Ask HN: What is it about Buenos Aires?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4814243

by n_coats • 14 years ago

6 14 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

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.

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?

What is it about Buenos Aires? Have you experienced it or another place that has had a similar effect?

benologist• 14 years ago

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.

GFischer• 14 years ago

"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

pelle• 14 years ago

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.

delkant• 14 years ago

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.

chatmasta• 14 years ago

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

chudi• 14 years ago

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.

Jmetz12• 14 years ago

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

http://about.me/jordanmetzner

n_coats3• 14 years ago

thanks Jordan! Where are you living at the moment?

Jmetz12• 14 years ago

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

http://about.me/jordanmetzner

n_coats3• 14 years ago

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.

ZempIT• 14 years ago

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_coats3• 14 years ago

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

true_religion• 14 years ago

How can I get in contact with you? No email in your profile.

djb_hackernews• 14 years ago

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.

Ask HN: What is it about Buenos Aires?

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