it an addiction with the caffeine that people seem to crave? It can't be the taste? I wondered about that. Is it healthy to drink so much of this each day? I heard it's healthy but nothing can be that healthy drinking it all the time.

 

[FuturoBA]

We drink a lot of hot tea in the Asian culture. But not to the level of mate. I didn't understand how and why people started drinking mate. Is it an addiction with the caffeine that people seem to crave? It can't be the taste? I wondered about that. Is it healthy to drink so much of this each day? I heard it's healthy but nothing can be that healthy drinking it all the time.

Andrew Huberman reports drinking it for 45 years and one of the best and healthiest source for caffiene.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1751056474556789141

 

[MikeYoung]

Andrew Huberman reports drinking it for 45 years and one of the best and healthiest source for caffiene.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1751056474556789141

I wonder if this contributes to how great of shape many females are in Argentina. I don't notice too many obese people in Argentina. But I didn't know if they walk around so much or if mate contributes to that.

 

[Sunny]

I don't live here and just visited last year. I was really surprised with how late night culture it is there. I read that but it was amazing how late people eat there. Also, I don't know when locals sleep. I met a few locals and besides Monday or Tuesday they would go out very late and then go into work the next day. I don't know if I could do that on a work night. Some places wouldn't even get going until 2 AM and go until sunrise.

Yes, that's something that was hard to get used to even back when. I remember that we would go out with friends on a Friday or Saturday night around midnight and end the night having chocolate with churros at La Giralda, on Av. Corrientes, at 6:00 in the morning. I'd get up around 2:00 PM on the weekends.

Shops open late here, some at 10:30 AM.

One thing is no one is on time. I know from Mexico that people are late all the time but in BA often times people would be late up to 1 hour all the time. That would get frustrating after a while.

Yes, that's something else. In CDMX the first time we were invited over for dinner we got there right on time and one of the hosts had just stepped in the shower. Dinner started almost two hours later. Here it is more like if they tell you they see you at two o'clock, that's the time they live their house. 😂

Customer service isn't too good here in stores and restaurants but I could adjust. I couldn't tell if it was like this because economy was bad and people were in a bad mood or this is the norm here. Some places had huge lines and only a few people working like some supermarkets. Getting through customs at the airport literally took me 2 hours.

CS here is awful and has always been. I hoped that, by now, things would have changed but, no, it's still bad. But, this country's retail industry has been in a vacuum for so many years. It's not fair to compare it to the great CS we are used to in the States.

 

[Sunny]

I wonder if this contributes to how great of shape many females are in Argentina. I don't notice too many obese people in Argentina. But I didn't know if they walk around so much or if mate contributes to that.

Argentines eat a lot of carbs (noticed all the wonderful bakeries, Havannas and maxi kioskos all over?) but they also drink a lot of mate, walk around a lot every day and go to the gym.

 

[Vince]

Yes, that's something that was hard to get used to even back when. I remember that we would go out with friends on a Friday or Saturday night around midnight and end the night having chocolate with churros at La Giralda, on Av. Corrientes, at 6:00 in the morning. I'd get up around 2:00 PM on the weekends.

Shops open late here, some at 10:30 AM.



Yes, that's something else. In CDMX the first time we were invited over for dinner we got there right on time and one of the hosts had just stepped in the shower. Dinner started almost two hours later. Here it is more like if they tell you they see you at two o'clock, that's the time they live their house. 😂



CS here is awful and has always been. I hoped that, by now, things would have changed but, no, it's still bad. But, this country's retail industry has been in a vacuum for so many years. It's not fair to compare it to the great CS we are used to in the States.

I think anyone moving here from anywhere else especially the US is not accustomed to the late night culture here. Took me a while to get used to it. And get togethers at the in-laws where they will chat until 2 AM. They already see one another all throughout the week so you would think there wouldn't be much to talk about. But asados on the weekend are very late.

Funny @Sunny about the shower thing. That happened to me too. My friends in Mexico are always late. Here I don't think it is as bad as Mexico. I visited my cousin that was living in Guadalajara and she invited us over and said a time to come over for dinner and we got there and she wasn't even there yet. Her maid let us in. I don't know why they don't just say 2 hours later. No one is on time here. Even when I visit my friends at a cafe, they always are late. They use the excuse of traffic but happens every time. One thing that is hard to get used to if you're always on time.

Agree about bad customer service. Both in retail and not the greatest in restaurants either. It has been like this forever. I don't know if that is something that will easily change.

 

[FuturoBA]

I think anyone moving here from anywhere else especially the US is not accustomed to the late night culture here. Took me a while to get used to it. And get togethers at the in-laws where they will chat until 2 AM. They already see one another all throughout the week so you would think there wouldn't be much to talk about. But asados on the weekend are very late.

Funny @Sunny about the shower thing. That happened to me too. My friends in Mexico are always late. Here I don't think it is as bad as Mexico. I visited my cousin that was living in Guadalajara and she invited us over and said a time to come over for dinner and we got there and she wasn't even there yet. Her maid let us in. I don't know why they don't just say 2 hours later. No one is on time here. Even when I visit my friends at a cafe, they always are late. They use the excuse of traffic but happens every time. One thing that is hard to get used to if you're always on time.

Agree about bad customer service. Both in retail and not the greatest in restaurants either. It has been like this forever. I don't know if that is something that will easily change.

That's funny about being late every time, but if it's an important meeting, job interview, or finals exam they will find a way to show up on time. I have friends here in the states that always show up late too and it's like I have to keep a spreadsheet of which ones show up when, how late, and who actually shows up on time when making plans. Is there any way to get an approximate time for the locals?? Here, I hate I have to sometimes babysit them, such as sending a text "so are still good for so-and-so time at so-and-so place" before getting ready. Not sure what I'm gonna do when I get down there other than try to arrange everything close to my place so I can lounge around there lol.

Not sure so much a culture thing, but when I was there many places didn't have napkins but instead had this wax paper that was basically useless. Couldn't pick any stains so much as it pushed any mess around. Also I saw another place, a video, BBQ I believe, again no napkins but they give you gloves instead to be tossed afterwards. Probably more a cost thing.

 

[MikeRoss]

That's funny about being late every time, but if it's an important meeting, job interview, or finals exam they will find a way to show up on time. I have friends here in the states that always show up late too and it's like I have to keep a spreadsheet of which ones show up when, how late, and who actually shows up on time when making plans. Is there any way to get an approximate time for the locals?? Here, I hate I have to sometimes babysit them, such as sending a text "so are still good for so-and-so time at so-and-so place" before getting ready. Not sure what I'm gonna do when I get down there other than try to arrange everything close to my place so I can lounge around there lol.

Not sure so much a culture thing, but when I was there many places didn't have napkins but instead had this wax paper that was basically useless. Couldn't pick any stains so much as it pushed any mess around. Also I saw another place, a video, BBQ I believe, again no napkins but they give you gloves instead to be tossed afterwards. Probably more a cost thing.

@FuturoBA I know that type! I have friends like that too. The worst is I will text and confirm with them in the morning and remind them we have a meeting and they will confirm in the morning and they are still super late. Some people are just flaky. This drove me nuts in Buenos Aires as not one time was anyone on time. Even when you confirm they are late. And many say they are on their way even when they are just leaving. That happened to me a few times. I didn't think the traffic was particularly bad in BA most times but most times they would say they are stuck in traffic.

That is funny about those wax paper napkins. I assume it's just to save money. Nicer restaurants had napkins but several more casual places used that wax paper. Funny that you mentioned that as I was just telling my friend they might as well have nothing. Judging by the price of toilet paper must just be a cost savings.

 

[Scottishgaucho]

My biggest gripe is the way supermarkets operate here. If they operated the same way in the UK they'd either go bust very quickly or be closed down by the authorities for constantly breaking pricing rules. Especially when it comes to 'offers' which are blatantly nonsense.