Sup /trv/, here's a summary of my trip to Buenos Aires last month in pictures.I mostly hated the place, everything is ridiculously expensive and the value you get for what you pay is total shit.Public transport is America-tier and you will have to use it unless you prefer renting a car or Ubering all over the place.I went there for family reasons and was admittedly lazy when it came to checking out things to do and places to visit so obviously YMMV if you have a more defined itinerary.Anyways, I started my journey at the Jardin Botanico, here's the statue that greets you when you first enter the place, there is no entrance fee.
Cunny
They don't let you enter the greenhouses I'm afraid, would have been cool to see one from the inside
While I was in the park I managed to capture a social reality the government doesn't want outsiders to see. Hobos enter and lounge around on the benches since it's free and they don't get harassed by pigs. Thanks Milei!
What less than 3 years of libertarianism does to a country. Shameful
Last one, I actually really liked the place, it's quiet and there weren't that many people since I went on a weekday, good place to sit down and relax. Moving on
Next stop is the Jardin Japones and it's a total tourist trap, you have to pay 8000 ARS if you're local and 24,000 ARS if you're a foreigner. They even have a gift shop in the place for God's sakes. Still, the place does look really nice and trim.
They had koi fish swimming around in the ponds which was cool, first time I've seen one in real life
They had a "bell of peace" there. I wonder if it's like the one at UN headquarters in NYC which will only be rung when there are no more wars around the world.
It might be a tourist trap but to be perfectly honest it is very pretty to look at. Moving on
Visited the barrio chino, they sell a lot of Chinese, Japanese and Korean products and just as you'd expect from imported goods they are overpriced (saw some shiitake mushrooms on sale at 99,000 ARS per kg).I did nab myself some Pocky, first time I've had them.
I cannot stress how overpriced expensive most stuff in the city is. This was a dinner for three at a local Chinese restaurant and my brother who has been living there for years told me this is actually one of the CHEAPER places to dine at.
They had this free exposition of Borges at the Centro Cultural Recoleta, it was genuinely godawful and not at all educational or informative
Didn't know you had to take a course on Calculus II to read Borges
They even had a wall dedicated to "Borgesian memes". I almost died of cringe
Argentina is a country under foreign occupation.There were these disgustingly philosemitic banners plastered in a few spots around the city. I wanted to take a picture doing the Roman salute in front of one of these but apparently the public display of "hate symbols" is illegal and I didn't want to get arrested.Anyways to sum up Buenos Aires is a rather underwhelming city. Yes, it has nice architecture but there's actually not that many things to do unless you're willing to pay a premium for it and even then you'll always get the nagging feeling that you're not getting your money's worth. There has to be better countries/cities in LATAM.And as for cooming things are just as bleak here as they are in the West. I can't remember a single chick ogling me and to be quite honest I didn't see head-turning hotties here either. I guess it's Americans who overrate Argentinian women, it is true that there aren't as many fatties around as in other developed countries so consistently seeing slim women bumps them up a few points in their eyes.So that was my week-long stay in Buenos Aires.Would I come back? Fuck no, it's a completely overrated city where you pay Western prices for subpar quality. Maybe the rest of the country has more to offer, what do you guys think?
>>2895666it sounds like you got raped by gringo prices. maybe if you live like a local it's better
>>2895666Where are you from OP, that you haven't seen Pocky or koi fish in a pond before? Curious since your English is good but you have family in Argentina. Maybe Midwest? Pocky especially, I see at most grocery stores in both West and East Coasts. I swear I saw it in a Dollar General too... maybe it was a knockoff?
>>2895666Also idk what you were expecting out of a family-related visit to Buenos Aires. It's a big city with European influence, but nothing unique to Argentina. I haven't been to Argentina, but if I had the chance, I would definitely aim for the southernmost tip and the old cattle plantations. Walking along a wall constructed entirely of cattle skulls sounds like a surreal experience.
>>2895670Locals pay the exact same prices, of course with the exception of charging gringos 2-3 times the original price for entry anywhere. They charge around 1.5-2x if you come from a Mercosur country. It's the most pathetic shit I've ever seen. As an EUfag, I think the EU should have a list of countries whose citizens must pay extra to visit museums, landmarks etc. as a reciprocal measure. I know most argies travel on Italian passports, so the rats would most likely avoid paying anyway, but at least the unlucky ones would feel what it's like to visit Argentina. OP is 100% correct though. Buenos Aires is incredibly underwhelming for a city of its size. There isn't a single unique experience I can think of that I had there, and I lived there for over a year. It was just like living in my home town of 100k, except with more traffic and less safety. The only reason people ever travelled to Buenos Aires was how cheap it was under the Peronists and the yankee-friendly time zone. They never went there for the culture or even the cuisine (trash) or whatever. They just wanted to make their money go further.Also, I've noticed that Americans do enjoy Buenos Aires way more than Europeans overall.
>>2896272The most interesting thing in BA was the junkies or bums emptying out entire dumpsters looking for whatever. Like every dumpster surrounded by 30 bags of garbage each one emptied out on the street
>>2895656I don't see how $56 for three people at a dine-in meal is outrageous?
>>2896482It's not outrageous, but that's what I would expect to pay back home approximately. Part of the appeal of South America is that it's more affordable than the West. I can't imagine how hard it must be to survive as a typical wagie in Buenos Aires with a low salary struggling with western prices
