I recently spent a month working remotely in Argentine’s capital city of Buenos Aires (BsAs). I stayed in the Palermo Soho area at an AirBnB with good wifi and extremely cheap rent.
The first few days were rough between the language/culture barrier and traveling solo, but I quickly got my routine down. Here are some observations.
Language and Culture
- “ll” is “jeh” instead of Spain/Mexico “ya”. “para llevar” = “par-ah jeh-var”.
- Some Italian words can be interchanged. Ciao for goodbye, but not hello. Permesso for passing by someone or permission to enter a dwelling.
- Argentine (and other South American countries) use the decimal place to denote thousands and comma to represent partial numbers. For example 1,234.56 would be 1.234,56
- 10AM is early and dinner is strictly at 21:00. The late-night culture is very real.
- I did an AirBnB experience to a local football match (River Plate vs Atletico Tucuman) and would highly recommend it. It was rowdy!
- The away-team fans are not let into the stadium because of how violent it can get. The pep band played the entire time. The crowd screamed the entire time. I learned some new curse words that night.
- Foosball “metegol” is popular, no spins allowed!
- The keys all look dungeon style and you need one to exit buildings as well as enter the front doors.
- I assumed a lot more people would have spoken English in BsAs because it’s a huge city, but was surprised to find the opposite.
- “Lali” is like Argentinian Ariana Grande and I love her.
- People love their dogs and dressing them up. Canine couture.
- No 5g, LTE only, but it is reliable.
- Drivers will run you over. I’ve never seen so many pedestrians actually pay attention to traffic. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a mom with a baby stroller run from traffic.
- 2nd best bidets after Japan in my life. They are a separate unit, water sprays directly up. USA get your shit together, literally.
- “Truco” is a card/mind game. I was discouraged to play it as a foreigner. It literally means trick. It sounds kind of like poker?
Money $$
- Use cash for everything to save some major bucks!
- The unofficial exchange rate is double the official exchange rate. Somewhat of a black market situation.
- Western Union will pay out at the unofficial exchange rate, so I went this route to send money to myself online with my debit card.
- 1 USD = 213 ARS, then paid for everything in cash.
- It was frustrating trying to find “main” branches for the payout. If you are doing smaller amounts the plethora of WUs should be able to handle it.
- A nice dinner with drinks in a trendy area was coming out to 3,000 ARS or only about $15.
- Can exchange USD or CAD (and probably others) at a Cambio, you will see the signs everywhere on the streets.
- Can use Credit Card (tarjeta) for almost everything but you can’t tip with it. Will get official currency exchange this way and pay about double.
- Recommended tip is 10% at restaurants.
- Don’t get ripped off! Check your receipts before you pay. I had “habano cubano” (Cuban Cigar) get added to my check a few times for 5,000 ARS that I definitely did not order.
Food
- 3 empanadas is a lot more filling than it looks.
- Pizza is thicc compared to Italy/thin crust American. It will also come with olives.
- Lots of shops will sell coffee drinks, but it seems normal to use instant coffee at home (and instant for-pay on the plane).
- Alfajores are corn meal cookies with sweet paste in layers. Delish.
- Choripán is chorizo with chimichurri and other flavors (I had guac). Think of a bratwurst on crack.
- Limes are rare. It’s hard to find lemonade and you will be squirting lemon on your tacos and tequila shots.
- Mate and Fernet are not my favorite beverages, and I don’t get the appeal. I’m glad I tried both though.
Iguazú Falls
- Stayed in the town of Puerto Iguazú and recommend the Argentina side if you want to “get in there”.
- Bus goes directly to the park from the town every 30 minutes for 400 ARS.
- Both Flybondi and Jetsmart offer cheap plane tickets from BsAs.
- Must purchase your tickets to the national park online beforehand.
- Highly suggest the “Great Adventure”. Book the day or two before online. http://iguazujungle.com/eng/paseo-gran-aventura.php
- The “Devil’s Throat” is a must see. Terrifyingly beautiful. Unprompted my host says “a lot of people commit suicide there, it’s hard not to just jump in.”
Random
- I was close to the US embassy and figured I could check it out as a citizen. Apparently not! Just for trying to take a picture I got chased off with the guard whistling.
- I went to an Irish bar that had German beer steins and played strictly American Country music.
- The planetarium was a great experience and highly recommend it!
- MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) art museum was great and can be knocked out in an evening.