Things That Surprised Us

• Rent: Rent is a lot more than you would expect. While locals may be able to find cheaper rents, they are signing 2-year contracts for unfurnished apartments and putting up another property as collateral. Short-term, furnished rentals are a lot more money. We had to end up using a real estate agent due to our first Craigslist disaster, which added more to the cost as well, but was worth the extra money.
• Cost of Living: The cost of living is lower than NYC, but not as cheap as one might expect. Personal services tend to be fairly inexpensive as do restaurants, but electronics and anything imported is quite costly. A trip to the grocery store is also more expensive than one may initially expect. Inflation is high, and that is definitely noticeable throughout the city.
• Learning Spanish: We figured by the time we returned to the States for Christmas, we would be fluent in Spanish. We were sorely mistaken.  There is no doubt that our Spanish has progressed a lot, and would probably be better if we spoke it in the apartment, but we realized that we have a long way to go.  Having our Spanish tutor and taking intensive classes at UBa have definitely helped, but we need to continue our immersion.
• Coin Shortage: Seeing the impact of the shortage of change here has been interesting, but as we do not regularly take the buses, has had a low impact on us. It is interesting that the taxi drivers may choose to give you more money back than they should simply to avoid handing over “precious” coins.
• The Man-Kiss: There’s not much more that we can say about it. We can accept it now…

Things That We Miss From the States

• Food:  Sushi, seafood (especially fresh tuna), dill pickles, protein bars, sugar-free Red Bull, good Chinese food, American breakfast, gum (it’s horrible here for some reason), turkey (both lunchmeat as well as roasted), and some snack foods (for example, pretzels are imported from Israel and expensive).
• Miscellaneous Things: Chapstick, quality paper products, decent pots and pans, and other random things you would never realize you missed until you can’t find them.
• Shopping: Trader Joe’s, TJ Maxx, CVS, large grocery stores, and other all-in-one easy shopping places. Here, you often have to run to many different stores to get what you could at a large grocery store in the U.S.  The convenience is just not here yet.
• Cars: Having nice, big cars. Ok, maybe this is very American, but we do miss them a bit.
• Variety of People: There is not a lot of cultural diversity in Buenos Aires. When we flew back to the the States in December, we immediately noticed a much more diverse group of people all around us. (And also a lot more obese people.)
• Snowboarding: Yes, Argentina has ski resorts, but we haven’t had a chance to visit Bariloche or Las Lineas yet.  Back in the States we spent a lot of time on the mountain and we definitely miss it.  We’re hoping to spend next July or August snowboarding in Argentina.
• DVR/TiVo: I hadn’t realized how much I had grown accustomed to pausing and recording live TV until moving here.  Not being able to pause live TV seems almost unthinkable now, but I’m making do.
• Friends and Family: We’ve made some new friends here and it’s been great, but a lot of people are transient and come and go after a few months. Its been hard to have both family and good friends so far away.

Things That We Love About Buenos Aires

• The Porteños: Everyone that we’ve met here has been extremely warm and inviting to us. I can’t say that we’ve had any negative experiences with the people here. Have we been overcharged because we’re foreigners? Maybe, but in the grand scheme of things it’s really minor.  Our Spanish tutor and personal trainer have been exceptionally great.
• The Expat Community: The large size of the expat community here surprised us a little, but it’s been great to have a chance to meet a lot of new people from all over and with all sorts of experiences and backgrounds.  We’ve met a lot of great people from our blog and had a lot of interesting comments and emails.  We’re looking forward to meeting even more people this coming year.
• Steak and Malbec: It’s true that BsAs has some of the best beef in the world and we’ve developed a fondness for Malbec too. It’s especially nice that you can still go out and have a $9 steak and $10 bottle of good wine here. Our picks for best steak restaurants so far: Las Lilas and La Cabrera.
• Sweets: While Mersal loves dulce du leche, it’s definitely not my favorite, but I do love the many other options that they have here like palmeritas, etc. And, that leads us to…
• Ice Cream: The ice cream in Buenos Aires is probably the best I’ve ever had. It’s creamy, has a lot of amazing flavors and is even good for you. Ok, maybe I made that last one up. Freddo, Persico and Munchi’s are our favorites.
• Pizza: The pizza here is really good. It’s not NYC pizza (as Mersal will say), but it is delicious in its own regard.  One of our favorite places to visit and order delivery is Romario. (Probably because you can order from their web site without having to speak to anyone on the phone!)

Things That We Couldn’t Live Without Here

• Internet: Shortly after arriving, our DSL Internet connection went out for almost 2 weeks and Fibertel seemed to be in no hurry to fix it.  We now have both cable and DSL Internet connections in our apartment in case something like this ever happens again (heaven forbid). Google News Alerts and Google Reader with all of our Buenos Aires RSS feeds are also indispensible.
• Earth Class Mail: Earth Class Mail is an indespensible service that takes all of your U.S. postal mail, scans it and allows you to access it over the web.  You can then open and scan it, shred it, recycle it, or ship it to another address.  Living overseas without this would make life a lot more difficult.
• Vonage: Having a local NYC number makes it so easy for us to contact people and for friends and family to get in touch with us.  Vonage is easy and works nearly flawlessly.
• Online Maps: This city can be confusing, so online maps are a necessity.  Google Maps launched in November 2008, but it is still lacking in features, so we still mainly use the government’s map web site to find our way around and plan subway routes.
• Jumbo and Easy: These two stores are pretty much the closest thing in the city to U.S. super stores back home (think Home Depot and a giant Wal*Mart).  You can pretty much find anything you want here including a large selection of imported items (peanut butter, pretzels, salsa, etc.).
• Google Translate:  Having Google Translate has been a near life-saver here. It’s been great for deciphering local web sites, quick lookups and more.  It’s been a great help while we learn the language.
• Schwab Checking Account: The Schwab checking account has been great. Not only is in a free acount that pays interest, they do not charge any ATM fees, refund fees that may be charged by other banks and do not charge a currency conversion fee.  We have been getting pretty close to the current exchange rate every time we use our ATM card.
• Social Networking: Mersal has a love/hate relationship with Facebook, but there’s no denying that it’s a great way to keep in touch with family, as well as old and new friends.  And everyone is on it - we boarded Delilah at a dog kennel outside of Buenos Aires, and the manager there added Mersal as a Facebook friend the next day. A Small World has been a great way to meet new people as well as find out about upcoming events.

Things We Really Didn’t Need

• Slingbox: Having the Slingbox setup in the U.S was a great idea in theory, but the problem is that the Internet connection has not been reliable enough to support decent quality video.  We have pretty much given up on it and now download all the shows or movies we want to watch from the Internet. It’s much better though not quite as instantaneous.
• Power Converters: We brought two bulky power converters in order to run our 110v devices on the 220v current here.  Turns out that almost all of our electronics already run on both currents (laptop, PC, wireless router, etc).  There is only one or two things that do not and we don’t even use them very often, so we could have done with a much smaller one than the ones we brought.
• Clothes: When we moved, we thought we packed very carefully and got rid of all unnecessary things, but now 5 months later, there are still things in our closets that we’ve never worn.

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We had planned to write about our experiences with the new U$S 134 tourist tax that Argentina will be charging to enter the country effective 1/1/09, but fortunately for us, that plan has now been put on hold until at least March.  That means we’ll save $268 this time!  Since this issue affects so many tourists and expats, we’ll be sure to stay on top of it.

See you all soon!

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Argentina Strikes Give Travelers Holiday Headache [Bloomberg]
Subway workers in Argentina walked off their jobs today, disrupting travel for as many as one million commuters as employee demands for increased pay and job security disrupt banks, taxi service and the holiday season. Gas station owners and about 140,000 bank workers plan to stop work next week. Cab drivers are threatening to stay off the roads Dec. 24 and 25, when many residents will try to shuttle between holiday parties.

Human remains found in Argentine detention center [Associated Press]
Inside a once-secret detention center where political dissidents were tortured and killed during Argentina’s dictatorship 25 years ago, forensic anthropologists have discovered a pit containing 10,000 bone fragments.  The first discovery of human remains inside a detention center confirms the testimonies of hundreds of survivors who have said for years that authorities tortured, killed and burned the bodies of political opponents, they said Tuesday…

Argentine lower house passes questioned tax breaks [Reuters]
Argentina’s lower house passed early on Thursday a package of tax breaks that the administration hopes will stimulate the economy but critics say could encourage money laundering instead.The law includes huge tax cuts on undeclared offshore funds that are repatriated, tax incentives for companies that put under-the-table workers on the books, and deals for tax evaders who sign up for payment plans.

Argentina’s Buenos Aires Scrooges Forced to Rescind Ban on Christmas Carolers [LAHT]
The decision by the government of Buenos Aires this year not to authorize the tradition of caroling in the street on Thursday sparked a heated controversy among defenders of the Christmas spirit which eventually was settled by the revocation of the measure.

Argentina looks to taxis to get economy moving [AP]
Argentina’s government hopes 15,000 new taxis will help get the economy moving. President Cristina Fernandez says the government will offer taxi drivers credits on half the value of a taxi at a below-market interest rate of 11 percent It’s part of a series of programs to boost production and ease credit in South America’s second largest economy.

Going pinker on the Plata - Gay Tourism in Buenos Aires [Economist]
Gay tourists have flocked to Buenos Aires since Argentina’s 2002 currency devaluation made it one of the world’s most affordable destinations. Tourism officials reckon that at least a fifth of foreign visitors to the city are gay.

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MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

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Possible Transportation Strikes
Americans residing or traveling in Argentina should be aware that the following transportation-related groups have announced plans to strike nationwide in the coming days.  The parties are seeking increased
salaries to offset the effects of steep inflation.

• Fuel stations plan to close Friday, December 12, and Saturday, December 13.
• Subway personnel expect to strike on Friday, December 12.
• Taxi drivers will not operate on December 24 and 25. The taxi drivers’ union has said it may also strike on December 31 and January 1, 2009.

American citizens are advised to adjust their travel plans accordingly and monitor local media reports for developments, as some of these strikes could be canceled or postponed.

Americans residing or traveling in Argentina are encouraged to register with the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires through the Embassy website http://argentina.usembassy.gov and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs’ website www.travel.state.gov, where the current Worldwide Caution, Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts, and Country Specific Information for Argentina can be found.

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Argentine automakers to sell at cost, protect jobs [Reuters]
Argentine automakers will sell basic models at cost through state-subsidized loans in a plan to protect jobs in Latin America’s third-biggest economy from the global economic slowdown. Local plants of Renault SA, General Motors, Peugeot, Ford Motor Co. and other automakers will participate in the government’s plan to protect 150,000 auto industry jobs and to keep production from falling steeply next year.  Now this is an interesting idea!

Argentine Unions Want Floor for Peso Devaluation [Bloomberg]
Argentina’s union leaders want the government to put a limit on the peso’s devaluation, claiming that a softer currency will fuel inflation and undermine workers’ buying power.

Madge blows $1 million in hotel bill [The Times of India]
Madonna reportedly shelled out a million dollars on the Four Seasons hotel in Buenos Aires after she and her crew checked out from its posh premises. The megastar blew an alleged 9,000 dollars per night to stay at the hotel’s private mansion while her 200 backing dancers, singers, make-up artists, choreographers, managers and security checked into another 110 rooms - costing at least 600 dollars each.  Now, I know where at least part of my ticket money went!

Argentina Gun Swap Wildly Successful [IPS]
As a disarmament campaign launched 17 months ago in Argentina nears its end, the government and civil society groups involved in the initiative announced that it has far exceeded even the most optimistic projections, despite the lack of publicity.  The Interior Ministry reported that the programme, in which people voluntarily swap their firearms for cash, has so far collected over 102,000 guns and 721,000 munitions, all of which were destroyed.

Why Have So Many Restaurants Closed in Buenos Aires?  (english version) [La Nacion]
An interesting read, about the closure and pending closures of almost 300 restaurants in Buenos Aires due to the economic crisis. Many of these restaurants had relied on the tourist market and thus increased prices so significantly that they lost the locals. It will be intersting to see if the new visa tax that goes into effect on January 1 will cause a further decline in tourism and what the fallout will be.

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So, what are some of the things that we haven’t quite adapted to and still notice? Well…

• Now that it’s summer, we’ve been constantly battling the mosquitos here. In NYC, mosquitos never seemed to be a problem, but here they must have ample breeding ground because we have them all the time. It doesn’t help that screen windows don’t seem to exist here either.  We’re about to make a trip to Easy (like Home Depot) to see about buying some screen and trying to rig something up.
• There’s still dog poop all over the sidewalks. The summer heat makes it even more enjoyable.
• Driving is still insane here - taxi drivers are crazy, lanes in the road are not observed, stop signs are simply “suggestions to stop,” and pedestrians never have the right of way.

And, we have noticed some new things too:

• Halls are just another candy here, and not something that you only take when you’re not feeling well. Our Spanish tutor offered us some “dulces” (sweets) the other day and proceeded to pull out a pack of Halls.  They’re also sold in all the kioscos and come in a  lot of varieties.  I suppose this is much better for the Halls company as they can sell a lot more here.
• My Spanish has improved a lot in the 4+ months we’ve been here (although I did originally think that at this point I would be much better than I am now, but that’s another story). Anyhow, the issue now isn’t knowing the right word to use, it’s how to pronounce it. I still can’t believe that it often takes me several tries to properly pronounce a word and the people I’m talking to still can’t figure out what I mean. It’s not like it’s that far off!  I would think that they could infer what I mean, but nope, that doesn’t seem to happen much.
• Breaking a $100 peso bill here is always a real pain.  The $100 peso bill is worth about U$S 30, but breaking it is about the same as trying to buy a pack of gum with a U$S 100 bill back home. The stange thing is that $100 peso bills are the most common bills to get at the ATM. We’ve now reached the point where whenever we buy something over $50 pesos, we try to use a $100 peso bill if we have it just so we can hoard the smaller bills we receive back. We also use them whenever we go to the grocery store or a larger store, because small merchants hate breaking them.
• I always wondered what the motorcycle helmet laws were here, and luckily, Michele and Tom’s Blog answered my question. It turns out that the law requires that you have a helmet on your person when riding a motorcycle. This means that it does not have to be on your head, so you quite often see people with the helmet half on their head, hanging on their arm, etc.

Ok, that’s all for now, but we promise we’ll try and post more frequently.

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Argentina Playboy Bunny Campaigns for Whales in Chile  [Merco Press]
Argentine top model Vanesa Carbone cat-walked topless in front of the Japanese embassy in Santiago de Chile to protest Japan’s indiscriminate whale hunting and the use of animal skins in human clothing. Save the whales! (And yes, there is a photo on their site too.)

Spain’s Bets Sour in Latin America [Wall Street Journal]
Argentine lawmakers Wednesday approved a draft law to seize back the country’s largest airline Aerolineas Argentinas and its subsidiary Austral from its owners, the Spanish group Marsans. The measure approved by Argentina’s lower house of Congress Wednesday declared Marsans’ properties to be “of public utility,” which is enough under Argentine law to allow expropriation. Marsans claims the airline is worth $250 - $450 million while the Argentine government wants to pay 1 peso (.30 cents) for the airline.

Argentine political soap opera bubbles along [San Francisco Chronicle]
Argentine Vice-President Julio Cobos has become an outcast in the government after he cast the tie-breaking vote in July’s farmer’s strike against his boss President Cristina Fernandez, but his popularity soared.  His approval rating is twice that of the president in some approval polls, but that doesn’t mean it’s any easier to come to work for him.

Yes, We Have No Monedas! [Slate]
Subtitled “Inside the world’s most annoying economic crisis,” this is yet another story about the shortage of coins in Buenos Aires and the many interesting ways people are dealing with it. Michelle and Tom’s blog has their own interesting experiences with the Argentine coin shortage. Truly a strange problem to see…

Fernandez Unveils Stimulus Plan for Argentine Economy [Bloomberg]
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has unveiled a 13.2 billion-peso ($3.9 billion) plan to spur the country’s consumption and exports in a bid to counter the effects of the global financial crisis. Whether it works or not remains to be seen.

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El Calafate is a small town located on Lake Argentina and is an excellent starting point for exploring the glaciers. Most of the town is geared around tourism, and the main street is filled with shops and restaurants catering to that crowd.  On the first day, we took a bus out to the Perito Moreno glacier where we first hiked around it before boarding a ferry to the other side for lunch and a mini-trekking expedition on the glacier itself.  The views were amazing!  The next day, we took a six hour cruise across Lake Argentina to explore three other glaciers as well.  The photos below probably do more justice to this than anything I can describe.

In Ushuaia, we took a five hour cruise out of the city to see the sea lions, Ushuaia light house and visit a penguin colony.  The boat actually grounds itself on the beach near the penguins, so you can get a very close look. (Some other tours actually let you walk on the island, but the number of people per day is limited.)  The next day, we took the “Train at the End of the World” (too touristy) and then hiked in the national park which gave us a chance to see a lot of wildlife. (a condor, beaver dams, tons of birds, etc.) And, I also ate a lot of king crab while I was there, although it was not quite the bargain I had hoped for (AR$90 for a dinner of king crab).

It was definitely an amazing trip. The photos below capture some if it… 

[Show as slideshow]

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You can contact him at 15.5919.7594 or via email at adrian_functionaltrainer@live.com.ar.  I strongly recommend him.

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