The Drawbacks

Before we get too carried away with all the positives about BA let’s have a candid review of the very real and significant negatives about the place…

1. Crime - When we last visited the city we were told not to leave the balcony windows open at night, even though we were on the fourth floor of a secure building on a visible and busy street… There are police on almost every other street corner here. There’s good reason for these precautions. As I understand it, the rape and murder rates for Argentina are very low. But petty crime is a problem. That being said, we haven’t had any problem or felt the least bit unsafe here.

2. Poverty- Even in the nice neighborhoods you have people pulling what look like ox carts on which they pile cardboard and whatever else they can salvage from the dumpsters. You also have children begging for money, which is difficult to see as you can imagine, usually young girls ages 5-10… On Ave Florida, the main tourist street you have young children playing accordians for money. On Valentines’ Day entire families were out hustling roses in the tourist areas. When you give the children money you just hope that someone’s looking after them and that those people, or their parents, aren’t using them beyond what is necessary…

3. Pollution/Sidewalks- The city by American standards is pretty dirty… the buses belch diesel exhaust, which tends to coat the sidewalks and buildings over time. You get a sore throat at first when you’re not used to it. The sidewalks are generally in bad shape, so you have to pay attention. Also, like in Paris, you’ve got to watch out for canine landmines!

4. Social Inequality/Corruption- While this doesn’t really effect us on a day-to-day basis right now it’s an important Latin American issue. There was a small example at the grocery store the other day… The woman in front of us in line who looked otherwise perfectly able-bodied would not touch any of her groceries, she wouldn’t bag them (here, like in Europe, you usually bag your own), she wouldn’t move them from the bagging area back into her cart, she wouldn’t do anything until someone else did it for her. You could tell by her accessories and the ultra-bitchy look on her face that she thought she was just too good to perform any manual labor whatsoever… While that wouldn’t go over so well in your local Publix or Whole Foods, I think it’s indicative of the South American elite who think they are superior to everyone else… no wonder the region is always flirting with socialism…

 Anyway, there you have it. These are the main negatives to living down here. Some are more serious issues than others, but so far it’s been worth it… and it can’t be milk and honey all the time…