We. Are. Not. Brits.

All sorts of craziness going on about the 30th Anniversary of the Falkland War right now.

First, Argentina doesn't allow two cruise boats to dock in BA.

Then, four days ago, the Economist and the BBC and a bunch of Brit magazines publish rather scathing commentaries about how Argentina is cooking the books on its economy.

Now (Feb 29th, 2012), Argentina is doing its damndest to cut off all trade with the UK.

A few hours later, the Brits call this a "policy of confrontation." And urges them to stop.

Take a stroll and you'll see lots of t-shirts and graffiti along the lines of "They're the Maldivinas not Falklands."

Interesting to see how this one plays out, especially in the wake of Meryl Streep's Oscar win this week as the Iron Lady, whose claim to fame was this very fight.

By the way, Argentina: We are Canadian. We have no stake in this one.

Update:

Argentina has since offered to provide flights to the Falklands from Buenos Aires. Olive branch or scheme? No one is quite sure yet.

Seeing how Argentina controls the airspace, and the only means to the island, the locals there are understandably skeptical.

With the turbulence going on with the economy - this could all be a giant distraction - much like the original Falklands War.

Update - March 17, 2012

Argentina has an ally in Chile. They're chumming up with the UAE. They're standing behind Cuba, with Brazil. And they're putting the gears to Spain. With some big guns nearby, Argentina is clamping down on all oil speculating in the Falklands. A move the British are calling "harassment." The Brits are without an aircraft carrier. It's rather convenient that we know this.

Rooftop Terrace

'

The kids love the pool.

A Day in Buenos Aires

The kids won't sleep. They've started living Buenos Aires-style: Two-hour siestas, nonexistent bed-times, and groggy mornings at 9. The problem is, late nights for them mean late nights for me. I wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't for Kipper.

Here are the last few days in images.

The Subway Hustlers

Riding the Subte in Buenos Aires you meet a rotating cast of characters who makes pleas and presentations to a trapped audience. Not sure if it is their custom or not, but we found that the first ones up were the homeless. He'd give a loud, wailing, two-minute speech about how he had no food, or work, or family. People would give him money and he'd move on. Next up are the charity groups selling baked goods. Then come the street hustlers pushing random items like maps and guidebooks. One scheme I thought was rather clever was to give everyone on the subway colourful pages of stickers. They were high quality with only a 3 peso price tag. After handing them all out, he returns a few minutes later to either collect the stickers back or his money. If you have kids, that's long enough for them to fall in love with the blue and pink princesses and shiny robots.

Dancing In The Streets

We saw some tango downtown. It's one hell of a sexy dance. But not without a touch of sadness. A grey-haired man with a great voice and a black scarf around his neck danced with this fiery young thing in a fine black hat and fishnet stockings and a slit up her skirt, which in retrospect may have been his daughter. He slipped on the slick street stones one minute in, but he bounded back to his feet. I was thinking hip replacement, but he was drawing cheers. The way these dancers could hustle a crowd was impressive.

Street Art

Lots of terrible and idiotic graffiti here. But you can find the odd pocket of cool street art.

Painting At The Park

This is another good idea they have for kids here. They set up a row of easels and paints for kids to unleash their inner Van Gogh.

The Round

My kids are always pulling on my pant legs and saying, "The Round, The Round." It's 2speak for 'Merry-Go-Round'. They have these excellent and bizarre mini-amusement parks for kids everywhere in Buenos Aires.

You think after all the insistence that they'd actually enjoy going in circles on the dilapidated old wooden merry-go-round, but they don't. Olive grimaces the whole time she circumnavigates in her plane. Holden kicks and screams when I try to put him in the tank, or cars or, god forbid, on a horse. Instead he sinks token after token into the unsafe-by-all-North-American-standards helicopter and slams the controls with his fists and feet, jarring radically from left to right, up and down, with a wild smile on his face. But he won't go near the carousel.

Despite their fear of The Round, they make a scene every time they're asked to leave, and run towards the place every chance they get. And all I ever hear is "The Round. The Round." Crazy pookas.

The Ants, They Tickles

My kids are obsessed with ants. I hope this will one day reflect in their work ethic. Olive likes to pick up the frantic little guys and have them crawl on her arms and legs. They're crazy about the beetles here too. They have that Hruschak bug-loving gene.

We do this thing where we go over our day in Buenos Aires before we put them to sleep. We all lay down in their bedroom with the lights out and recap our day. Olive always talks about the round, and the ants, they tickles and the bears fighting. (That was from the zoo, two weeks ago, but it is amazing what sticks in their heads.) Holden talks about how he liked hanging out with Shaun and Niki and Aaron. And ice cream.

Usually this gets them to fall asleep. But some nights, no dice.

Broken Tooth

Maria broke a crown the other day.

I brought her to the dentist. They ran a sophisticated operation: Top of the line equipment, electronic impressions, specialized assistants. Despite all the bells and whistles, dental work is half price down here.

I think I may have been off on my cost of living comparison.

New Digs

I'm sitting under the stars on our outdoor terrace in Buenos Aires.

It's 21 degrees and totally silent besides the faint whirring of a fan downstairs.

We've doubled our square footage and fractioned our rent. Things are looking up.

Carnaval

Bubbles, drums, spray foam. What's not to love?

Lots of kids running around, having fun.

Now - Lent.

Bad News

Over 600 injured and 49 dead in today's horrible train accident in Buenos Aires.

Money In Buenos Aires

We are moving into a new place tomorrow.

This means I have to put down a damage deposit and one month's rent in one go.

In Buenos Aires, the landlords want the money in USD. They don't take pesos. They don't take credit cards. And here in lies the rub.

I need $3000 USD in less than 24 hours.

The banks only disperse pesos. But the most they will give out at a time is 1000 pesos (about $230). To make one transaction is 17 pesos ($4). And they cut you off after each one. I think you can wander from bank to bank doing the same thing 13 times, but I'm not sure. I had to call back to Canada and make sure I could exceed my daily withdrawal amount.

They say you can do cash advances on your credit card - but I haven't found that to be the case.

So, to get $3000 USD, you have to make over 13 withdrawals at $4 a pop. Not to mention the banks at home charge you each time too. We figure to just withdraw the rent money, we're looking at $70 USD. Then, you need to exchange it from pesos to dollars - where we'll probably lose another $70.

To make matters worse, I just found out my brand new credit card was being used to buy things on Ebay. I don't have an Ebay account.

And suddenly, we have a miracle moment.

Turns out, if your card needs to be replaced in a foreign country, Visa can send you emergency cash. I asked for $3000 and I got $3000. I can pick it up at the Western Union tomorrow. It was only because the stars aligned that I can get money with no fees, and not spending all day searching for ATMs. So, to whomever bought that antique deer foot lamp in my name, and on my card - thank you!

UPDATE: Nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

Shaun and I called the Western Union office the next day and they sent us on a wild goose chase around Palermo. Turns out, none of the WU offices in Buenos Aires have USD. They can only give out pesos. We met a lady in line who said that everyone who rents in Buenos Aires shares our plight. After the peso crashed 10 years ago, all landlords will take is American Dollars. However, because the government is so worried about people draining their bank accounts and stockpiling American cash, they have limited the amount you can have. According to this lady, it is a complicated process. They analyze your tax records, and then tell you how much American money you can get each month. It's an absurd situation if you need a bunch of USD to pay your rent. The Western Union office told us there was a cap of USD$300 they could give out per person per month. So getting $3000 was out of the question. In the end, we got the money in pesos, and paid an outrageous exchange rate (4.46) set out by the rental company.

More Idiosyncrasies

Here are a few more of the differences I've noticed about Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires is Sinking

They love their liquidacion sales here. Pretty much every store has a 50-60% sale going on. But these aren't fire sales, or a clearance sales, or match-missed sales or overstocked sales - they're liquicidacion sales - every last one of them.

Cold enough for ya?

Maria pointed out that you can buy bras here with built-in "nipples." Hmm.

Buses

These things are whimsical works of art. This picture is an insult to justice. They have the numbers and routes painted right on them and they look amazing. I'm leaving this in Maria's court.

Bottle Deposits

You get 2.2 pesos back every time you return a 1 litre bottle. But you can only spend that money on more beer. There are worse fates, I guess.

Had my third person ask me for directions the other day. This time I actually knew what they were talking about.

Claro

When I first got here I thought Claro was the biggest district in Buenos Aires. Turns out they are a cell phone company that has ad space on every street sign in the city. Reminds me a bit of the Infinite Jest.

Off To The Races

Last night we went to the Hipodromo to watch the horse races. In Buenos Aires, they don't mess around.

The sport of kings deserves a palace, and you should have seen this place - it was a marble masterpiece. I felt like we were in ancient Rome on our way to watch the Gladiators. The entire track was beautiful - and opulent - with ornate statues, wide open stone courtyards, lush green trees surrounding the immense track, transporting us from a city of 15.2 million into a pocket of paradise enveloped by jungle.



The horses galloped right up to the rail and you could almost touch them. The jockeys would turn to return the cheers of the animated crowd, yelling back and forth in Spanish.

All the old men betting seemed more Italian than Spanish. There was a lot of hand waving and gesturing and yelling and ticket ripping going on.

It was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time. They met some little friends and played soccer.



Tonight - Carnaval.

Jardin Japonais

We stumbled across the Japanese Gardens today.


Look ma, ahi esta, past the deep grasses filled with mosquitos.

They were very beautiful.



But we had a hard time tapping into our inner zen, with it being 36 degrees and all.


One hot pooka.

I did find that damn bridge from all the postcards though.





Maria is getting jealous of my mad iPhone camera skillz.

1-800-RUK-1ZLV

I now have a 1-800 number. It's toll free for calls from Canada or the US.

It's very easy to remember:

1-800-785-1958
or 1-800-RUK-1ZLV

I've also been making use of Skype phone. It's 2c a minute to call Canada or BA. And the sound is crystal-clear.

The only issue - our best reception is right next to the router in the 'smoking room' where the owner keeps all her pictures of horses on the wall, and the A/C is nonexistent. We call it the sweat lodge. After a ten minute chat I'm soaked through my shirt, thanks to the worst heat wave in 65 years.


Other ways to reach us:

My cell phone here is:
54 9 11 6358 3592

To call from BA
15 6358 3592

Our landline phone here is:
11 4807 3596

To call from BA
4807 3596

Sickness And In Health

Well, it's bound to happen when you go abroad: You get sick eventually.

Olive got it first. She started vomiting in the supermarket on Sunday night. Luckily we had a change of clothes for her.

Then Maria got sick the next night, and I got it yesterday. Holden, so far has escaped unscathed. We aren't sure if it's food poisoning or a flu, but we've been wiped out for the last 24 hours. No fun.

A Lazy Saturday in Palermo

So, sunny, uh, what to do?
I know, let's alienate our readers.


Dad, I want to see the giraffes.
Okay, pooka. Let's go.


Red Cross Tank, kickin' ass.


We love you, BA. But c'mon.


Yay, Merry-go-round.


Yes, yay.

The Little Things

A few more of the idiosyncrasies that make Argentina magical.

RED. YELLOW. GREEN.

The traffic lights here are backwards. They warn you when to go, as opposed to when to stop. All that's missing is a pretty girl dropping a handkerchief.



CHILD-FRIENDLY

Our kids have never received so much attention. BA locals have no reservations about tickling their knees on the subway, rubbing their heads, talking directly to them, or helping us carry the cart up the subway steps. Super friendly people here. And they absolutely love kids.



STEAKS

Okay, so far this is a let-down. I was expecting great steaks. Argentina is renowned for great steaks. But everything I get at the supermarket is crappy steaks thinly sliced into five worse steaks. You buy what you think is a rib-eye and you end up with a bunch of minute steaks stacked on top of each other. I still need to figure this one out.

QUEUES

People stand in long line-ups here just to make a phone call. At least that's what I think they're doing. They circle the block to get to the Telecentro.

WHO

Everyone seems to do their grocery shopping at 8 pm. You'll see kids in the park at midnight.

STREET STONES

There is no consistency in the street stones here. It took me a while to figure it out, but my guess is that all the sidewalks are privately owned. That's why the building materials are all over the map.



A few more differences between Argentina and Canada here.

I've had three people ask me for directions already. Maybe I'm turning Argentine, I'm turning Argentine, I really think so.

The Cost of Living in Buenos Aires

As a whole, I’d say that life in BA is about 75% of the cost of Vancouver.

A few things are about the same price, like anything with a North American brand (ie Huggies, Jack Daniels and Dijon Mustard). Actually diapers are more expensive, which is no fun when you have twins. And, like most sunny climes, they gouge you on sunscreen, aloe and that kind of stuff, which is a real drag when you have a wicked sunburn - like I do now. But, all else considered, mas o menos most things are a bit cheaper.

Ready to get thorough? Seriously thinking about living abroad? Here are some numbers to crunch.

The exchange right now is 1 CAD to 4.36 Argentine Pesos (ARS).

(Beautiful blue skies in a city of 15.2 million)

RENT

Our rent is a little more than we paid back home, but we are living in the most expensive district, Palermo Chico. It’s next to a lot of parks for the kids. If we were in Vancouver, we’d be in Coal Harbour. It’s safe and leafy.

Padmapper pound for pound comparision?

2-bedroom (800 sq ft) near Stanley Park and English Bay $2700/month.

We’re paying just a little over half of that ($1500) and that’s vacation rental prices.

We’re planning on moving to San Telmo next month - which I gather is more like Main St. - a bit more our style. You can get a fully furnished, temporary rental two-bedroom there for about $1000/month.

As an interesting aside, all of the beautiful old buildings in Palermo are covered in graffiti. After the economy crashed in 2000, perhaps this affluent area was targeted by vandals - in a ‘let them eat cake’ kind of way. Another thing I’ve noticed about this city is how unassuming everyone dresses here. No flashy jewelry, no fancy cars, or showy signs of wealth. I haven’t seen a single LV bag, or high-idling Ferrari. It’s about as opposite as you can get from Hong Kong.

(Grandeur for all)

LIQUOR

Beer is cheap. You can buy a litre of local beer from the supermarket for 5 pesos (about a buck fifteen). Everyone seems to be drinking Stella, it’s been on sale since we’ve been here for 7.95 pesos for a litre. That’s about a $1.82.

ed note - the sale ended today. :(

Local whiskey is about $10/litre. It’s not the worst tasting stuff in the world. You can get Bacardi rum for $11/bottle. All the other brands are the same price as Canada.

(Seemed like our kinda drink)

COMMUNICATIONS

Dirt cheap. I bought a SIM card for my phone. I thought the guy made a mistake when he charged me 10 pesos. But nope, that’s what they cost here. Then I topped up my credits for 20 pesos. Getting my phone set up was a huge pain in the ass though. Making your way through a labyrinth of menus in Spanish is no fun (even if you speak Spanish, I can’t imagine it would be fun). The guy at the store was nice enough to help me.

Our Internet is free with our place. I’m estimating we’re saving $300/month on communications being here. (I used to spend a fortune with Rogers, then Maria had an Android, plus Internet at the office and at home.) Canada has the most expensive phone plans in the world.

One guy wrote a great blog post about getting a SIM card in Buenos Aires and the phone system here in general. He's right, it's a huge pain. It's one thing to get the SIM card, and a whole other thing to charge it. This guy wrote a good article about how to add credit to your Movistar phone in Buenos Aires, but the system's changed since he wrote it.

So after straining to understand a voice-recorded operator rattle off Spanish for an hour, and pressing random buttons, I finally figured it out, and wrote my own: here is the latest about How To Add Credits To Your Phone In Buenos Aires.

(Nothing good comes easy)

FOOD

When you have pair of rambunctious two-year-olds, the most hurt you get in the pocket is always going to be food. The crazy little monsters eat constantly. So, I spend a lot of time in supermarkets. I know Buy-Low like an old friend, but I also once checked out IGA in Kerrisdale for a more accurate representation of the real price of Vancouver. I’ll use these as the benchmarks against the Disco I go to here (it’s a supermarket, but the muzak is just as bad). These Vancouver prices were recorded last year, so you’ll need to factor in inflation - which has been in the double-digits for certain foodstuffs since 2010. Argentina inflation is around 24% overall.

Prices per pound converted into Canadian dollars.

These are “value” buys btw.

Avocados

Buenos Aires - 1.36

IGA - 2.19

Buy-Low - 1.28

Apples

Buenos Aires - 1.25

IGA - 1.88

Buy-Low - .99

Red peppers

Buenos Aires - 1.36

IGA - 3.79

Buy-Low - 1.99

Bananas

Buenos Aires - 0.94

IGA - .79

Buy-Low - .68

Go figure on this one?

Pears

Buenos Aires - 1.25

IGA - 1.49

Buy Low - 1.28

Milk (litre)

Buenos Aires - 1.49

IGA - 1.37

Buy Low - 1.19

Free range eggs (dozen)

Buenos Aires 2.76

IGA 5.55

Buy Low 4.99

Steak

Buenos Aires 9.65/kg (their steaks are weird here - see next post)

IGA (rib eye) 24.21/kg

Buy-Low (rib eye) 19.82/kg

Chicken (whole roasted)

Buenos Aires 7.35

IGA 8.99

Buy Low 8.99

Bread

Buenos Aires 4.14

IGA 4.39

Buy-Low 3.99

Huggies

BA 0.36 each

Vancouver 0.25 each

Crazy, looking at it now, good ol’ Buy-Low was actually cheaper except for steak, eggs and peppers. Hmm. That’s not good. Another thing to factor in - these are Palermo Chico supermarket prices, which could be totally inflated as well.

(Pooka in San Telmo)

TRANSPORTATION

We don’t have a vehicle here. But gasoline is about the same as Canada (around a buck and a quarter a litre). We are going to take the subway today to get to San Telmo. But I imagine it’s about 5 pesos (half price). Okay, just got back from San Telmo, it was actually 2.5 pesos each (or about 60 cents).

OTHER

It seems that plastic stuff from China is actually more expensive here (crappy kids’ toys, etc). But other than that, if you buy local Argentine stuff, it can be much cheaper.

Coming down here, I went off this website - Numbeo cost of living calculator between Vancouver and Buenos Aires. Which had me convinced that life down here would be 66% of what it is in Vancouver. Not so. At least not after one week.

Although these stats are very interesting.

I did drop in with a realtor though. To get a 900 sq ft, 2-bedroom in Palermo Chico near the parks (think Coal Harbour in Vancouver) with a gym, pool, spa, sunny outdoor terrace, the works, it was $415,000.

Checking out MLS.ca the closest comparison would be a 2-bedroom, 1000 sq foot place on Alberni near Stanley Park for $1.2 million.

So as a benchmark, I’d say that’s about a third of the price of Vancouver’s ridiculous real estate market. That’s what tips the scales.

Time to reflect on the patio.

(My Buenos Aires theme music)

How To Charge Your MoviStar Phone In Buenos Aires

This will drive you to madness if you don’t speak Spanish. So I hope this helps.

Before me, this guy had a great, and very helpful blog post about how to add credit to your Movistar phone. I think the system has changed since he wrote the post, however, so here is an updated version if you are charging from with recharge card (tarjeta de recharga).

After a bit of mucking around, the trick I found was:

1. Buy a recharge card from a corner store. If they sell candy and gum, they probably sell phone cards. You can get 20 or 30 peso credits (probably more, but that’s all I found).

2. Scratch the number off the back.

3. Call *444.

3. Wait for the Movistar girl to say something in rapid-fire Spanish, then Press 2.

4. Press 2 again.

5. Then press 1.

6. Now, enter your 16-digit recharge number that you had to scratch your card to get. You need to do it fast, or they log you out.

7. And that’s it. They’ll send you some crazy-sounding texts and you’re good to go.

Heat Wave

It's been unreasonably unseasonable here. Yesterday was 38 degrees.

Nothing gets done between noon and 4, but the nights are nice.

The paper's writing about it: Suffocating Heat in the Buenos Aires Herald

A Day In The Life

Our street - Ugarteche.


The building across the way.


Mom and Olive at the park. Love the sand in the play areas.


Mighty twins.


Holden chasing birds.


Bif.

Business As Usual

Okay, it's Monday morning and there's work to be done.

The point of us going to Buenos Aires was to give Maria and the kids a change of scene and hopefully learn some Spanish.

It's not a vacation for me though. I'm working remotely. I am also taking on new clients.

HOW TO REACH ME

The best way is through email: mike (at) immersioncreative (dot) com

Clients and new business can reach me via Skype through Immersion Creative.

Or, you can also call me on our landline at 011 + 54 + 11 + 4807 3596 (if calling from Canada).

Or, on my cell phone at 011 + 54 + 9 + 11 + 6358 3592 (from Canada).

Today, I begin contacting the local agencies as well.

Mike Has Arrived

Oh, You Pretty Things

The kids are settling in well in our new apartment.

We spent the morning colouring and spilling milk. When mom gets up we are going to check out the Botanical Gardens: home to plants and hundreds of feral cats.

You can get a feel of what our flat looks like in this picture.

By the way - all of these pics so far have been from my iPhone. Maria's will be much better.