Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

Wow, this thread has been great.
I am taking a "mini-retirement" to Buenos Aires arriving on July 17th. I visited before in 2003. Coming from Austin, TX.

I'm staying at a nice hostel (i hope) in microcentro the first three nights then getting a place probably in Palermo.

Definitely will be going to Boca games, sorry RiverPlay.

Cool seeing so many 2+2ers down there.

Do ya'll ever meet up? I am more than willing to buy a few rounds of Quilmes.

Randy

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

Awesome, thanks river
that seems like what I'm looking for.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

I hope it works out.
I am worried about it too, so I am staying at a hostel three nights and going apartment searching when I get there.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]
Awesome, thanks river
that seems like what I'm looking for.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is how the area looks like:

http://www.palermoviejo.com/sofopavi/nbarrio.htm

You will be located a couple of blocks from the pictures, like five blocks. And the area will look different, more high building/urban like...

Here's some data from governments webpage:

http://www.bue.gov.ar/recorridos/ind...do&lang=en

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Awesome, thanks river
that seems like what I'm looking for.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is how the area looks like:

http://www.palermoviejo.com/sofopavi/nbarrio.htm

You will be located a couple of blocks from the pictures, like five blocks. And the area will look different, more high building/urban like...

Here's some data from governments webpage:

http://www.bue.gov.ar/recorridos/ind...do&lang=en

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks again River. Seems like a very nice area, and my wife is very excited to be near the zoo.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

Can one of the mods move this to the Travel Forum if they don't mind?

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]
Wow, this thread has been great.
I am taking a "mini-retirement" to Buenos Aires arriving on July 17th. I visited before in 2003. Coming from Austin, TX.

I'm staying at a nice hostel (i hope) in microcentro the first three nights then getting a place probably in Palermo.

Definitely will be going to Boca games, sorry RiverPlay.

Cool seeing so many 2+2ers down there.

Do ya'll ever meet up? I am more than willing to buy a few rounds of Quilmes.

Randy


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm always willing to meet up for Quilmes.

Also, it seems as though I may be leaving Argentina (temporarily!) in December to do some other travel in 2008 - namely to Australia, Spain, & Thailand. Will probably return to Argentina for 4 months in 2009, though I can't really promise anything that far away.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm always willing to meet up for Quilmes.

Also, it seems as though I may be leaving Argentina (temporarily!) in December to do some other travel in 2008 - namely to Australia, Spain, & Thailand. Will probably return to Argentina for 4 months in 2009, though I can't really promise anything that far away.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds good. When do you get back to BsAs from your current trip?

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

I met someone and will be heading back to BA. Anyone know anything about the coastal town Carilo, and if it would be a fun weekend destination during the winter? Thanks.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]
I met someone and will be heading back to BA. Anyone know anything about the coastal town Carilo, and if it would be a fun weekend destination during the winter? Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

The place is nice, tons of woods surrounding the beach and it looks all cute like in the pic, but winter here is a little cold and windy. And this winter is so cold it has been snowing in Buenos Aires last week wich is surreal.

Carilo :

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/6/103...b2a4dffca4.jpg


Snow at Buenos Aires!!! (I couldn't believe it):

Link to a video: http://www.clarin.com/diario/2007/07...m-01455175.htm

A compilation of pics:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/nieveatipicaenargentina/




..

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/anexos/imagen/07/689409.JPG

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

What's Buenos Aires like in late November/December, in terms of social/night life?

I know alot of the locals take vacation in the latter part of december, and that some of the places are closed/empty.

I'm planning at trip to BA in beginning of December, for my 29th bday, and I just want to make sure that I don't find it deserted, with all the locals gone to the coast and whatnot.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

BA is NEVER empty or deserted. True many go to Mar del Plata for a vacation in December, but that still leaves around 12 million or so. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Nov/Dec are fine months to come in terms of night life.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

dont want to try and hijack this thread or anything, just wanted to say anyone interested in going to live in BA for 6months, i am planning on going to live there for at least 6mnths early (Jan-Feb) next year. already have one poker friend in on it. looking to find two or three more ppl to come over and set ourselves up in a nice place/s and live it up for a while.

we are early 20's from australia and both online poker players. looking for social, easygoing, non-crazy ppl to hang with. preferably decent msnl players who would be able to contribute to poker discussions. also, being cool with going out to clubs and socializing w the local ladies is a plus as we plan on doing plenty of that [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] no concrete plans yet but im keen to get the wheels in motion within the next month. PM me if interested.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]


Nov/Dec are the best months to come in terms of night life.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

Audi / Riverplay - thanks for the info.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

ahhh of course I come in July and leave in October.
But no complaints on the night life so far!

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

are any months particularly bad in terms of nightlife or is it all good all the time? i am likely coming over from Feb til Aug '08.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

Fantastic thread!

I am a 18 year-old boy who will study (on the internet) in Buenos Aires from August to June. I will also take the "Español para extranjeros" course (2+2 hours x 17 weeks), which costs about $250.

Some questions for you Argentina-knowers on the forum:

1) Can you recommend a cheap hotel/hostel with WiFi? I haven't fixed an apartment, so I will chill down some days on a hotel and look for apartments.

2) Can you recommend a (mobile) telephone subscription for me? I won't call much and a cash card would be great.

3) Are there any age limits on the city's night clubs? Where do the young people go out to party? Is there any dress code, or is it enough with a shirt + jeans? What about shoes? Do they care?

4) Are there any low-limit poker games running? Something like 1/2, 2/4 or 3/6 would be great (or 50-100 tourneys). I'm talking about pesos.

5) Is it hard to get tickets to the Boca Juniors matches? I want to stand along with the fans as I love the team and also can the text of many of their songs. Where should I look for tickets like that? How can I see that my ticket is not fake if I buy from a street seller? And how much should I bribe the ticket collector with if my ticket is actually fake?

6) I love football (soccer) and I would like to play nearly every day. How are the fields down there? I've heard that there are lack of fields and that most of the playing grounds are kind of cages with 5v5 players. Can you give me a little information about this?

7) Are there any particular grocer's shops who are cheaper than others?

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

Didn't succeed updating my post. Here are two more questions:

8) What will it cost for a broadband router? I will probably live in a shared apartment with other students. Many of them has internet included in the price, but as I will study on the internet, I want connection in my room too.

9) Kolo/Spect: Do you have any blog we can read? What will you be doing in BsAs? Which kind of limits do you play? Im def up for a poker game when I arrive!

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

I will try to answer some of these as I just moved here and dealt with some similar things, and have also been here before:

1) I stayed at the Hostel Obelisco and liked it there. Very good wifi. A good place to search is at www.hostels.com

2) I brought my cell from the US and unlocked it. I would definitely recommend the same. Then buy a movistar (make sure it is movistar) sim card, it is between 15 and 20 pesos. Then buy a movistar card (will probably have to go elsewhere, locutorios, which are internet cafes, are the best place to go, they are 20 pesos and up). With these you receive calls and text's free. Calls out are like $.30 US per minute.

3) 18 and up. Dress code depends on the place I imagine, but think you should be fine with that. But I would wear shoes.

4) TheMeteron touches on this, just one casino, sometimes has a sit n go going..read the thread to find his post.

5) In 2003 we went to La Bombanera early in the week and bought tickets at the box office. I would not go to a street seller, you are just asking for it.

6) Don't know

7) There are 100s or 1000s of them, so that would be tough to say. And you are talking about saving not a lot of money as everything is cheap by US standards.

Hope that helps.

SD

Poker night in BsAs?
 

LuckyDevil and I have both been here almost two weeks, and want to see if anybody would like to get a game together on Tuesday night, July 31.
Play like 2-5 peso NL.

If we can get 5 or 6 people, we'll do it.

Thanks

SD

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]
are any months particularly bad in terms of nightlife or is it all good all the time? i am likely coming over from Feb til Aug '08.

[/ QUOTE ]

January is a bad month because everyione is vacationing, and feb is different each year, but u will deff find nightclubs.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]
9) Kolo/Spect: Do you have any blog we can read? What will you be doing in BsAs? Which kind of limits do you play? Im def up for a poker game when I arrive!

[/ QUOTE ]

my blogs in my profile. learn spanish, go to the gym, hang out. I've got afew months to kill so thought id spend it living somewhere else. i play 1/2nl online. Hit me up on aim if u want, thats in my profile aswell

Re: Poker night in BsAs?
 

nevermind. numerous people are out of town, and since last day of the month, people are trying to hit the next vip level.

but if anybody is up for doing this soon, hit me up with a pm or post here.

SD

Re: Poker night in BsAs?
 

Ill be back in town in 5 days or so. Might be taking a ski trip to Bariloche if anyone is interested. I might go to a home game.

Re: Poker night in BsAs?
 

cool, let's try to meetup for some poker or something next week.
i may be interested in bariloche.
saw an old thread of yours about vpn'ing into argentina from the US. were you able to make this work?
If not, and still interested, i think you can do it via proxy server. some of us were discussing this last night.

Re: Poker night in BsAs?
 

Adding a 'hello' of another 2+2er living in BsAs. I'm in for any poker or drink-based activities in the city. Buzz on me on PM.

Re: Poker night in BsAs?
 

I joined up b/c I saw this thread and enjoy poker

I'm currently studying abroad in Cordoba, Argentina, the 2nd largest city

A couple of questions I didn't see fully answered, one if the natives are friendly towards americans

I would say yes, very. I haven't received any racist comments or ill treatment, or even gotten ripped off by a cab driver. The women are very receptive as long as you realize you will have to make the first move. If you are even half fluent in spanish, you'll do fine, but as previously stated the males here are very aggressive, so women are used to males approaching them, but foreigners definitely have the upper edge

Also, as for other cities with a good city life where everything is within walking distance
I highly recommend Cordoba, even above Buenos Aires. BA can be fairly dangerous for obvious foreigners, you will often have items stolen if you are not very careful in the streets, and getting drunk in clubs can be dangerous in the ride home (ripped off by cabs or worse). BA does have the advantage of being the bigger city with the beach though


Cordoba has a population of about 2million, and I live pretty much in the exact middle of it. Theres dozens of clubs within a 10 minute walk, as well as malls, theatres, cinemas, and hundreds of cafes/restaurants/other attractions. The night life is fantastic, and I haven't run into trouble of any kind with anyone in the month I've been here. Everyone is receptive if you can speak a bit of spanish (I'm about half fluent)

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

Buenos Aires isn't remotely dangerous in my opinion. Most everyone who has ever been here will agree.

Having said that, I've never been to Cordoba so I can't comment on the differences.

Also, I have to come on here and recommend this juice bar near here that has awesome smoothies, sandwiches, soups, and salads. If you live in BsAs, check it out. A bit pricey, but its good.

http://www.puravidabuenosaires.com/

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

fly me in for visit? ill buy an hour worth of your coaching

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

im moving here in 3 weeks or so.....do you know offhand if my US atm card will work there as long as i tell my bank? (its worked in europe)

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

im moving there in 3 weeks or so.....do you know offhand if my US atm card will work there as long as i tell my bank? (its worked in europe)

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

i agree. i have not felt at all unsafe here and have walked all over.
cool, that juice bar is really close to my friends place.
can you send me the contact info for you contact person at swiss medical please?

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

I suppose it depends on what type of atm card you have.
I have a visa debit card and it works fine here.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

Well, safety here is kind of an issue. Two or three years ago kidnapping was the trendiest criminal activity. It was very supported by our local police, but people didn't want to see that...(they just wanted the low class people to be persecuted) A guy that went to high school with my cousin got murdered in occasion of kidnapping (not being the first one in the year) and his father became a political reference for a lot of people, and he was the man that produced the most massive political gathering in the las 30 years here (he is an idiot, but people really felt unsafe so the gave him a lot of recognition). I would have never went there, as I allways feels\ that asking for more safety here is the same as asking for military repression.
If u are going to walk all around the better areas, you will get along pretty well. But the city is pretty big, and there are some areas a foreigner wouldn't want to walk by during midnight (Lugano, Bajo Flores, Paternal, Once, Constitucion, La Boca, etc).
I live in Vicente Lopez, which technically is another city itself but I live blocks away from the line thats separates Buenos Aires form the Greater Buenos Aires (Gran Buenos Aires). Vicente Lopez is the richest city in the whole Buenos Aires State, being much more rich as a city than Buenos Aires City itself. Last year I went with my mother (she lives like ten blocks away form my house)to the bank (Banco Rio) to withdraw 3000 us$, she left the bank and I took her home with his car, as soon as I parked two guys went down of another car, with 45 caliber guns pointing at us and saying "give me those 3000 us$ you just withdrew or will kill the guy", when the say you something like that your odds of surviving if you give them just 1500 or not very great.
Months later something very similar happend to the mother of my current partner, they just told her "give my the bag" which she answered "no way", that lead to them hardly hitting her with the back of the gun all arounf her face which lead to several injures and hospitalization.
This same year my father was delivering his son to his mother in Villa Crespo (the neighborhood next to Palermo going west) the door of the house was open while they were chatting, two guys appeared with guns (12:00 PM) they had both of the enter the house, asked for money, jewellery pointing my father, his ex-wife and my 3 year old step brother, the took my father's car and left. The car never appeared.
I could talk also about when they pointed my mother with guns while she was inside the car, but she escaped (which was kind off reckless of her), the lady friend of my girlfriend that was rapped last year in Palermo after leaving a pub, a friend of mine whose car was robbed a couple monhts ago, or how I have being robbed all along my childhood here (money, wacths, snickers, etc).

I don't want to give the wrong impression, this is not Rio de Janeiro or San Pablo, but is not as safe as Berlin, NYC, or Rome. Cocaine here is very very cheap, very popular, and when you face a robber you will face a very high one on cocaine 80% of the time at least.

What you should do here is the following:

_Try to withdraw money from ATMS, it's better than doing it from the cashier at a bank, they sometimes tell robbers that are waiting in a car outside the bank who you are and how much you are withdrawing.

_When opening the door of your home look both sides, pay some attention to that moment. If you live in Recoleta its not taht important, but it is almost everywhere else to be sure you are entering your house without unexpected visitors.

_This is specially important for foreigners: Try to get taxis on the phone, if you are taking a taxi in the street at night it would be better if it says "Radio Taxi" or something like that. Anyone can rent a taxi here, so some people rents taxis and then they try to trap innocent people to rob them, turists are the main target as they have the sing of US DOllar printed on their forehead.

_Don't count money in the sight of anyone in the street if it is more than 100 pesos, try to be discrete with stuff like that.

_But most of all, despite all i said here, don't be scared at all. The most likely is nothing will happen to you here if you are cautious enough. I traveled a lot around here... Peru, Bolivia, Brasil, Uruguay, and I never felt as safe as I felt at other parts of the world and I have had some trouble at every place I've been around here (maybe cause I'm too fearless, and being kind of unsafe it's not a problem for me), and I can tell that the more scared you are the more you are a target for thieves and stuff. It's cool to know that someone like themetetron feels 100% safe, but I think is my duty to tell you that it's just not the safest place to be since poverty is high, education is sinking very bad, cocaine is a helluva big bussines here, and police is very very very dirty.

Re: Poker night in BsAs?
 

[ QUOTE ]
LuckyDevil and I have both been here almost two weeks, and want to see if anybody would like to get a game together on Tuesday night, July 31.
Play like 2-5 peso NL.

If we can get 5 or 6 people, we'll do it.

Thanks

SD

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't read this before, but I'm in for any poker night among 2+2 ers, and I could probably find another player if needed. It would be cool to do something like that.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]
I suppose it depends on what type of atm card you have.
I have a visa debit card and it works fine here.

[/ QUOTE ]

same..nice

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]
im moving here in 3 weeks or so.....do you know offhand if my US atm card will work there as long as i tell my bank? (its worked in europe)

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. I didn't even have to tell my bank. This is for WaMu/ING Direct. Your bank may vary.

Re: Ask TheMetetron about living in or visiting Buenos Aires, Argentin
 

[ QUOTE ]
i agree. i have not felt at all unsafe here and have walked all over.
cool, that juice bar is really close to my friends place.
can you send me the contact info for you contact person at swiss medical please?

[/ QUOTE ]

PM me or something.

For anyone that sends me PMs and doesn't get responses (apparently this is happening more than I reaize), ask me for my AIM in a private message. That is by far the best way to get an answer out of me as I have a horrible habit of intending to get around to a question later and then not.

Re: Poker night in BsAs?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
LuckyDevil and I have both been here almost two weeks, and want to see if anybody would like to get a game together on Tuesday night, July 31.
Play like 2-5 peso NL.

If we can get 5 or 6 people, we'll do it.

Thanks

SD

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't read this before, but I'm in for any poker night among 2+2 ers, and I could probably find another player if needed. It would be cool to do something like that.

[/ QUOTE ]

If someone wants to get this going for sometime next week, that would be cool.


Also, RiverPlay is correct in a lot of what he says, but I guess I'm assuming none of you are going to leave Microcentro/Recoleta/Palermo/San Telmo area at night. If you don't you won't have anything to worry about. There is a huge part of the city that is just crap that none of us ever wander into but if you somehow did, I'd imagine it being fairly dangerous.

Also, yes make sure your taxi says "Radio Taxi" on it, especially if traveling alone and/or at night. You learn to pick these up off the street, but if in doubt, just call one.