A Gringo in Buenos Aires » Opinions

Buenos Aires: Why Are You Here?

Tim Gringo in BA — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:00:29 +0000

It’s a puzzle to many Argentinean people. Why do so many people from so-called ‘first world’ countries such as the UK and the USA choose to leave those countries and live in Buenos Aires instead? A lot of Argentines would give their eye teeth to live in a first world country – with the standard of living that entails – so why is there so much traffic in the opposite direction?

Three reasons for becoming a BA expat

For foreigners who have a lot of savings denominated in a first world currency, or for anyone able to earn an income denominated in a first world currency while they live here, then the answer might be simple: in order to enjoy a higher standard of living by leveraging off of a favorable exchange rate. In other words: money.

(Interestingly, a recently published ranking of 214 world cities in order of how cheap they are for expatriates put Buenos Aires at 161, the third cheapest South American city behind only Bolivia’s La Paz at 211 and Paraguay’s Asunción at 204.)

So there’s that. But that can’t be the only reason, because many expats who live in Buenos Aires don’t have that much money. In fact, many work for local wages and just barely scrape by, with inflation squeezing them further all the time.

What about love? In any expat crowd there’ll always be a significant fraction of people who’ve fallen in love with a local and stayed in their country in order to be with them.

Money, love…then there are the people who are here just because they wanted new experiences. Extreme familiarity with the country of your birth can, at least for some people, breed contempt. Living in a different country means that things aren’t as predictable day-to-day as they are back home, and while that’s scary at times, it also makes you feel alive and fully engaged with your surroundings.

A different way of life

We’re still missing something though, and maybe it’s this: living in a first world country is not all that’s it’s cracked up to be in the first place. Sure, if you’d never been to (for example) the USA, and most of your information about it came from movies, music and TV shows, then you might think it was some sort of paradise where everyone has great teeth and lives in an amazing apartment in a big city despite having a menial job (…Friends, I’m looking at you). The reality, as anyone reading this will know, is somewhat different. For example, there are still lots of poor people. Living in a rich country doesn’t automatically make you rich. Wages are higher, but so are living costs.

And even if you are rich you might not be happy, because the fact is that having two cars and a flat screen TV in every room doesn’t make you any happier. What does make you happier is more time spent enjoying life with friends and family, and that’s exactly what many people in the first world sacrifice in order to work hard enough to get a lot of material possessions.

Life in Buenos Aires is a little different. The pace is slower, the day is longer. Different things take priority: in many first world countries, it’s all about the ‘5 Cs’ – Credit Card, Condo, Car and Cash. Here it’s the ‘4 Fs’ – Fútbol, Family, Food and Friends. Many people would prefer the 4 Fs to the 5 Cs, or would if they tried the switch!

Ultimately, if it’s a different way of life that you’re looking for, then living overseas as an expat is a win/win: either you’ll find something that you like better and stay, or you’ll return home with a new appreciation of your homeland.

Finally

Money, love, new experiences, a different way of life…yep, that sounds like a pretty good list. And surely reason enough to put up with a little bad pizza and dog shit on the sidewalks!

Colonia Del Sacramento…Is Great? Why You Should Go to Colonia

Tim Gringo in BA — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:03:21 +0000

Most people will find that Colonia falls well short of expectations (Read Why You Shouldn’t Go to Colonia). But is it utterly impossible to like? No, not at all. With a suitable readjustment of expectations it’s perfectly possible to pass an enjoyable day trip or overnight stay in this little town on the river AND refresh your tourist visa at the same time.

Without further ado here are three things to like about going to Colonia:

The boat ride is great.

Maybe Colonia itself doesn’t have so many attractions, but oddly enough getting there is half the fun. The trick here is to take the slower Buquebus ferry rather than the faster catamaran. On board you’ll find that you can easily fill a very pleasant three hours as the ferry slowly crosses the river. How is this possible? It’s possible because the ferry is incredible well-equipped, offering live music from a pair of tango singers in a large open space amidships, arcade games, table soccer, reasonable food at reasonable prices, and a large outdoor top deck with a bar. If you’re sleepy from a late night there are lots of comfy seats you can snooze in for an hour or so, and best of all there’s an excellent duty free shop with lots of tempting things to buy (the range of food is particularly good).

It’s pretty and peaceful.

Maybe it’s not so necessary for Colonia to wow you with its exciting attractions. After all, Buenos Aires offers all the excitement you could want; maybe you’ve had all the stimulation you could want lately and you actually just want to get away from it all. Perfect! Go to Colonia on a nice day, take a book and a blanket, find yourself a good spot (maybe in the Plaza Mayor or somewhere by the water), and while away a few hours doing absolutely nothing. There’s no traffic to speak of, and nothing else to disturb you other than the odd stray dog coming to say hello.

When you get hungry the restaurants of the old quarter are only a few steps away no matter where you find yourself. If you don’t know which to choose, Don Pedro is an uncomplicated little spot with nice outdoor seating on the Plaza Mayor. After dinner you can stroll to a one of several ice-cream parlors in the area for a little helado dessert. What’s not to like about that plan?

There are nice places to watch the sunset.

Buenos Aires is so flat and built-up that it’s pretty hard to get a wide view of anything. Not so in Colonia, where the tallest structure is the frankly unimpressive lighthouse, and where there are plenty of places to drink a beer and watch the sun go down over the river. The pub/restaurant La Luna is one of the best places to do this from, or head to El Torreón (the tower) for the elevated view. An added bonus is that at this time of day the low angle of the sun makes the ordinarily dull brown River Plate sparkle silver. All together now: ahhhhh.

Read: Colonia Del Sacramento…Sucks? Why You Shouldn’t Go to Colonia

What are your thoughts? Is Colonia worth going to? Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know!

Colonia Del Sacramento…Sucks? Why You Shouldn’t Go to Colonia

Tim Gringo in BA — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:53:10 +0000

An excerpt from a facebook wall conversation I had with a friend as I sat in a café in Colonia diddling around with my iPhone….

I forgot my drivers license so I couldn’t rent a motorcycle, so I rented a golf cart. After about an hour here you run out of things to do and the only ferry returning to BsAs today is at 8:30 at night. With that said, the last couple hours my boredom has led me to driving around like an idiot in my golf cart, losing money at a casino, falling asleep in a cafe and now currently ripping Internet off a hotel while I drink a beer as I await my ferry which will be in another 3 hrs. A cute little town, but 12 hrs here is a bit too much.

It’s impossible to live the expat life in Buenos Aires for very long before becoming aware of the existence of Colonia del Sacramento, commonly referred to as simply ‘Colonia.’ That’s mostly because it’s a short boat ride from Buenos Aires that offers the opportunity to renew your three-month tourist visa (it’s across the Río de la Plata in Uruguay).

Colonia is not just a ‘visa run’ destination for perma-tourist expats though. It’s also a popular tourist attraction in its own right. This popularity is not surprising, as its old quarter has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and sources including Lonely Planet heap praise such as “its charms attract visitors from all over the world” upon it.

So there’s no doubt that Colonia has good marketing. But is it actually as interesting or fun a destination as they’d have us believe? Let’s take a look at what you can do in Colonia:

• Walk around the old quarter and thrill to sights such as cobblestone streets, a pile of rubble that used to be a convent, and one small, old church;

• Hire a golf cart so you can slowly drive around the streets of the old quarter instead of walking

• Eat at a touristy, mediocre and overpriced restaurant serving exactly the same food you get in Buenos Aires;

• Take photos that will make your friends back home think that maybe they aren’t so jealous of your jet-setting ways after all;

• Read a novel that you brought with you (a very good idea);

• Go to the ‘beach,’ a long stretch of river sand fronting a flat, brown expanse of water containing the poo of literally millions of Porteños;

• Get charged far too much for accommodation;

• Try to avoid the mosquitoes, which at various times of the day number in the trillions and settle on anyone moving at less than a full sprint like a thick, black cloud;

• Think for a moment you are in a small boring town in the middle of Iowa before realizing no, you are in the famous Colonia, a must see destination

• Lose money playing slot machines at the Casino which are specifically designed to suck the money out of desperate tourists who are so bored they don’t mind losing money for 4 hours straight

• Purchase some tourist tat you’ll unquestionably throw away when you leave Buenos Aires; and

• Climb to the top of the lighthouse, where you can marvel at a view of some cobblestone streets, a few houses and a large, flat, brown expanse of water containing the poo of millions of Porteños.

Excited yet? Given its skull-numbing dullness, the strange thing about Colonia is that if you ask other expats what it’s like they’ll invariably talk it up, if mildly. “Oh yes,” they’ll say, “it’s…very nice.” “Quite good.” “Really not bad at all.” “Cute, with places to eat AND places to sleep.” “It has…erm…golf carts and stuff.”

So why is this? It’s because they were told Colonia was worthwhile, and because it doesn’t suck quite enough for them to return to Buenos Aires and confront people they probably don’t know very well about it (“Hey you! You jerk; you told me Colonia was interesting! I demand satisfaction!”), they feel that they have no choice but to fall into line and perpetuate the Colonia,-really-it’s-quite-interesting myth. Like robots. Dare to be different.

Read: Why You SHOULD Go to Colonia

What are your thoughts? Is Colonia worth going to? Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know!