Hi up there, Tony here in Buenos Aires,
I'm in Buenos Aires now about two weeks. In general it has been fun but the hunting for housing thing has been getting me down a bit. As usual the easy way of getting things done proved to be the most expensive.
By getting off the internet and onto the street I started to get better offers in terms of value rentals. Finally by waiting till the end of the month, and calling people who had placed advertisements saturday edition of the Buenos Aires national paper "La Nacion" I finally started to get some real value and found myself looking at a giant 110 m2 luxurious apartments for about the cost of a cheap studio in San Francisco.
The apartment rental market here is an active one with a huge influx of foreigners in the city and a lot of Argentines realizing that foreigners will pay Western prices for short-term lets. The market has thus split into a foreign and a local market which work out at about 2.5X for the foreigners! I soon realized that I wasn't capable of getting an Argentine deal but I didn't want to get raped as a tourist so I found myself between markets which is an uncomfortable place to be when you face the prospect of rapidly becoming homeless.
For a concrete example, let's say you spot an apartment in Buenos Aires advertised in the window of a real estate agent for AR$800 per month. This is an average-to-high price for a place which is about 40 m2 with one bedroom and a living room and a small kitchen, assuming a really nice area like Palermo Soho or Recoleta. So you walk in and express interest in renting it for 6 months and the price changes to U$S500 (about AR$1550) and they throw in a few basic items of furniture for your short-term let and they'll pay your 30 peso gas and electricity bill to boot.
The other side of the equation is the legal difficulties that landlords are required to go through in order to evict non-paying tenants (good thing too). These two factors combined with a dearth of local knowledge and has meant that the Argentine rental market, at Argentine rates, is in most cases only available to Argentines and then only those with a "garantia".
A "garantia" is a property bond on property in Argentina but sometimes it is much more specific. Sometimes the property has to be in the province of Buenos Aires or even, for the badly burned and extremely paranoid, in the Autonomous city of Buenos itself and owned only by the renter or a family member.
This leads to the ridiculous situation that even locals can only rent if they or their family have property nearby which is quite sane in the paradoxical realities of living in Buenos Aires. The situation resembles the reality of borrowing money from a bank where the bank-manager is less likely to offer you credit if you really need it (as you own nothing to secure their risk).
Anyway, moaning aside, I have two rental offers on paper awaiting approval both for big flats that I'll have to share and both in nice areas for between $700 and $850 USD which is a tad expensive but they are very high-end places. This process has improved my Spanish and my geography of the Metropolis and, with that, I now have the confidence to call strangers on the phone and deal with fairly complex topics in Spanish.
I stand in a very privileged place when compared to immigrants coming here with soft currency and no savings. I read a story about a Bolivian woman who was enticed to Buenos Aires by a local radio advertisement pushing jobs in a Buenos Aires clothing factory. For less than a peso an hour you get to sleep for free in the factory on cardboard boxes between shifts and your kid can sleep with you. An article appeared in yesterday's newspaper detailing her dilemmas because the factory was destroyed by fire which brought it to public attention. The factory was near the chinatown area of Flores, maybe a half hour walk from where I have been searching for apartments.
As I make huge changes like I have been doing recently I move into a mental space where I am more and more alone. This doesn't worry me as I have learned never to be driven by fear and to trust my instincts (which still tell me that I'm on an appropriate track) in as much as I get time to recognize them.
To suggest that I'm the only one doing something radical like this is foolish, self-centered, and just plain wrong On the other hand the fact is that those who choose paths that differ so radically in terms of direction, location and mental space from most of the people that they know means they have to chart waters that requires deep self-reliance and self-confidence. Maintaining that level of cajones can be a tad tiring! I think I'm pushing myself a little hard but the schedule I've created for myself does not really allow me the luxury of taking things at a slower pace. So far I've made a few things happen:
-- Im registered with the UBA as a spanish student in the language laboratories for the princely sum of about 120 euros for three months professional education :)
-- I got here and for 30 euros and a few air miles, a relic of that strange corporate past of mine in late nineties.
-- My Spanish is getting usable which makes me happy. I'm improving a lot confidence-wise and beginning to come to grips with the exigencies of life in Spanish.
-- I've finally got together all of the paperwork for applying to university and have given them most of this. The office is working hard to get me a place and Im fairly positive about my being able to get a place. Anything could happen. It is now a matter of paperwork and availability and some studying on my part. It will take some doing but it is within reach I think. To those of you who helped me with getting together all of the paperwork for university I thank you from the bottom of my satchel!
-- I'm starting to acclimatize to the weather. It is still pretty hot here and quite stifling in the underground (SUBTE, in BA).
-- I've reconnected with some of my old friends & acquaintances from the city and met a few new ones, I even have a few party invites :)
-- I'm on track to begin a second course probably on the seventh of April (next week).
-- I have a bunch of leads on accommodation and have two offers in for rentals, this process has been a massive drain on my resources but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I'm quite excited to be able to have an address for the first time in about thirty months.
-- I have a cellphone which is getting used more and more Local 15 6452-3894, international +54 9 11 6452-3894 . It sort of works.
At the moment Im Im staying at a backpackers hostel, which is fine if a little reminiscent of a past that, while fun and good company, I shall be pleased to leave behind me for a while. I am ready to swap a back-packer space for a real bed and a kitchen.
Onward and upward!
Tony