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Living in Buenos Aires
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Housing
Hostels
When you first get to Buenos Aires you’ll need a place to rest your weary head. Hostels are a good cheap place to start.
Plus you’ll meet other travelers. Not all hostels are created equal though, so be sure to do your research. If your
intention is to party every night and stumble back into your room at 6am, then you don’t want to be in a hostel full
of people who are diligently studying all night – and vice versa. Once you’re settled into a hostel you can venture
out to the different neighborhoods in search of more permanent digs – Palermo is a fairly popular neighborhood, but
there are plenty of other neighborhoods that are great to live in and significantly less expensive.
http://www.ba-h.com.ar
Apartments
You have a few options for apartments in Buenos Aires. The easiest (and most expensive) is to rent a furnished apartment.
Depending on the neighborhood and quality of the place, you’re looking at anywhere between $500USD-$1200USD for a 1-Bedroom.
There are tons of websites offering furnished apartments – they usually charge a commission and expect up-front payment
for the entire length of stay as well as a safety deposit. The other option is to rent a room which can be as cheap as $300USD
a month, but is climbing upwards due to inflation. The cheapest option for long-term stays is to rent an unfurnished apartment.
The biggest obstacle to obtaining an unfurnished apartment is getting someone to give you a garantia – a garantia means
someone is willing to put up their own house as collateral if you don’t pay. Not too many people willing to do that,
even for their own family members.
www.bairesapartments.com
http://myspaceba.com
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Banking
You can open up a bank account with a CDI, which you can obtain at the AFIP office that serves the district you live in. To
get a CDI you have to first get a Certificado de Domicilio which you can get from the Comisaria (police station) that serves
the district you’re staying in. It costs 10 pesos.
Banco Nacion
Government links
As much as porteños complain about the government, Buenos Aires actually has some pretty cool and informative websites.
Mapa is an interactive map that will give you everything from point-to-point walking directions to which buses pass any given
point. This is particularly useful when apartment hunting and trying to find your way around on public transit. Definitely
pick up a Guia T – it’s the bus guide everyone uses and it’s the only way you can look at a map without
looking like a tourist.
Mapa BA
Cultural Events
Immigration
AFIP
Health Insurance
There’s universal health care here, even for foreigners, but private insurance is so cheap that it’s well worth
it. The service is actually pre-paid medicine – so once you pay your monthly fee, everything else is included except
for a small co-pay of 5-20 pesos depending on the service. Omint, Galeno, OSDE and Medicus are some of the more popular obra
sociales. By law they cannot exclude pre-existing conditions, and this now includes pregnancy. Plans range between 300 pesos
for basic plans up to 1000+ pesos for plans that include elective cosmetic surgery.
Omint
Galeno
OSDE
Medicus
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Food
You’ve probably heard people rave about the food in Buenos Aires – how cheap it is, how good the steaks are, etc…and
ever since they banned smoking indoors, it’s actually an enjoyable experience. Buenos Aires has a very important restaurant
culture and going out to eat on any day of the week is a porteņo favorite past-time. You can sit down to eat at 11:00pm and
even later on the weekends. Typical fare consists of pizza, empanadas, pasta, and beef (in any of its varying forms). One
can only eat so much of the above, so check out restaurant guides Restaurant.com.ar or Guia Oleo for your other dining options.
On Guia Oleo you can even search by places that have delivery, which seems to be almost every restaurant – even McDonald’s.
www.guiaoleo.com.ar
www.restaurant.com.ar
Once you have your own kitchen and realize it’s expensive to eat out all the time, then head to your closest grocery
store:
www.jumbo.com.ar
www.carrefour.com.ar
www.coto.com.ar
www.disco.com.ar
Cell phones
You can actually get by without a cell phone in Buenos Aires. Locutorios (places to make phone calls and use the internet)
are on every corner, but it’s still a good idea to have one, especially if you’re looking for a job. If you have
a quad band phone you can get it unlocked for around 20 pesos. Then just buy a SIM card (called a chip here) at a locutorio.
You can recharge it your card as need be for 10-50 pesos. All incoming calls are always free. The most popular cell phone
companies are Movistar, Claro, and Personal.
Movistar
Claro
Personal
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