Getting There & Away

Buquebus

I arrived in Buenos Aires by ferry from Montevideo. Buquebus has 2 direct ferries daily. There are many departures by bus/ferry via Colonia.

Going via Colonia is cheaper, but since I didn’t want to wake up early nor arrive late, I chose the more expensive direct route. The one way ticket from Montevideo to Buenos Aires cost me 1560 UYU.

Travelling by ferry is very comfortable, and they don’t weigh your luggage.

The Buquebus web site allows you to make reservations online:

http://www.buquebus.com

Taxi to Apartment

The Buenos Aires ferry terminal is close to the center. The metered taxi to my apartment was only 6 ARS.

Taxi to Airport

Ezeia Taxi drives you to the airport for 48 ARS. The apartment owner, who works in a 5 star hotel, got me a private car for the same price.

Accommodation

ByT Argentina

I made reservations for an apartment through:

http://www.byt-argentina.com.ar/?&clng=en

ByT Argentina has 100s of apartments for rent, in all areas of town and in all price categories.

After reading up on the Buenos Aires P4P scene, I elected to stay near Micro Centro. It has the highest concentration of privados. The freelancer spots Café Exedra and Café Orleans would be within walking distance. There are also plenty of boliches in the area, notably the recommended Triangle clubs.

After looking at hundreds of pictures, I finally decided on this apartment:

http://www.byt-argentina.com.ar/apartments_in_buenos_aires/apartments_buenos_aires.php?Neighborhood=Downtown&accommodation=Apartments&neighborhood_id=5&ida=1&a_dde=2007&d_dde=29&m_dde=12&a_hta=2008&d_hta28=&m_hta01=&pagactual=6&home_id=2303

The communication with ByT Argentina was excellent. I rented the apartment for 1 week for 275 USD. The agency fee was another 30 USD. I paid 55 USD by PayPal to secure the reservation. I paid the rest in cash when I checked in. I had no problem getting my 200 EUR deposit back when checking out.

The apartment looked exactly like the Internet pictures. I loved the black & white color scheme. I adored the quintessentially Argentinean art. There were caramellos scattered all over the apartment – the chicas loved them! Ever little detail seemed carefully thought out. I simply loved my apartment!

ATM Machines

There is no lack of ATM machines in Buenos Aires. Many of them dispense both local currency and US dollars. But the one time I actually tried to extract US Dollars, they were out of gringo money.

SIM Card

You need to visit the phone company office to get a local SIM card. I went to the Movistar office on Corrientes as soon as I arrived.

Movistar supports both the 850 and 1900 frequencies. Since my old tri-band phone didn’t support 850, I got a 1900 SIM card. 850 SIM cards will work all over Argentina. With a 1900 SIM card, you will have no reception in Southern Argentina. Since I was only visiting Buenos Aires, that was not an issue for me. The SIM card cost 12 ARS.

Taxis

Taxis use the meter and are cheap in Buenos Aires. The ride from Exedra to my apartment was 4 ARS. To Recoleta, the fare was around 8 ARS.

Laundry

The laundry shop closest to my apartment was at Esmeralda 577. They charge 10 ARS per machine (white & color). Ironing costs 2,50 ARS for a shirt and 3 ARS for trousers.

Next: Overview & Conclusions

Great report!

I have been to ba 24 times, the prices are much higher than before! I have never paid more than 150 pesos/hr, but I learned to speak "Castellano", which means Castalian, or official Spanish of Spain, but is actually a mispronounced form of European Spanish with obvious French influence. I learned it in Argentina during past and present relationships with Portenas, and the common monger's lack of an Argentinean accent means double/triple the expectation of compensation in the mind of the chica or receptionist at the casas at times. I have had great luck with internet girls, clarin newspaper classifieds, and boliches, but I have not been to Madaho's Shampoo Cattos Ness Hooks since 2007. I call the girls with internet ads, greet them as a Porteno, ask about their services and price fairly quickly, before they realize they have a foreigner on the line. I have had 7-8's for 30 pesos/hr in my apartment, 5 more for the cola! If you seem foreign, you will sometimes be an attempted victim of a scam, unfortunately.