To be sure, this is no free ride. Farm work is some of the hardest work there is, but also very satisfying and typically in a place of breathtaking beauty. I worked for two weeks at Aldea Luna, a wonderful nature preserve and organic farm near the northern city of Jujuy. The boys cleared nature trails with machetes while the girls pulled weeds, planted and harvested vegetables, helped cook every meal for the big crowd of workers, and shoveled some horse poo from hither and yon to create new compost beds. The farm only accepts a certain amount of WWOOFERS, but you may also volunteer for four (instead of eight) hours a day and pay $30 pesos to cover meals, which are fresh and delicious.

However, not all WWOOF farms are created equal. You may preview the 50 or so of Argentina’s registered WWOOF farms and their descriptions on the WWOOF Argentina website, but if you want their contact information, you’ll need to pay the annual membership fee of $30USD (via credit card or PayPal). Be sure to contact a farm via email or phone before showing up. Many farms are far away from internet access, so include all of your questions, information, background, and dates in your initial email and do not be shocked if you only hear back from a few, if any, farms. Work out details such as the type of accommodations offered, as some farms only offer a space for you to put up a tent, the languages spoken, the kind of work you may be doing, what you should bring, and typical meals that are served. Once you’ve set up a time to be on the farm, get ready to get your hands dirty!

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The concept is simple, members run, jog, or walk along a trail, as long as 10km or short as 6km, marked with mounds and dusts of flour and at the end of the trail several bottles of cold beer await attention at a host’s house. The host and trail are on a rotating schedule to ensure a unique experience every time. The drinking also has a wee bit of method and songs applied to the madness. Yes. Songs! At the last Hash meeting, we were ‘virgins’ which, of course, merited a downing of Ishenbecks and one (of many songs) that went something like this:

“Here’s to ‘the hasher’
He’s true blue,
He’s a Hasher,
Through and through,
He’s a pisspot,

So they say,
Tried to go to heaven,
But he went the other way,
So drink it down, down, down . . .”

While the group continues on the “down, down, down…” all the drinkers are to down their beer as fast as they can, only showing they’ve completed the task by upturning the cup over their heads. If you’re a bit too slow, the chorus of “down, down, down” turns to “whyyy are we waiting, whyyy are we waiting…” but do not let this unsettle you. The group is friendly and you can take your time. Or, dump the foam behind your back. One can notice that more tame or experienced hashers sit safely in the background while those more fervent, or new, are at the fore.

The best part of the Hash House Harrier experience is the hashers themselves. There is always a combination of friendly expats and locals alike, one may find themselves talking about futbol, politics, business (with a beer penalty of course), or the happenings about town. You’ll leave with a warm feeling, either from the beer, the new found friends, or both.

It costs $15 pesos to attend a meeting, which pays for all of the beer and some heavy snacks including, at the last meeting anyway, cookies, potato chips, potatoes, and a chicken curry. The best place to find out where the next Hash House Harriers meeting in Buenos Aires will be is to visit the ‘Expat Events in Buenos Aires’ Facebook page found at this link:

Expat Events in Buenos Aires

Happy hashing!

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Before the collapse Buenos Aires was one of the most expensive cities in the world, but today you can take a taxi across town or eat a fantastic steak dinner for about U.S. $10. This is despite the high inflation rates that have plagued the country since 2001. The government claims a rate of 12%, and the actual rate is probably several percent higher. Nevertheless, Buenos Aires is still considered an excellent place to live, especially for expats, thanks to its high level of internal development and low cost of living.

Buenos Aires is especially attractive to residents who earn an income in Dollars, Euros or Pounds. Monthly food costs in Buenos Aires average around $130 U.S. Dollars and things like soap, garbage bags, shampoo, toothpaste and other necessities average $20. Transportation costs run about $26 and a cell phone or a fixed line is about $12, not including long distance calls. Entertainment costs average around $265, which includes things like wine at $8 to $20 a bottle. Restaurants entrées are in the $5 to $20 range. A movie is around $5, and a decent apartment rents for $350. Electricity, Internet and cable costs average $70 per month. At the current rate of inflation, you can enjoy a comfortable life in Argentina for around U.S. $900 a month or less, depending on the city.

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As you will be checking all of your change, expect that paying in any store will deliver an equally thorough check of your pesos.
The places that you should be most careful are taxis and clubs.  Make sure to always check that the bills handed to you are real (often times these dark environments harbor secret evildoers.)  If your cab driver does not turn on a light when handing you change (most do, expecting that you will check) ask for the light (la luz, por favor.)

Argentine pesos look and feel like play money.  This is good, because it is very hard to duplicate the feeling of a real peso (as with dollars, fibers are placed in the paper to give it a distinctive feeling).   When handling a fake, you will notice that it feels “wrong.”

Checking the bills takes about ten seconds.  This is how to do it:
All bills have a water mark in the empty left part of the bill.  If there is no water mark, it is not real.

•2’s, 5’s:  Most people do not check the small bills.  If you choose to, hold the bill to the light to find the water mark of the valiant war hero.  The top of his head should end about 2 cm below the words on the other side, and his silhouette is 1 cm to the right of the red numbers.  The bust is identical to the main picture on the bill.  There are no embedded lines in 2 and 5 peso notes.

•10’s, 20’s:  follow the same water mark procedure as with 2 and 5 peso notes.   The second check on these medium-sized bills is the embedded line that runs along the left edge of the colored part of the note.  It will be visible along with the water mark.  Getting technical, it says BCRA $10 or BCRA $20 (Banco Central de la Republica Argentina)

•50’s, 100’s:  Watermarks present, the difference with the big bills is the line that runs through them from top to bottom.  Without holding the bill to light, you will see a broken line.  When holding it to the light, it will connect fully, allowing you to read BCRA$50/$100.

A word on bigger notes:  It is rare that you would ever be handed a 100, but be wary of 50’s.  Most fraudulent 100’s come from street traders, which you should not use for a variety of reasons.  I have heard the very rare story of getting a fake 100 from an ATM, but I’ve never known someone who was on the receiving end.

That said most people don’t have this problem, but it does happen.  Always better safe than sorry!

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Many people who travel to Buenos Aires want more than just a simple vacation.

English teaching jobs in Buenos Aires usually require little more than being a native-tongue English speaker. Meaning, that if you were born and raised in an English speaking country, you qualify for the job. The demand for English teachers is high as well. International businesses, hotels, restaurants, tour guides, and major shopping centers need English speaking employees to accommodate their clientèle. While there are many native Argentines who can teach the language, having a native speaker is clearly a better choice.

Most expat teachers start off in language institutes. These are usually informal schools, made up of a few classrooms, where students pay to take either full-time or part-time courses. The institutes typically charge between $50 and $70 pesos per hour, and pay their teachers around $15 to $20 pesos per hour, which is quite a decent salary in Argentina. There are a few catches, however. Classes are scheduled in hour-long increments, and many institutes will require you to teach off-site, at a student’s house or office. This means lots of travel time, which is not paid for. Also, on some days you may find yourself teaching only one or two hours, based on how classes are scheduled.

That being said, your average teacher will only be in class, getting paid for around 10 to 15 hours per week. Once you factor in the average travel time, this could take up to 30 hours per week in total, though you’re only getting paid for half. Payment is another issue. Chances are, if you’re teaching here, you’re working “in black” as they say. This means that you have no work visa or contract which guarantees your job, wages, or pay dates. Most institutes pay by the month, and late payment is not only common, it’s expected. Many times, teachers will have to budget themselves for up to six weeks in advance of their expected payment, and if the payment is not made, there is no legal safety net to guarantee it will happen.

Teaching your own private classes separate from the institutes are a much safer bet, but finding clients and negotiating prices tend to be more difficult. Locals trust the institutes over the individuals as far as credibility, so you have to drastically lower your private prices to compete with them. Online bulletin boards such as Craigslist.com may appear to be a good option, but most Argentines don’t read them in English, and they will be less inclined to trust a web posting over a reputable school.

Your best, and most secure option is to find a client who wants intensive English immersion, and can afford to pay the fee. Businessmen and women, privately educated children, and frequent travelers fit this bill perfectly. Obtaining these types of clients can be tricky, but with a lot of networking, a professional attitude, and a little luck, it can be within your reach. Whatever you do, remember to be patient. Working culture here operates very differently from that of the US or Europe, and it can take some getting used to. If you stick through it, and are willing to adapt, teaching English in Buenos Aires can ultimately be a rewarding and educational experience that will extend your stay and enhance your travels.

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For years, New York and Buenos Aires have been compared feverishly. But it’s no contest—BA beats NY hands down. Here’s why:

7. BA’s winters don’t include blizzards, nor’easters or ice storms. Nothing is worse in a walking city than feeling a -15 degree wind chill break through your $300 parka, penetrating your inner soul as you trudge to work at 8 am. NOTHING.

6. Time ISN’T Money. In NY, waiting for anything is considered rude, non-functional, and foreign. In BA, two-hour lunches and ‘fashionably late’ are the standard. Plus, a 30-minute NY lunch break is borderline inhumane.

5. Your Upper East Side 1-bedroom fits in my Palermo apartment’s kitchen. And my car is always out front.

4. Our sports don’t suck. Forget the banners in Yankee stadium, the bombers haven’t won in 8 years. The Mets and Jets are pathetic. And the Knicks? Even Spike Lee won’t go to the games anymore. BA’s got Maradonna, 24 pro soccer teams, and the nation’s top rugby squad. Take that Jeter!

3. A Porteño accent is HOT, a New York accent is not. I’d rather pierce my eardrum than listen to a New Yorker say “coffee,” “dog,” or “Long Island.” Porteños sound hot whether they’re fumbling through English, or speaking their native tongue.

2. The Guv’s Priorities. Elliot Spitzer spent a taxpayer fortune on prostitutes while his successor quickly admitted he cheats on his wife. Mauricio Macri in best known for saving the city millions in his three short months in office.

1. Your “nice dinner” with the girlfriend paid for my trip to Mendoza’s wine country.

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Language is something that helps define a country’s cultural identity. Words can reflect the beliefs, values and attitudes people have. Argentines shine in this category. There is no other country in the Spanish-speaking world with the colloquialisms found in Argentina. For anyone globetrotting, learning certain aspects of a language will only enrich your experience. Here lies the difference between a tourist and a traveler. Hotels and hostels cater to English-speaking tourists, but what happens once you step into the real world is up to you. At the least, I recommend you being able to satisfy the basic travel needs and minimum courtesy requirements.

An easy way to get started is by listening to a podcast.  Free podcasts are available that will help you learn Spanish. Spanish for Beginners, Coffee Break Spanish, Learn Spanish – Survival Guide, Spanish Pod 101, and Discover Spanish are just few among a long list of resources. 

But Argentines use words that belong to them only. They are not found in any traditional Spanish class or book. Even if you can’t say hola, if you can pronounce one of these lunfardos you may impress more than a few locals.

According to the Oxford Spanish Dictionary a lunfardo is “a form of Buenos Aires slang that originated in the underworld. It draws on many languages, including Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, German and several African languages.”

There are enough lunfardos to fill a dictionary, so I’ll just mention a few that may help you on your travels-you never know when you might have to say, “No me chamuyas!”

Lunfardo Survival Kit:

afanar: to rob             

afano: to rip-off

bajar un cambio: to calm down

bancar:  bancá = “hold on”

berreta: cheap or bad quality          

boliche: dance club

bondi: bus (public transportation)

boludo or bolú: It can be an insult, similar to idiot, or just a tag or expression used among friends. It all depends on the tone and intensity of its pronunciation.  It can also refer to something that is easy to do.

“hacerse el boludo: to act dumb

“me estás boludeando: you are pulling my leg

botón: police officer             

botonear: is to tell on somebody

careta: having a lot of nerve

chabón: guy

chamuyar:  A conversation where a man, or a woman, is flirting with someone while trying convince them of something, with half-truths and half-lies.  

fachero: someone who has good presence

gil: someone who is slow or stupid

goma: A woman’s breast

laburar: it comes from the Italian word lavorare, which means to work. Laburo is also used to refer to work or work place.

mimosa/o:  s/he loves being made a fuss of or being pampered

mina: woman, this originated with a derogatory connotation it no longer has 

morfar:  to eat            

morfi: food

patovica: muscular man or a club bouncer/security

pibe: it can mean boy, guy or man, depending on the context

pendejo: A kid (human, not goat)

pucho: cigarette

quilombo: mess          

quilombero: rowdy, noisy person

telo:  a by-the-hour motel, it is the reverse form of the word hotel in Spanish.

Zafar means, to get out or wiggle out of a situation.  It can also be used as an expression “¡zafé”, “that was close!”           

Money

guita = cash  

mango = 1 peso, or in the plural form: 2 mangos, 3 mangos (the verb manguear means to borrow money.)

diego = 10 pesos

gamba = 100 pesos

luca = 1,000 pesos

palo = 1,000,000 pesos (palo verde = 1,000,000 USD)

A Quick Tip for Beginners

The ABCs of Spanish pronunciation is in the vowels. Saying them correctly will immediately bring your Spanish skills up a notch.  There is only one way to say each vowel, so if you get it right, half the battle is won. Here are a few mnemonics.

A as in Apple

E as in Egg

I as in Iguana

O as in Orange

U as in Uma (Thurman, the actress)

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One of the most visited tourist spots in Buenos Aires is also an oasis of tranquility in the midst of one of the city’s more popular nightspots. After all, it can’t get any quieter than being surrounded by the dead.

Located on 1760 Junín, in what used to be the garden of the Our Lady of The Pilar church, the Recoleta Cemetery was inaugurated as the first public graveyard of the city back in 1822. Decades later, after a restoration and with the opening of the much larger graveyards located in Chacarita and Flores, Recoleta became the posh cemetery: the “it” place to be and be seen in your afterlife if you were a VIP during your life time.

Nowadays, one way to get into this burial ground is as a visitor but, if you want to remain there for good, you can only do it if you belong to one of the families that own one of the 4,870 graves already built there.

Just a few feet within the entrance, visitors are greeted with a not often seen panoramic view: a landscape made of stone, trees and some of the most important surnames in Argentina’s history.

You can either take one of the guided tours – Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11 a.m. for English speakers, Fridays at 11 a.m. in Portuguese and everyday except Mondays at 9, 10, 11 am and 2, 3 and 4 p.m. if you dare to keep up with a Spanish speaking guide- or do the tour on your own. Maps are sold in the entrance for four Argentinean pesos, and they will insure you against getting lost within the six blocks of halls and burial vaults.

The cemetery is a good way to see the chronology of what was going on in the Argentinean architecture when the graves were built, from neo classicism and art nouveau to XIX century trends with their angel statues, to more minimalist mausoleums made of marble, as the building dates get closer to our days.

Nevertheless, since this place was also used as a way for the upper class families to show off their status (and everybody knows us Argentineans love showing off) be prepared to behold a burial architecture extravaganza. Take the Dorrego family mausoleum for example, an epic construction that it’s hard to miss, located fifty meters at the right of the main road round about, with ornaments that make reference to passages from the New Testament in similar biblical proportions.

One of the most famous “inhabitants” of the cemetery is Eva Duarte de Perón, Argentina’s First Lady from 1946 until her death in 1952. After Evita’s body was recovered from an Italian graveyard where it was under a false name and traveled almost through half of Europe it was finally deposited in the Duarte family’s grave, where it still rests, in a simple dark marble burial vault located in a narrow hall a few meters from the cemetery wall that’s over Vicente Lopez street.

While some are notorious during their lifetimes and remain so after passing away, there are some that achieve celebrity because of the events that take place in their afterlife. That’s the case of Rufina Cambaceres, an early XX century socialite that died the night of her 19th birthday from a stroke. Or at least that’s what everybody thought. According to the urban legend, not long after the young girl was buried in the Recoleta cemetery, the night keeper found her coffin opened and seriously damaged. The official version dictated it was made by grave thieves. But her mother, an upper class widow (known for being president Hipólito Yirigoyen’s mistress at the time) was convinced that her daughter had suffered a catalepsy attack, a disease in which the victim presents all of symptoms of being dead when still alive. And 106 years later, the statue that she ordered to be placed in Rufina’s burial vault still stands reminding us so: a young woman grabbing the door knob, as trying to get inside the grave, or preparing to leave, it’s hard to tell.

Speaking of leaving, the cemetery closes at 6 p.m., after which only the local cats remain wandering the alleyways of the Recoleta Cemetery. If you’d rather not join them on the night watch, head for the entrance.

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Buenos Aires in the summer is one-of-a-kind. The empty streets breathe tranquility with a good part of the population on vacation at the beach. You can walk comfortably through the city fairs. Sidewalk cafes turn into people watching spots or even tanning salons. Ice cream is that much sweeter during the excessively hot weather. February sales and markdowns are at an all time low in some of our favorite stores and boutiques. Parks turn into the most popular daytime hangouts (which these days is well past 9 pm).

BA’s summer cultural agenda also makes this season stand out on its own. The government of Buenos Aires prepares free outdoor cultural events and entertainments throughout the city during these months. Here is the what, when and where of free dance and theater taking place in BA this weekend.

Popular festivities with 112 murgas (band of street musicians) and 40 corsos (carnival parades) throughout the city.

When:Saturday, February 23 from 7 pm-2 am
Sunday, February 24 from 7 pm-12 am
Visit the Government of Buenos Aires’ website to find a corso near you.

Modern dance and performance featuring over 80 independent artists from Argentina, Chile, Mexico Uruguay and Spain.

Outdoor performance

When:Thursday, February 21 from 5:30-10 pm
Where:Explanada de la Biblioteca Nacional (Avenida las Heras and Aguero)

Performance samples

When:Saturday, February 23 from 6-8 pm and from 8:30-10 pm
Where: Casa de Alfaro, Ituzaigó 557 (San Isidro)

Impro Jam/Closing Fest

When: Sunday, February 24 from 6-8 pm
Where:Centro Cultural El Árbol, Ituzaigó 590 (San Isidro)
Visit the Biblioteca Nacional’s website for additional details.

This is an interactive artistic approach of Mario Benedetti and Ileana Ledesma’s text, directed by Tina Serrano. Every Friday at 7:30 pm, an actor leads the audience, during 50 minutes, through the Garden paths and bringing them face to face with character of poetry.

When: Friday, February 22 at 7:30 pm
Where: Jardín Botánico: Av. Santa Fe 3951
Important: tickets are limited and will be given out half an hour before the show.
Visit the Government of Buenos Aires’ website for additional details.

“La Biblioteca de Babel” is a play in memory of the time when Jorge Luis Borges was an employee at Biblioteca Miguel Cané. With Ingrid Pelicori, Horacio Peña and Pablo Caramelo.

When: Saturday, February 23 at 8 pm
Where: Biblioteca Miguel Cané (Carlos Calvo 4319)
You must arrive one hour before the show.

A unique modern comedy composed of different stories. “A buen entendedor” is open to the general public.

When: February, Fridays and Saturdays at 6:30 pm
Where: Museo Eduardo Sívori (Av. Infanta Isabel 555; in front of the Rosedal of Palermo)
Visit the Museo Eduardo Sívori´s website for additional details.

A Diego Mileo play directed by Mónica Vázquez, with Daniel Ricco (Cornisa), Silvia Berdo (La René) and Jorge Diaco (Rosendo).

When: February, Saturday 13 at 6 pm
Where: Museo Casa de Carlos Gardel (Jean Jaures 735)

Ana Maria Cores presents the monologue “Cuarenta y tantas…”
This is a story of a woman in her forties that goes to see her psychologist. She gets stuck in the elevator on her way there. During that time she remembers different moments of her life, going constantly back and forth. At the end of the play, she will come to a decision that will change her life.

When: Monday, February 25 at 9:30 pm
Where: Plaza Barrancas de Belgrano (Av. Juramento y Cuba – Monumento -)
Visit the Government of Buenos Aires’ website for additional details.

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Naturally, it was time to celebrate with some monkey business! So we invited all our friends, our writers, and a bunch of Buenos Aires bloggers, entrepreneurs and expats to the Official ATG Launch Party / Asado this past Saturday. Over 70 invitees turned up to toast ATG, chow on delectable meats from the parrilla (of course!) and down plenty (too many?) fernet & cokes.

Some party highlights: Finally putting faces to all those names – writers, bloggers & online friends – meeting great people – travelers, food bloggers, tango bloggers, BA bloggers, and awesome entrepreneurs galore! An icebreaker that sent people mingling —suddenly, my sister and her friends were very popular (hmmm). Amazing Argentine asado with a touch of Peruvian flavor, thanks to Senora Gonzalez! The champagne toast, the crazy waiter, and the dancing, complete with disco lights. (In Argentina, it’s not really a party without the dancing.) The famous Noah Kagan celebrated his birthday with us at the stroke of midnight, and promptly ended up in the pool. A dozen people followed, sans suit but fully clothed. That was one this monkey team hadn’t seen before.

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