Worst things about Buenos Aires besides dog poop?

[Jenn]

I am reading so many great things about Buenos Aires. I have watched many YouTube videos and it looks like a great city and a lot to do there. I'm a small city girl but I am open to try something new. I'm still trying to get over if I can deal with so much dog poop on the sidewalks.

I asked my friend for a list of the worst things about BA and here is what she wrote. Would you agree/disagree and what would you add to the list?


- Bad air quality compared to most USA cities
- Homeless in some areas that pester you.
- Inflation and prices always increasing
- Supermarkets don't have as much variety and high quality fruits and vegetables compared to nice places like Whole Foods
- Clothing prices and electronics my friend said are very very expensive.
- Bad seafood and not so many vegetarian options compared to USA
- Sexism and machismo harassment. (My friend is a blond haired blue eyed American and she said people every day talk bad opening and say, "you have a nice ass, etc. I was shocked to hear that).

 

[Uncle Wong]

I would agree with some of these. I hate comparing cities to the USA but we all do it.
I would add these things:

1. Bad customer service. Many workers are indifferent at stores compared to USA.
2. General uncleanliness (it sounds like your worst nightmare with the dog poop, etc.)
3. The drivers are the worst in the world! People are bad drivers here! I have seen so many almost accidents and pedestrians hit. I hate the lack of drivers yielding to pedestrians.
4. Lack of healthy and organic options at the supermarket. You CAN find these at little corner markets but I am not impressed with the selection of fruits and veggies in the supermarket. But you can find corner markets that have good selection.

 

[Bride to Be]

Agreed. I'm not overly complaining but it is good to be objective and talk about negative things too about a city and not just positive.

I hate that electronics are so expensive. I have lost my Airpods before and crazy expensive. I had my iPhone stolen once at a bar. I set it down and my own fault but this wouldn't happen in the USA. Here you have to be careful with your stuff. I can't emphasize this enough as I had lots of friends that had their phones stolen.

Everything is very slow here. Customer service I agree is terrible. Many things are inefficient here. Lots of red tape especially with the government. Nothing feels like it works well. I had my doctor write me a prescription and wrote the date wrong and they wouldn't accept it! It was clearly a mistake but since the date was the future they refused it and took the prescription from me! I had to go back to the doctor!

The economy is always bad here. I have lived here a while or visited my new husband's family and economy is always horrible! It's tough to make a living here if you're an expat unless you can find a job working remote.

 

[Bharat]

The worst thing to me is NO ONE is on time! Many times I will have an appointment and no one is on time. I got a haircut the other day and I had a scheduled appointment and I didn't get in until 45 minutes later! No one shows up on time or attends you on time here.

It is also difficult to break the social circle of locals it seems like. Many already have their own friends that they are really close with. And I hate hanging out with other expats. Not my thing.

Also it's really not cheap and some things are crazy expensive. Go into a big supermarket and you will tons and tons of toilet paper that no one is buying as it's close to $1 US per roll for good quality toilet paper. Even cheap and crappy stuff is expensive.

 

[No Pesos]

Lots of noise pollution. It's a very loud city.

 

[ultraviolet]

I agree about air quality. I have had bad breakouts with acne since arriving and also bad allergies which I have figured out is the air quality isn't good here compared to other USA cities.

Lots of corruption here. Homeless seems like it's getting worse but I realize this is an issue in lots of bigger cities but may be a challenge if you're from a small city in USA and not used to it.

 

[oil rush]

Quality of stuff isn't that good there. In USA stuff is well made and a lot of variety. You can go to Home Depot and get 20 different brands of screwdrivers that are really good. Here mostly inferior products at 3 X the price.

I agree people are always late. I had handyman or plumbers or painters that were very very late. Annoying. Sometimes it would be referrals from friends/family. People don't seem to care even if you will provide them with a lot of business. They just don't care!

The government bureaucracy is archaic and frustrating! I can't emphasize this enough!

Electricity sometimes goes out in the summer. I stopped going there in January as a few times electricity brown out and it was too unbearable with NO AC more than a short amount of time.

Fruits and veggies are seasonal. In USA you can get tons of varieties all the time. Here maybe people won't buy stuff and it's not imported as much so less variety.

 

[Cellular Shill]

I hate that the police cars drive around with their flashing lights at night which is annoying. How do you know if they are going to pull you over? I always wondered about that.

Construction everywhere. Also, many times sidewalks are all torn up or even if they aren't, it's annoying that you can walk and a slab will pop up. I've tripped all the time just walking around with horrible sidewalks.

Also, lots of vandalism in parts of Palermo Soho and other parts of the city besides Recoleta. Entire buildings are all spray painted.

 

[Swowbird]

The thing I hate the most is lines in many places. Last time I went to the supermarket I was in line for about 30 minutes! They can have massive lines for many places with employees that aren't in any hurry or want to help you quickly. No one seems to care or feel sorry that things are so slow. It's pathetic sometimes.

Annoying to have to send Western Union. One of the few countries in the world where you can take out so little money and ATMs charge so much relative to % you can take out.

 

[Used]

Annoying currency is worth so little for the largest bill. Thank God you can use your credit card for MEP rates but annoying biggest bill that they mostly use is only worth $1 buck.

Also my list of things I don't particularly like since you're asking.

• Traffic is horrible
• Bad drivers and constant honking all the time
• Air pollution is bad
• Politics is always a mess
• Economy is always a mess
• Horrible inflation
• Lots of protests and strikes
• Seems like always a holiday
• Seems like city is becoming more touristy and parts of Palermo - especially Soho has elevated prices for the same stuff.
• Tough to make money there.
• Hate the summers there. Too hot and humid

 

[RN in BA]

Good negative list. I can live with all of these things except that it's almost impossible to make a good living there. It's insane how little jobs pay there even if you're bilingual and educated. No one wants to pay any meaningful wage.

I wanted to stay there but I make six figures + in the USA. Better to make my money in USA and then retire in BA after I can buy a place. I figure I can live there once I buy a place but I can't live there while I'm younger as I would miss out on a chance to make more money.

 

[Bobbie Burgers]

This is a good and accurate list. I will add to the list that many locals don't like to work. I think there are a lot of people with a bad work ethic in BA. It was mentioned with bad customer service but you will see that in many industries there. My pet peeve is how everyone is always late to everything.

I'm glad I own a property but before that renting an apartment long-term was a hassle and we had to ask my wife's sister to co-sign which is a strange process.

 

[FuturoBA]

Good negative list. I can live with all of these things except that it's almost impossible to make a good living there. It's insane how little jobs pay there even if you're bilingual and educated. No one wants to pay any meaningful wage.

I wanted to stay there but I make six figures + in the USA. Better to make my money in USA and then retire in BA after I can buy a place. I figure I can live there once I buy a place but I can't live there while I'm younger as I would miss out on a chance to make more money.

Similar situation here, but looking to move towards telemed/remote work. Another option is have you considered splitting time in BA and return for locum work as needed?

 

[Britni]

Similar situation here, but looking to move towards telemed/remote work. Another option is have you considered splitting time in BA and return for locum work as needed?

I agree with both of you. I am also looking for remote work but seems like a lot of locals are too and they will undercut you on price.

 

[RN in BA]

Similar situation here, but looking to move towards telemed/remote work. Another option is have you considered splitting time in BA and return for locum work as needed?

Hello. I thought about that but my mom kept yelling some common sense into me. It seems like it would be irresponsible of me to give up a high-paying job in the USA and guaranteed stability. My mother paid for my college tuition costs and she said she refuses for me to not have a good situation. She let me move in with her for a year and I will save up a lot of money and then see what my situation is.

I think my mom makes a lot of sense to put in a few more hard years of work and then be in a better situation financially.

 

[Bharat]

Lots of noise pollution. It's a very loud city.

I agree with this. It IS a loud city. The other day I was with some local friends in the park drinking mate near Parque Las Heras by Alto Palermo Shopping Mall and I was closing my eyes and just listening to the city and all kind of noise. Very loud city.

I also hate the pedestrians have no right of way. Drivers are very aggressive and rude.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

damn, where are you guys living that are big cities with no air pollution, quiet streets, no transients/'homeless' population, no mess, and cheap prices??? i'd really like to move to this Utopia! (fun fact, when Thomas More wrote his book Utopia it was a play on words, and it has a Greek meaning of "no place" to show it's an impossible place...just like where some of you are claiming is better than BsAs!)

dog poop

you're obsessed and you aren't going to like traveling. like i said in other threads, you would likely have culture-shock from going to the nearest city of over 1 million people, from wherever you're at now in the USA. i highly recommend traveling in the USA first; you are not going to have a good time abroad...you've got some issues and expectations that are going to make you a sad panda.

Bad customer service.

this is the case anywhere outside of the USA or select regions where tipping is prevalent. i had the worst service ever in Iceland. Switzerland was bad sometimes, too. but places like Latvia and Ukraine were amazing. and Thailand is great for Expats...super nice and hard-working people.

General uncleanliness

whaaaaa? have you been to San Francisco? Milwaukee? Chicago? Detroit? NYC? Miami? Phoenix? Los Angeles??? the first and only time i went to New York City for a weekend i realized that they don't have dumpsters, so the trash is just piled-up in the streets....such savages. i disagree BsAs is somehow more dirty than other big cities. it's a place with 13 million people...and it's the communist/peronist capital of the region. of course there are douchebags! but i highly recommend going to Nogales, El Paso, Tijuana, or any border city, and tell me that BsAs is even 10% the dirtiness that they are.

The drivers are the worst

ummmm, have you watched videos of drivers in India? i've driven in Iraq and Afghanistan and 20 other countries and BsAs is less stressful than when i was just driving in California. CA drivers are crazy.

You CAN find these at little corner markets but I am not impressed with the selection of fruits and veggies in the supermarket.

so, they exist, but there isn't a one-stop shop for them. this is sort of like a half-complaint. if a Wal-Mart opened in BsAs people would be mind-blown that they can get everything from coffeemakers to lawn chairs to organic mushrooms, all under one roof!

electronics are so expensive

did you see the tariff-removal laws might change this??? my buddies from Africa give the same complaint; the gov't gives a 100% charge on imports, so the consumer (us) pays double for a normal item. AirPods are $150 USD on Amazon.com and $330 USD on MercadoLibre. let's check back on this later in the year. i hope Argentines embrace their shrunken government once they see they've been extorted for so long, with no tangible benefits (why are there no public toilets anywhere? this is my main complaint, since i'm a runner. i hate having to find a corner and take a piss because there are no places!)

It is also difficult to break the social circle of locals it seems like. Many already have their own friends that they are really close with. And I hate hanging out with other expats. Not my thing.

well, if locals are being xenophobic and assholes, why not embrace meeting like-minded people? aside from it not being 'cool' to hang-out with other estadounidenses/Europeans when in BsAs, what's the disconnect? this is one thing i disagree with earlyretirement on; i find it a little silly to try to exude the well-traveled and i'm-so-local-i-haven't-spoken-English-in-months vibe that you avoid all other Expats...dude, it's hard to live abroad! if people are being assholes, meet-up with some people from other countries living here; there are Russians, USA folks, Europeans, whatever. i once thought it was edgy to reject USA stuff, but in the end, Argentina could benefit from taking some learning lessons from the States...and it can't hurt for you to network with people who might also be buying a property here, or starting a business, or doing a tour you want to do. i find this attitude really silly and juvenile. am i missing something? the Expats i met at a meet-up were nervous and hoping to find people to share this journey with. sounds cool to me! also, if you've ever been to Iceland/Norway/Sweden you will know that the Scandinavian folks do NOT mix social circles....BsAs is absolutely not this way.

you will tons and tons of toilet paper that no one is buying

just buy the cheap packs that are $1.30 USD for a pack...they aren't soft, but they're cheap! https://www.carrefour.com.ar/papel-higienico-hoja-simple-carrefour-4-x-30-m/p

loud city.

whaaaaaa? only because the windows are single-pane. i slept like sh*t in a lot of cities like Berlin, because there are constant ambulances, people yelling and partying, etc. - i've found BsAs to be pretty quiet at night, especially considering young people party from 11p-5a a lot. i've slept really well in BsAs the past 2 months. the only reasons i've had issues is from annoying apartment neighbors with shared walls. and i've been in 5 different apartments so far in 8 weeks.

bad breakouts with acne since arriving and also bad allergies

could just be the heat and humidity? i've never heard of air pollution being linked to skin. have you traveled to other humid/warm places and not had the same issues? i had some minor allergies my first week, but i feel like most of it was not being around smokers for 5 years, then coming to BsAs where people blow smoke on you all the time (the less-educated the population, the more smokers there are), but i haven't sneezed since after the first 1-2 weeks!

corruption here

like how the US FDA blocked Ivermectin for years, because it treated COVID and they needed emergency authorization for record Billions$ profit for Pfizer/etc. with an experimental mRNA vaccine, and killed millions of people who could have been cured with Early Treatment protocols? or just normal communist/peronist nepotism corruption?

may be a challenge if you're from a small city in USA and not used to it.

true, but like i said to Jenn, this applies to any city with over 100k people. it's just the norm now, in the USA and here in BsAs. in good weather, people choose to live on the streets and get handouts. people in BsAs seem to love paying bums to be bums, which is strange. i see healthy 25-yo males begging from table to table, and they could easily go work a normal job. economically, they are likely making more money from bleeding-heart people than they would working, so they're incentivized to keep being parasites.

Electricity sometimes goes out in the summer.

interesting, haven't seen this at all in the past 8 weeks of hot season. i'll keep an eye out for the next 30 days as the summer finishes. but even on the days that are high 90s fahrenheit, the heat is weak compared to summers in Florida, the South, or Phoenix AZ. i haven't been dripping with sweat whatsoever, and i run 3x/week.

police cars drive around with their flashing lights

it's obvious BsAs police have never consulted any other agency in the world. having your lights on is sooooo stupid. what a strange and counter-productive thing to do, for fire department vehicles (red), ambulances (green), and police (blue). this was also shocking for me, coming from working as a cop in 2 big counties in the USA. this is a really stupid aspect of Public Safety and should stop.

Entire buildings are all spray painted.

ever been to Phoenix? https://www.azcentral.com/story/new...graffiti-street-art-collide-phoenix/78360066/

in line for about 30 minutes

less than 15 items, self-checkout for the win! skip past all the normies

have to send Western Union

credit cards were getting good rates for the past month. you don't have to use WU. cash is bulky and silly. but might be more advantageous this week, depending on the MEP/credit card rate. but ATM-wise, use a Schwab Visa debit card and you won't pay any ATM fees, ever (and they're about $6-8 USD each time, to withdraw a maximum of 35,000 Pesos or $37 USD). these issues should change now that Avocado and CheVos lost the election and their corrupt leaders have no more power to destroy the country with insane regulations and decrees.

largest bill.

did you see Milei is allowing 20k and 50k bills? this should have been done by the peronist dummies a year ago:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1739806899590107503

honking

way worse in Peru. like, 50x worse. but yes, if anyone doesn't immediately accelerate at full speed, the drivers behind honk. and if you are crossing a crosswalk and are jogging because you see a car in the distance, they will honk (and you want to stop them and say 'no sh*t, idiot, i was jogging because i saw you coming...now you lose your horn privileges for a month!')

hot and humid

damn, ever been to Phoenix, Vegas, or anywhere in the USA South? these summers have been weak-sauce! i can still run, in Phoenix it's 115F and you ain't running. also, a lot of your complaints are annoying, sure, but that's part of coming to a third-world country where things aren't stable, because as an Expat you can do the Doug Casey style of "crisis investing" and save/make a lot of money : )

any meaningful wage.

plenty of people here make enough money to live according to the cost of living, and save money. it's all relative; in Zurich you can make 50k USD and be in debt. in Uganda, you can make $5k and live in a village just fine (average salary was 30 USD per month, last i asked my buddies). COL is cheap here in BsAs, so wages are less. this happens all around the world, from Norway/Singapore to Thailand/Belarus.

as I would miss out on a chance to make more money.

sure, that's what your mom tells you. or you could work remotely and make a normal living, not have to be part of the broken SickCare USA system, and get taxed 40-60% of your income, and be present for another Trump/Biden election year, and not have to be around for the WW3/CivilWar2 chaos that is being fomented right now. being mobile is a huge advantage if you're trying to avoid political chaos. more info:

1. NomadCapitalist calls this "going where you're treated best" - https://nomadcapitalist.com/global-citizen/how-to-go-where-youre-treated-best/
2. SovereignMan calls this avoiding turmoil and other things you don't want - https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/no-sire-it-is-a-revolution-13528/
3. SovereignMan/SchiffSovereign #2 - https://www.schiffsovereign.com/lif...xpat-was-the-best-decision-i-ever-made-18554/
4. Doug Casey/InternationalMan plants his flags in places where the future looks bright - https://internationalman.com/articles/leave-home/

many locals don't like to work

this is a worldwide phenomenon after so much stuff was given for "free" - i tried to get people in the Midwest to do work on a house, and the ones from the nearby Reservation would absolutely refuse to work. it seems like from 2020 lockdowns onward, people are getting paid to not work. not sure how since i can't figure-out if they're just doing unreported cash work, or if they are getting unemployment/etc., but it's been very weird. i ended up doing a lot of work myself via YouTube because i just couldn't find anyone to show-up in 2 different USA states, for a 3-year period. not sure if it's any better now. usually, when people are incentivized to not work, they don't. this is why Universal Basic Income/UBI (also known as the start of actual Communism) will never work, despite what 'smart' people like Andrew Yang claim. experts can quite often be morons when they are full academics and have no street smarts/real-world knowledge.

renting an apartment long-term was a hassle

hopefully this changes with all the rental laws being repealed!

seems like a lot of locals are too and they will undercut you on price.

how would locals compete with you on remote work? wouldn't, well, everyone in the world be able to compete, since it's remote? one benefit for Expats is that very few working-age Argentines speak English. i think i've met 3 total in 2 months that are actually fluent. i've discussed this even just yesterday with an employee at a big health food chain store. she said she regrets not learning English, and 'needs' to learn it by putting time in, but she speaks zero and she's about 24 years old. i really only see people 50+ speaking English, or people who i meet that are well-traveled (wealthy, educated abroad) and are back in Argentina just for the season they like, to see family (they're Argentine expats). so, you can compete with remote work because (according to the Internet) only 4-15% of argentinos have any true fluency of the English language, which is the lingua franca of the int'l business world.

then be in a better situation financially.

as mentioned before, this leaves-out the entire premise of being an Expat. would it be a good plan if you knew Iran and the US were going to exchange a couple tactical-size nukes in the next year? would another BLM/commie 'summer of love' riot season where your nearest city is scorched by mob violence be a sign you're in the right place? what if they capped Nurse pay nationally, like they were talking about last year? what if your retirement was seized and forced to invest in government bonds, because the economy was collapsing? what if there were food shortages in the USA, especially in rural places? what if the federal government fires on TX National Guard troops and we see a secession of Conservative states, with actual american-on-american violence? these are all part of the equation that your mom isn't considering. my dad does the same thing (he's around 65) - he has zero consideration that at some point, in his nice suburb neighborhood, there could be criminals looting when things get bad. his investments are all in stocks, and despite living through a 50% loss in 2008, he has no plan to diversify anything for this year's crash/recession. so, age doesn't always mean wisdom, and older people sometimes have an echo-chamber where they don't have a fresh mind to consider something radical.

here's a female who moved to Norway:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/comments/uxmpv1

families moved out of USA for various reasons the past couple years: https://www.romper.com/life/three-american-families-move-abroad

this person immigrated to the USA and hated much about it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/offmychest/comments/wzkorl

this couple did the math and could retire 15 years earlier if they left the USA:

https://www.reddit.com/r/expats/comments/11g6kka/_/jaow2kj

Very loud city.

compared to what other cities with similar size/amenities? i've found the parks in BsAs to be the complete opposite. have you been out and about in Spain when the college kids are partying? have you been around football hooligans in England?? ever been to a bar where there are 2+ Aussies?? i don't know where you're at, but i disagree very much about BsAs. i'm a light sleeper, and with single-pane windows in apartments, i would not be sleeping if this were a loud city. i've slept really well, for a metro area of 13 million people, and poor insulation/windows/seals (weather is so good here that i don't see insulation quality like Canada/north USA).

 

[StatusNomadicus]

families moved out of USA for various reasons the past couple years: https://www.romper.com/life/three-american-families-move-abroad

and this has already aged well, as Biden's cabinet is rattling the sabers in the US:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1752092973842534472

it's a good feeling to know that if we nuke Iran and there are consequences, i'll be in the Southern Hemisphere. there are definitely perks to being an Expat, when it comes to regional wars/conflicts. if i was Ukrainian in 2014, i would have gotten the hell out of that area.

 

[Spend Thrift]

damn, where are you guys living that are big cities with no air pollution, quiet streets, no transients/'homeless' population, no mess, and cheap prices??? i'd really like to move to this Utopia! (fun fact, when Thomas More wrote his book Utopia it was a play on words, and it has a Greek meaning of "no place" to show it's an impossible place...just like where some of you are claiming is better than BsAs!)


you're obsessed and you aren't going to like traveling. like i said in other threads, you would likely have culture-shock from going to the nearest city of over 1 million people, from wherever you're at now in the USA. i highly recommend traveling in the USA first; you are not going to have a good time abroad...you've got some issues and expectations that are going to make you a sad panda.


this is the case anywhere outside of the USA or select regions where tipping is prevalent. i had the worst service ever in Iceland. Switzerland was bad sometimes, too. but places like Latvia and Ukraine were amazing. and Thailand is great for Expats...super nice and hard-working people.


whaaaaa? have you been to San Francisco? Milwaukee? Chicago? Detroit? NYC? Miami? Phoenix? Los Angeles??? the first and only time i went to New York City for a weekend i realized that they don't have dumpsters, so the trash is just piled-up in the streets....such savages. i disagree BsAs is somehow more dirty than other big cities. it's a place with 13 million people...and it's the communist/peronist capital of the region. of course there are douchebags! but i highly recommend going to Nogales, El Paso, Tijuana, or any border city, and tell me that BsAs is even 10% the dirtiness that they are.


ummmm, have you watched videos of drivers in India? i've driven in Iraq and Afghanistan and 20 other countries and BsAs is less stressful than when i was just driving in California. CA drivers are crazy.


so, they exist, but there isn't a one-stop shop for them. this is sort of like a half-complaint. if a Wal-Mart opened in BsAs people would be mind-blown that they can get everything from coffeemakers to lawn chairs to organic mushrooms, all under one roof!


did you see the tariff-removal laws might change this??? my buddies from Africa give the same complaint; the gov't gives a 100% charge on imports, so the consumer (us) pays double for a normal item. AirPods are $150 USD on Amazon.com and $330 USD on MercadoLibre. let's check back on this later in the year. i hope Argentines embrace their shrunken government once they see they've been extorted for so long, with no tangible benefits (why are there no public toilets anywhere? this is my main complaint, since i'm a runner. i hate having to find a corner and take a piss because there are no places!)


well, if locals are being xenophobic and assholes, why not embrace meeting like-minded people? aside from it not being 'cool' to hang-out with other estadounidenses/Europeans when in BsAs, what's the disconnect? this is one thing i disagree with earlyretirement on; i find it a little silly to try to exude the well-traveled and i'm-so-local-i-haven't-spoken-English-in-months vibe that you avoid all other Expats...dude, it's hard to live abroad! if people are being assholes, meet-up with some people from other countries living here; there are Russians, USA folks, Europeans, whatever. i once thought it was edgy to reject USA stuff, but in the end, Argentina could benefit from taking some learning lessons from the States...and it can't hurt for you to network with people who might also be buying a property here, or starting a business, or doing a tour you want to do. i find this attitude really silly and juvenile. am i missing something? the Expats i met at a meet-up were nervous and hoping to find people to share this journey with. sounds cool to me! also, if you've ever been to Iceland/Norway/Sweden you will know that the Scandinavian folks do NOT mix social circles....BsAs is absolutely not this way.


just buy the cheap packs that are $1.30 USD for a pack...they aren't soft, but they're cheap! https://www.carrefour.com.ar/papel-higienico-hoja-simple-carrefour-4-x-30-m/p


whaaaaaa? only because the windows are single-pane. i slept like sh*t in a lot of cities like Berlin, because there are constant ambulances, people yelling and partying, etc. - i've found BsAs to be pretty quiet at night, especially considering young people party from 11p-5a a lot. i've slept really well in BsAs the past 2 months. the only reasons i've had issues is from annoying apartment neighbors with shared walls. and i've been in 5 different apartments so far in 8 weeks.


could just be the heat and humidity? i've never heard of air pollution being linked to skin. have you traveled to other humid/warm places and not had the same issues? i had some minor allergies my first week, but i feel like most of it was not being around smokers for 5 years, then coming to BsAs where people blow smoke on you all the time (the less-educated the population, the more smokers there are), but i haven't sneezed since after the first 1-2 weeks!


like how the US FDA blocked Ivermectin for years, because it treated COVID and they needed emergency authorization for record Billions$ profit for Pfizer/etc. with an experimental mRNA vaccine, and killed millions of people who could have been cured with Early Treatment protocols? or just normal communist/peronist nepotism corruption?


true, but like i said to Jenn, this applies to any city with over 100k people. it's just the norm now, in the USA and here in BsAs. in good weather, people choose to live on the streets and get handouts. people in BsAs seem to love paying bums to be bums, which is strange. i see healthy 25-yo males begging from table to table, and they could easily go work a normal job. economically, they are likely making more money from bleeding-heart people than they would working, so they're incentivized to keep being parasites.


interesting, haven't seen this at all in the past 8 weeks of hot season. i'll keep an eye out for the next 30 days as the summer finishes. but even on the days that are high 90s fahrenheit, the heat is weak compared to summers in Florida, the South, or Phoenix AZ. i haven't been dripping with sweat whatsoever, and i run 3x/week.


it's obvious BsAs police have never consulted any other agency in the world. having your lights on is sooooo stupid. what a strange and counter-productive thing to do, for fire department vehicles (red), ambulances (green), and police (blue). this was also shocking for me, coming from working as a cop in 2 big counties in the USA. this is a really stupid aspect of Public Safety and should stop.


ever been to Phoenix? https://www.azcentral.com/story/new...graffiti-street-art-collide-phoenix/78360066/


less than 15 items, self-checkout for the win! skip past all the normies


credit cards were getting good rates for the past month. you don't have to use WU. cash is bulky and silly. but might be more advantageous this week, depending on the MEP/credit card rate. but ATM-wise, use a Schwab Visa debit card and you won't pay any ATM fees, ever (and they're about $6-8 USD each time, to withdraw a maximum of 35,000 Pesos or $37 USD). these issues should change now that Avocado and CheVos lost the election and their corrupt leaders have no more power to destroy the country with insane regulations and decrees.


did you see Milei is allowing 20k and 50k bills? this should have been done by the peronist dummies a year ago:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1739806899590107503

way worse in Peru. like, 50x worse. but yes, if anyone doesn't immediately accelerate at full speed, the drivers behind honk. and if you are crossing a crosswalk and are jogging because you see a car in the distance, they will honk (and you want to stop them and say 'no sh*t, idiot, i was jogging because i saw you coming...now you lose your horn privileges for a month!')


damn, ever been to Phoenix, Vegas, or anywhere in the USA South? these summers have been weak-sauce! i can still run, in Phoenix it's 115F and you ain't running. also, a lot of your complaints are annoying, sure, but that's part of coming to a third-world country where things aren't stable, because as an Expat you can do the Doug Casey style of "crisis investing" and save/make a lot of money : )


plenty of people here make enough money to live according to the cost of living, and save money. it's all relative; in Zurich you can make 50k USD and be in debt. in Uganda, you can make $5k and live in a village just fine (average salary was 30 USD per month, last i asked my buddies). COL is cheap here in BsAs, so wages are less. this happens all around the world, from Norway/Singapore to Thailand/Belarus.


sure, that's what your mom tells you. or you could work remotely and make a normal living, not have to be part of the broken SickCare USA system, and get taxed 40-60% of your income, and be present for another Trump/Biden election year, and not have to be around for the WW3/CivilWar2 chaos that is being fomented right now. being mobile is a huge advantage if you're trying to avoid political chaos. more info:

1. NomadCapitalist calls this "going where you're treated best" - https://nomadcapitalist.com/global-citizen/how-to-go-where-youre-treated-best/
2. SovereignMan calls this avoiding turmoil and other things you don't want - https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/no-sire-it-is-a-revolution-13528/
3. SovereignMan/SchiffSovereign #2 - https://www.schiffsovereign.com/lif...xpat-was-the-best-decision-i-ever-made-18554/
4. Doug Casey/InternationalMan plants his flags in places where the future looks bright - https://internationalman.com/articles/leave-home/


this is a worldwide phenomenon after so much stuff was given for "free" - i tried to get people in the Midwest to do work on a house, and the ones from the nearby Reservation would absolutely refuse to work. it seems like from 2020 lockdowns onward, people are getting paid to not work. not sure how since i can't figure-out if they're just doing unreported cash work, or if they are getting unemployment/etc., but it's been very weird. i ended up doing a lot of work myself via YouTube because i just couldn't find anyone to show-up in 2 different USA states, for a 3-year period. not sure if it's any better now. usually, when people are incentivized to not work, they don't. this is why Universal Basic Income/UBI (also known as the start of actual Communism) will never work, despite what 'smart' people like Andrew Yang claim. experts can quite often be morons when they are full academics and have no street smarts/real-world knowledge.


hopefully this changes with all the rental laws being repealed!


how would locals compete with you on remote work? wouldn't, well, everyone in the world be able to compete, since it's remote? one benefit for Expats is that very few working-age Argentines speak English. i think i've met 3 total in 2 months that are actually fluent. i've discussed this even just yesterday with an employee at a big health food chain store. she said she regrets not learning English, and 'needs' to learn it by putting time in, but she speaks zero and she's about 24 years old. i really only see people 50+ speaking English, or people who i meet that are well-traveled (wealthy, educated abroad) and are back in Argentina just for the season they like, to see family (they're Argentine expats). so, you can compete with remote work because (according to the Internet) only 4-15% of argentinos have any true fluency of the English language, which is the lingua franca of the int'l business world.


as mentioned before, this leaves-out the entire premise of being an Expat. would it be a good plan if you knew Iran and the US were going to exchange a couple tactical-size nukes in the next year? would another BLM/commie 'summer of love' riot season where your nearest city is scorched by mob violence be a sign you're in the right place? what if they capped Nurse pay nationally, like they were talking about last year? what if your retirement was seized and forced to invest in government bonds, because the economy was collapsing? what if there were food shortages in the USA, especially in rural places? what if the federal government fires on TX National Guard troops and we see a secession of Conservative states, with actual american-on-american violence? these are all part of the equation that your mom isn't considering. my dad does the same thing (he's around 65) - he has zero consideration that at some point, in his nice suburb neighborhood, there could be criminals looting when things get bad. his investments are all in stocks, and despite living through a 50% loss in 2008, he has no plan to diversify anything for this year's crash/recession. so, age doesn't always mean wisdom, and older people sometimes have an echo-chamber where they don't have a fresh mind to consider something radical.

here's a female who moved to Norway:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/comments/uxmpv1

families moved out of USA for various reasons the past couple years: https://www.romper.com/life/three-american-families-move-abroad

this person immigrated to the USA and hated much about it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/offmychest/comments/wzkorl

this couple did the math and could retire 15 years earlier if they left the USA:

https://www.reddit.com/r/expats/comments/11g6kka/_/jaow2kj

compared to what other cities with similar size/amenities? i've found the parks in BsAs to be the complete opposite. have you been out and about in Spain when the college kids are partying? have you been around football hooligans in England?? ever been to a bar where there are 2+ Aussies?? i don't know where you're at, but i disagree very much about BsAs. i'm a light sleeper, and with single-pane windows in apartments, i would not be sleeping if this were a loud city. i've slept really well, for a metro area of 13 million people, and poor insulation/windows/seals (weather is so good here that i don't see insulation quality like Canada/north USA).

Wow lots of nuggets of info. I don't think people are ragging on BA. I just think someone asked for the negatives but for sure there are worse cities around the world. BA isn't perfect but no city is.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

I just think someone asked for the negatives

right, but that question is implying negatives that are unique to BsAs; whereas a lot of these responses would apply to any city over 100,000 people. it would be as silly as asking in a Prague message board about what to do in Czech Republic, and someone responding that you can sleep in a bed, eat food, drink water, and walk around...this wouldn't be very helpful! you can do those as a human anywhere.

the annoying things in BsAs are very unique sometimes, like never being able to buy butter or find it at most restaurants. this is very unique, since i've had butter served everywhere from Okinawa to Belarus. but in BsAs you can only find cancerous vegetable spread (https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong...arcinogen-found-94-cent-margarine-and-spreads) and the only restaurant i've gotten butter for my bread is Salgado Alimentos. even the Italian style of serving olive oil, pepper/dried herbs, and balsamic reduction (in a dish for dipping your bread) doesn't exist in any restaurant i've been to so far. today and yesterday, at 2 different restaurants, i was served white french bread rolls with no toppings/sauce. it's just weird!

but the complaints of loud, dirty, etc. aren't helpful, and actually untrue compared to similar cities. thus, my contrary opinion : )