[TheMetetron]

Thing I Hate About Buenos Aires


- The dog walkers who have 30 dogs on their leash and let them take a crap anywhere on the street without picking it up. I don't know who picks it up but eventually its gone. Still, around the time all the dog walkers are out there is way too much crap on the ground.

- The way Argentine business are run. They are never on time for anything. Never. When I arrived I had to wait for 2 hours in front of my apartment building with all my luggage in a country I'd never been to before waiting for them to show up and let me in. Then when I got in, the chick didn't speak English and I had to wait another 30 minutes for an English speaking guy to come. Last night we reserved a room at this restaurant for 5. We get there and the area where our room was supposed to be in was closed and they had a reservation for 4 with no available tables for 5. This is surprisingly standard.

- The complexity of the bus system. This is good and bad. It's really easy to get around using buses, but there isn't a good map for sale anywhere. I picked up the "Guia T" which is the best you can get, but it is horribly put together. I take the subway and taxis everywhere for this reason. On the other hand, my friends who know the bus network swear by it and I'm sure once I figure it out it is an awesome way to get around for 26 cents.

- Cost of flights into and out of BsAs. It is a pretty isolated city geographically compared to the rest of the world. Even South Africa which isn't really that far away is expensive, because flights have to go through London. It is going to cost me at least $1,300 to get to Europe and trip home to the States are about the same price round trip. Luckily, most places in South America can be reached via very cheap buses. I think it was $30 or maybe a bit more for a friend to get to Bolivia.

- Watching the Super Bowl with Spanish commentators. There was a bar here that for U$S 25 would let you watch the American feed... yeah that's not happening. It wasn't so bad though being with friends and talking throughout the whole game. Rex is a joke.

- Apparently a lot of restaurants close between 3pm-8pm. I haven't experienced this yet, but apparently it is very common. Argentines eat a later dinner in case you didn't notice.

- Feeling like you are going to die every time you are in a cab. Sometimes the cab feels like it is going to explode. The rest of the time, people here have no idea how to drive and make 4 lane roads into 7 lane roads. Traffic laws are merely suggestions, but they do seem to follow the no right on red rule.

- For a city called Good Air, the air quality isn't that great. It is mostly the horrible buses that do it and luckily we get an offshore breeze to blow the pollution away, but if you are standing on the street and one of the buses drives by you, good luck trying not to cough.

- There is also more litter than there should be for a city with trash cans on every corner. I'm not sure what the story is here. Argentines can't really be that lazy. It isn't horribly bad or anything, but there shouldn't be any with the way the system is set up.

- Nobody can make [censored] change anywhere. Paying with a AR$100 bill is a pain in the ass (about U$S 33). Almost no one will have change without going back to the safe... and they never look happy about it.

- Buses/subways striking. I haven't experienced this either, but apparently large parts of the city can get shut down when everyone decides they want to strike. You won't get stuck in the middle of the subway line or anything, but this is how people get around and it [censored] things up a lot.

- The high cost of electronics. There is a 50% import tax on electronics and everything is imported. In addition to a 21% VAT on everything you buy, the price of consumer electronics is pretty high if you buy them here. Bring everything you want with you. Once you are here for a while you start to find friends that are going back for a bit or know people coming. It's not uncommon for them to pick up some stuff for you.