Why do you want to live here?...Part II

What brings people to live in Buenos Aires?  You sometimes have to wonder.  Buenos Aires, like San Francisco seems to attract a curious crowd of people.  When I lived in the Bay Area we used to joke that nobody ever was from there, they were always from somewhere else.  Here there are obviously many more Argentines, but there are more and more people coming to live here from other countries.

The American press is appalling in their coverage of those of us who come to live here.  I suppose in many ways what they print is true.  It makes me ill to see the ugliest of my culture trying to plant its big foot here.  The new home for the "rich and famous" and the "wannabe rich and famous."  With everyone deciding that this is the greatest place in the world to live (and it is for some of us.), you should have good reasons for changing your country.  I can tell you as one who has done it and  assimilated, it is not easy.

Let me tell you some wrong reasons to change your country. You hate your president. This assumes you come from the U.S.  I cannot tell you how many people write me telling me they want to leave the U.S. because they hate George.  Well, guess what, presidents change.  First we had Bill.  He was great.  Hopefully we will have Hilary next.  George will be just a painful reminder of the past.  Like Menem here.  Now we have Nestor.  He is way cool.  A lot like Bill, only Christina will probably get to be president. 

It's so much cheaper to live here.  Guess again.  It USED to be cheap to live here.  I suppose if you are independently wealthy it is cheap to live here. However, if you are independently wealthy you can live anywhere. If you live on a fixed income it is expensive. In a year my apartment has doubled in price.  I don't plan to sell it, but that should tell you something.  Of course next year this being South America it could be worth 10% of what it is worth today. 

BTW, buying property here is not a "good investment."  This is not California.  You never know how much your property is going to be worth.  And guess what?  The government here passed a law two years ago.  If you are not an Argentine citizen and you buy property here and sell it, they take 30% in taxes at the time of the sale AND the balance must go into an Argentine bank account for a year.  That means your money cannot leave the country.  This law was passed to keep foreigners from coming here and flipping properties.

My living expenses have doubled in a year.  I live in pesos.  I don't walk around dividing everything by 3.  I used to do that when I lived in the U.S. and I was just coming here.  Then I was earning U.S. dollars so everything was cheap.  Now I earn pesos, everything is expensive. Inflation has caused prices to double.  If you are planing to stay here on a retirement income or the proceeds of a house you sold, you better have lots of money to support that lifestyle you thought you were going to have here.

Buenos Aires is just like Europe only in South America and cheaper. Yes, Buenos Aires is in South America.  It is cheaper than Europe. But make no mistake.  This is not Europe.  It is South America. So you have to be used to things not working, or not working the way they should, and people who turn a deaf ear.  Like hot water heaters.  They just sort of lose the pilot light.  Like right in the middle of your shower.  Plus here we use the heaters that heat the water as you use it instead of storing it.  More efficient but sometimes you get a hot/cool/warm/cold/hot shower.  Complain to an Argentine and you get a blank face.  What is the big deal, you just light the pilot light.

To dance tango...Well I dance tango too.  I can honestly tell you I did not come here for tango. It did play a part in my decision.  I came here because I liked the life, the Argentine people.  You cannot go to a place for just one thing.  It gets boring.  You also find out that when you live here that it is not the same as when you came here to visit. Those old guys know they can dance with you anytime.  They want the "fresh meat." 

The other thing is that when you live here classes and milongas all the time gets really boring.  You see the same faces every day.  Ugh.  Just like where you came, only worse, because now this is your life.

Other little irritations like no garbage disposals, no screens on windows, cell phones that work worse than in the U.S., almost no self-serve stores. (That means you have to ask for things and how can you when all you know is muchas gracias?)Buses and cars that spew pollution, noise, and forget to stop for lights. Complaints, complaints, complaints...so why do they want to live here?  Well maybe they really don't.  Check me out tomorrow ......

Comments

[Tina]

Excellent posts, both parts 1 & 2. You could easily be talking about Italy! :-) Actually I was in the middle of drafting a post similar about Italy to put on my blog later. Will let you know when that goes up, so we can compare notes ;-)
Ciao!