

Ask HN: What is it about Buenos Aires? - n_coats

For a while I've considered a voyage to Buenos Aires because of my general fixation with travel, but also because of a reoccurring start up/small business trend I've noticed.<p>I know the Collison brothers from Stripe, Blake Mycoskie from Toms, and Tim Ferriss from 4 hour your life away are just a few who would claim praise to BA. Why have so many founders gone to BA to soul search, work, or just party and come back so motivated and with a vision?<p>What is it about Buenos Aires? Have you experienced it or another place that has had a similar effect?
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ZempIT
I'm an Argentinian entrepreneur (Living in Palermo, Buenos Aires). I agree
with almost all the comments, it is a very tourist friendly city to live in,
it is beautiful with nice weather, and the people are very friendly (for the
most part).

The flipside is that there is a severe political and economical crisis (that
has yet to explote) and the situation for us is getting worse by the day, many
of the tech people are moving abroad because of the nonstopping inflation
(around 25% annually) and the attack on the press and liberties. The country
is slowly turning into Venezuela in terms of goverment control, which is
terrible.

In case you are interested in coming and would like to know more about the
city you can PM me with questions.

Cheers!

~~~
n_coats
Thanks for the advice! I may be down there in a three weeks. I'll definitely
contact you if so

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pelle
It is an easy place to be for a foreigner. I've lived there for 2 months
earlier this year and for a couple of other month long periods earlier.

I love the food, the little shops, the tech community is pretty good as well.

Both the Ruby and Lean Startup meetups are great <http://www.meetup.com/Lean-
Startup-BA/>

The largest problem is the current economic situation and the government
there. You have to plan ahead a bit with respect to currency.

Bring enough US$ cash with you to pay the first month rent and deposit or you
will get your deposit back in pesos the day you leave. Which will bring you
deep into the world of black market currency trading (at a loss).

If you are a tech startup type of person I would recommend staying near (not
necessarily in) the Palermo neighborhood. Thats where most activities and
coworking spaces are.

Prices are not cheap there, but other areas such as Villa Crespo right next
door are much cheaper and still walking distance to Palermo.

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benologist
Buenos Aires is amazing and an awesome city, and everything is lined up so you
can just go there and fly under the radar and work:

\- easily renewable visas, just hop on a boat to Uruguay and come back the
next day

\- lots of short term accommodation

\- lots of coworking places where you can get a couch, a desk, an office or
whatever

\- lots of convenience, like ordering food online at any hour through
buenosairesdelivery.com, there's always a laundry place that'll wash and iron
same or next day within a couple blocks, there's supermarkets and great
restaurants everywhere

And the people are nice, the country is great, and the women are probably the
most beautiful I've ever come across in my travels.

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GFischer
"just hop on a boat to Uruguay and come back the next day"

Not to mention there are nice places here in Uruguay you can visit :) .

Buenos Aires is a nice city, but as ZempIT mentioned, the current political
and economic climate is not very good.

Edit: and I think this might be an understatement. Opposition is mounting
against Cristina Kirchner's government, inflation is over 25%, and I wouldn't
be surprised to see major unrest:

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20417517>

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djb_hackernews
I'm in Startup Chile over in Santiago, and I can say I get the feeling
Argentinian entrepreneurs are trying to get the heck out of Argentina. The
situation doesn't look good there. I'm obviously biased here, but Santiago is
fantastic both culturally, safety wise, and for entrepreneurs.

Not to mention the seemingly rampant theft. It's one of the reasons I took it
off my list of places to visit while I'm in S America.

Not trying to rain on your parade, but a different perspective. If you do end
up in BA, be sure to make a trip into Santiago to see what a thriving, safe,
entrepreneurial S American city looks like.

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delkant
Agree. BA is a very nice place, nice and clever people, they are joking all
time. A lot of culture everywhere ( in Spanish of course ) but the thing is
they love the locals theaters and bands, a lot of country around Argentina are
consuming always their culture, their movies, music, etc. and all this comes
most of the time from BA. A lot of restaurants, excellent meat and food in
general. Beautiful skinny girls, maybe they need to go often to their
restaurants and eat a little bit more, but they are beautiful. If you like
fashion this is the right place too, people from BA, porteños (that's how they
are called), they really like to go shopping. A good place also to drink wine,
wine from the city of Mendoza is everywhere in Argentina, they are very very
good. Is a nice place to be for vacation. It is true also that they are in
huge economic crisis at this moment, but even like that the people there
always look happy.

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n_coats
Awesome responses guys! Thanks! Sounds like the pros far outweigh the cons.
I'm curious, what do you think it is in BA, that stimulates people
psychologically in terms of business or ideas? Why do a lot of people find
inspiration, motivation, productivity, and ideas in BA?

Perhaps there is no specific reason or attribute, but it does seem like when
people claim success from projects stemming from a buenos aires experience,
they invariably lay praise to the city.

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Jmetz1
Hi n_costs. I spent six years in Argentina. Let me know if you have any
questions

<http://about.me/jordanmetzner>

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Jmetz1
Hi n_costs. I spent six years in Argentina. Let me know if you have any
questons

<http://about.me/jordanmetzner>

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n_coats
thanks Jordan! Where are you living at the moment?

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chatmasta
Is there a large English speaking population? Would I be able to get by with
mediocre Spanish for a few months?

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chudi
Almost all the young of the middle class (almost all the city of BA) can speak
some form of English, if you can speak some sort spanish you should be fine.
Contact me if you need advice.

