What's not so good about Rosario and Argentina?

What's not so good? I was fully aware that I wasn't in the "good old" USA anymore and most of the inconveniences I can deal with easily and not think twice about it. I don't want Argentina to be like the US, it is it's own entity and thank goodness for it. This country has an educated population, great natural resources, and aboundant land, why does it seem to continually be falling towards 3rd world status? Anyway here is a list of some things that do bother me.

• The state bureaucracy and government in general. Corrupt to the bone. In the US our politicians can be corrupt as well but they are amateurs compared to the professionals in Argentina. This will be one of my favorite future rants.
  
• Worlds Worst Drivers. Death rates on the highway are among the highest. No one respects any traffic regulations (stop signs are only a suggestion). Trucks, cars, bikes, motos and busses all compete for space on the very narrow streets of Rosario.
  
• Worlds Worst Pedestrians. People cross streets wherever and whenever they want, making driving even more hazardous.
  
• For all it's beauty Rosario is one of the dirtiest cities I have ever seen. This makes me very sad especially when you consider that until a couple years ago it was even worse. The city IS trying but people litter everywhere. I have been told it is because they are angry and are losing hope, this may be true but why take it out on yourselves?
  
• Crime. Crime is rampant and the police do nothing, or very little, about it ... sometimes because they are in on it.
  
• Poverty. We have some of the worst shanty towns (villas miserias) I have ever seen. It is horrible to see the little kids begging for money in the streets. I have my own theories about this and will speak to it at length later.
  
• Barra Brava. These guys are the scum of the earth (outside politicians). They are the hooligans of Argentine football. They are simply criminals, nothing more, who extort money from clubs and have gone a long way to damaging Argentine futbol.
  
• Try finding your way around this city, it is nearly impossible ... there are very few street signs so it is anybodies guess where you are. The same applies to the highways ... they never post a sign with route name.

What's so good about Rosario and Argentina?

Top things about Rosario and Argentina. Obviously there are many more than this but these are some of the things that come readily to mind.

• NO HipHop/Rap ... NO backwards baseball caps ... NO baggy pants ... NO pants below your butt.
  
• It is inexpensive. The first time I came to Argentina it was the most expensive country in the world. Now thanks to the IMF and corrupt Argentine politicians it is one of the cheapest.


• The People. I have travelled all over and nowhere (except maybe Mexico) are the people so open and friendly. All the men look like Antonio Banderas and the women, especially in Rosario, are the most beautiful in the world.


• The Food / Wine. I love meat and pasta so here I have died and gone to heaven. The restaurants are fantastic and the meat is fantastic. Argentine wines, especially Malbecs, are excellent as well. Don't get me started on media lunas, alfajores, empanadas or choripan.


• The slower life style. While at times it can be frustrating you learn to go with the flow. You can't believe how much time you will spend in endless lines from the bank to the supermarket. Overall the gentler pace is very agreeable. Besides without this slower pace you wouldn't have all day asados.


• River Plate. Years ago in the US, thanks to Fox Sports, I became a huge fan of River Plate and even though we finished last for the first time in history in this clausura we are still the Mas Grande.


• The Natural Beauty of the country. Argentina has magnificent scenery. Every type of formation is here; mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, glaciars, the worlds largest falls.


• Golf. One of my top reasons for moving here and I have not been disappointed. Golf is great in Argentina

On Moving to Argentina Part 2, Residency requirements

Before my move I contacted the Argentine consulate in Chicago for advice and the necessary forms. Luckily the father of the lady I talked with was a huge fan of my company so she was very very helpful. Since it has been more than 4 years since my move to Argentina I am sure some things have changed. Also I am retired which meant slightly different requirements for a residency visa than others (workers, students, etc.). I would suggest contacting a local Argentine consulate (there are many in the US) and getting the requirements from them.

Suffice it to say I ended up with a lot of paperwork, all translated into spanish. Make sure you keep a copy for yourself because what you send in will not be returned. When the paperwork was done I went to Chicago for a short interview, get my fingerprints taken and have a temporary residency visa put in my passport. Hint: if your passport is about to expire or does not have many years left on it get a new US passport so that your visa will be good for 10 years otherwise there are many headaches involved in getting the visa put into a new passport.

Once approved the consulate will give you 2 packs of papers (as I recall). One of them is to be given to Immigration at the airport when you land. They know what it is and will take care of everything regarding it.

DNI

This document is essential for living in Argentina. Yes, you can get by without it but believe me it is a lot better to have it than not. After two days of resting in Rosario I went to start the process of getting my DNI. The people in Rosario were helpful but, of course, there were problems with my paperwork. Translations were not done in Argentina and I needed to have them re-done. I got them re-translated and went back. Very good they said but now this is not correct, etc. Total bureaucratic mierda. One day I visited my friends at the my company's factory and said I couldn't believe how hard this was. The head of Human Resources heard me and asked me to bring my papers to him. He made a couple of calls and the next week I went to BA, accompanied by a lawyer, and in one day I had my DNI (actually it was all done in one day but I had to return 2 weeks later to pick up the document).

RULE #1 ... In Argentina it is all about who you know! I know this is the same in many places but never underestimate this rule.

With my DNI I can now (in theory) travel to any Mercosur country (without my passport). It did work that way when I went to Chile but I have my doubts about Brasil. I can (in theory) open a bank account. I can get a drivers license, etc.

In my previous post I remarked that my actual move and my meetings with the consulate gave me a false sense of security. My search for my DNI provided a much better insight into living in Argentina. This brings up another rule.

RULE #2 ... Be prepared, things move much more slowly! There is nothing inherently wrong with this, a slower lifestyle is why I moved here but when you have more than 50 years of dealing with a, more or less, streamlined bureaucracy it will take some getting used to.

On moving to Argentina, Part 1

While I was giving thought to moving here I did my research. It is no easy matter moving from one country to another. I had decided that the move would be permanent and, therefore, I proceeded on 2 fronts ... the move and the residency requirements.

The Move ... I contacted people at work for ideas on moving companies who handled international moves and settled on Mayflower. They sent a specialist and we went over my things and what would be advisable to take and what would not. Cars ... I decided not to bring a car for two reasons, one was the cost of shipping and the second was my misunderstanding of Argentine law. I believed that if I brought my car I would only be able to keep it for 18 months when, in fact, I could keep it forever but not sell it for 18 months. My spanish was obviusly much worse at that time. Electronics ... Argentina uses 220 volts where the US uses 110. I decided to bring my laptop and stereo. As electronics are VERY expensive in Argentina I also shopped for a TV that would accept both NTSC (US) and PAL (Arg.) signals. This was not that difficult to find. Furniture .. one easy chair, nothing else. I figured it was better to buy local and furniture is heavy so the cost of the move would go up. Kitchen ... nothing to speak of, I would buy local. Books, music and movies ... All indispensible to me so I brought almost all my cd's and dvd's. I did have to pare down my books from 3 or 4 bookcases full to maybe 1/2 of 1 book case, a tragedy!

The movers gave me an acceptable price and we set a date, approximately 1 month before my actual move since it takes at least 6 weeks for the stuff to arrive. At the same time they contacted Transpack Argentina (http://www.transpack.com.ar/) who were incredibly helpful, thus giving me a false sense of security about the rest of what was to come. I highly recommend them. Naturally my stuff was a little late and then held up in customs for several weeks. In Rosario I talked with local people at work about storage companies as I would need my stuff stored until I got an apartment. The gave the name of an old well known company (Botta) and I contracted with them to hold my stuff indefinitely. Excelent marks to them as well, again giving me a false sense of security about the future.

All in all the actual moving of furniture went very well with a slight delay at Customs in BA but nothing horendous. All of my stuff arrived in Rosario with nothing missing nor broken.

One thing to note, any used personal item is allowed into the country without exception. As I mentioned I bought a TV in the US to bring but I never opened the box so it would be easier to ship. The movers said this was a no no. They opened the box and reclosed it thereby making it "used". This saved me several hundred dollars in import fees because it would have been considered new.

Another note, besides paying Mayflower and Transpack I also had to purchase an insurance policy that stated I would not sell any of my things. I paid Transpack a small sum for three years, as required by the Customs office, until I became a permanent resident of Argentina. I have paid the insurance policy for 4 yrs, and I am refusing to pay it anymore.

Introduction

For better or worse I have chosen to live in Rosario Argentina. The "purpose" of this blog is to share with you the life of an expat. As this is the first posting I will introduce myself. I am retired and a US citizen. I had the privilege of traveling throughout Europe, South America and North America for my work and I came to "know" and appreciate other cultures. At retirement I realized I enjoyed the lifestyle (i.e. pace of life) more in other countries than in my own. So I took the leap and moved to Argentina.

This was not completely a leap into the abyss. I had visited Argentina perhaps 15 or 20 times over the previous 4-5 years and I had many friends there, both from work and outside work. I did my homework before leaving (see future posts) and thought I was more or less prepared. One reason I am writing this blog is because one is NEVER 100% prepared and maybe my experiences can help someone else. The other reason is to give my Expat's view on what is going on in Rosario and Argentina.

I have no real desire to give up and return to the US (I have lived in Rosario for 4 1/2 years now) although I do like to go back once a year to visit family. At the same time there are always circumstances beyond one's control that might force me to go back, so I keep my options open.