MySpaceBA.com Blog: Www.bataxis.com tours and transfers

Furnished Apartments Buenos Aires MYSPACEBA.Com

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 5 Sep 2017 09:05:00 -0300

If you are planning a visit to Buenos Aires then we are the people you need to contact.
With 14 years of experience in the rental market we have adapted our business to suit your needs.
On our website www.myspaceba.com you can checkout more than 200 furnisheds apartments in our wonderful city. Or email us the details of what you are looking for and we will make the search for you. Info@myspaceba.com.
Once we have found you the right apartment we can also make your airport transfers so that you are collected from the airport by an English speaking driver who will also make the check in.
Check out Www.bataxis.com to see our other services as we also offer city tours. Tigre Delta Tours and Estancia trips.
Beyond that if you decide to go travelling in our vast country we also offer luggage storage.
Checkout www.storageba.com to see how we can help you.

Buenos Aires is known as the Paris of the south. It is by far the most Beautiful city in South America and we will do everything in our power to help you enjoy it.
John &Clara Boyle
0054-11-47933496

Storage Buenos Aires And So Much More

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:19:00 -0300

Wherever you are from the chances are it's a long way away from Buenos Aires. So whether you arrive by plane or by cruise ship there is a good chance you may need storage at some point.
Many people come in on cruise ships and want to fly to the waterfalls for a couple of days but can not possibly take all there luggage on an internal flight. And that's where we come in. With Storageba.com you can combine the pick up of your luggage with all your transfers. We can collect you from the port or hotel or airport drop you to the place of your choice and collect you up on your return.
Service 2
Airport transfers with all English speaking drivers.
http://www.buenosairestaxis.com/airport-transfer/
We also have a very popular airport transfer service with all English speaking drivers.
There is no better way to get to know the must sees of Buenos Aires than to have an English speaking driver give you all the info so that you will feel almost like a local.
Service 3
City tours Buenos Aires. http://www.buenosairestaxis.com/city-tours/
Enjoy our 5 star rated city tours of Buenos Aires with your own private driver.
To take you to each of the major sights of the city and walk you through them while telling you the history.
Also checkout our Tigre Delta Tours and Estancia Trips.
Service 4
Furnished Apartments Buenos Aires http://www.myspaceba.com/
We also manage more than 200 Furnished apartments in Buenos Aires we we are literally equipped to manage all your needs.

Here at Storageba http://www.storageba.com/ we aim to be problem solvers and with these four services we believe we can make Buenos Aires happen for you.
Thanks for reading this article
John Boyle

Is an Airline Price War about to put Argentina on the Tourist Map

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 15:22:00 -0300

Argentina is often seen as a fascinating country but it's just too far away or too expensive to get to.
Even the locals call it El Culo Del Mundo (The arse end of the World). Well it's not going to get any closer but it is about to become a dam sight cheaper to get too.
Two low cost carriers (LCC) have broken into the market and slashed the prices to the bone with a pay by service system . They are Www.Norwegianair.com and www.flylevel.com . You pay for your flight then add the extras i.e. Per suitcase or meals or to choose your seat. So depending on what kind of traveler you are real bargains are obtainable and the gauntlet has been thrown down to big international carriers. Expect all fares to come down shortly. Norwegian airlines will be operating from Buenos Aires to London Gatwick also to Miami and Flylevel from Buenos Aires to Barcelona.
But the potential game changer to tourism in Argentina is that Norwegian air has applied to fly upto 80 different routes within Argentina and South America. Argentina has mainly been controlled by Aerolineas Argentina and Lan Chile now Latam. Both companys are very unionised and operate out of heavily unionised airports that will not take kindly to low cost airlines and the work ethic that comes with them.
At present internal flights in Argentina cost about triple the European equivalent and double those in neighbouring Brasil. But trying to explain to the unions that a mass tourism will actually create many more jobs and create real long term security is not as easy as it should be. To most people it would be a no brainer but to the dinosaurs of the Peronist union movements they will fight it tooth and nail.
Argentina's hotels are crying out for it. At the moment they are cutting each other's throats in a battle for the few tourists that make it this far. The plight of the hotels has not been helped by the number of people using Airbnb.
My name is John Boyle
I run www.bataxis.com
We do airport transfers and city tours in Buenos Aires with all English speaking drivers .
http://www.buenosairestaxis.com/airport-transfer/
I hope you have enjoyed my article.

Elections 2017 The battle for the soul of Argentina

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 18:43:00 -0300

Two years ago Argentina elected Mauricio Marci as President of Argentina and Maria Vidal as the governor of the province of Buenos Aires . The two most powerful jobs in the country were now in the hands of the Cambiemos (we can Change) party and a disolusioned population had chosen a new direction. Had Peronism been consigned to history?. Argentina had elected two people that stood on a platform of Zero tolerance of corruption and that is exactly what they did. The judiciary were no longer afraid and went after the corrupt political henchmen and women of the Peronist movement.
Of course corruption in Argentina comes with a capital K for Kirchner and what followed the 2015 presidential election has been a tidal wave of corruption charges against most of the previous government. It has seen one former minister Jose Lopez arrested while trying to hide 9 million dollars in cash and an assault rifle in the grounds of a monestry. And the former president being hauled before the courts and investigations against her mounting daily. To fend off these multiple investigations she has returned to politics with a vengeance and is desperately trying to become a senator. Why? Because as a senator she would have immunity from prosecution for all the millions that she and government embezzled from Argentina.
Her route back to power is via the Peronist movement the party of Jaun and Evita Peron.
They have a saying in Argentina that the Peronists love the poor so much they keep creating more of them. An ideology of hand outs that keeps the poor poor and utterly dependent on the next hand out.
Most of them don't know any different and can't imagine any other form of government.
And that's what Cambiemos is up against. Also the Peronists are terrified that they might succeed and people will see there is another way.
Living in Argentina you feel the country is about 20 years behind the rest of Europe or North America. To get an iPad or IPhone you need to cross into Paraguay or Chile or fly to the USA or Europe. And Peronism cannot or will not see the absurdity in this. They want to return to a protectionist printing press economy where inflation runs riot. And everything is dealt with by printing more money. In short we would be following down the same path as Venezuela.
A return to Peronism would cause investors to free and capital flight to once again go through the roof . It would condem Argentina to another lost decade.
John Boyle

http://www.buenosairestaxis.com/city-tours/

Native English Speaking Tour Guide Buenos Aires

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 09:31:00 -0400

Make Buenos Aires Come alive for you. We offer a wide range of tours and transfers in South Americas most beautiful city.
http://www.buenosairestaxis.com/product/day-trip-buenos-aires/
Check out our tours we are all native English speaking and can't wait to help you make the most of your visit.
City Tour Buenos Aires 5 hrs

The city tour would be a mixture of driving and walking and would take in all the major sights of Buenos Aires. From the Flor Generica And the Rose gardens we would make our way to the park of memory . This park is dedicated to the Argentines who disappeared during the dictatorship between the years 1976 to 1983.

We would then visit Recoleta and the final resting place of EVA (Evita) Peron.
This would be followed by the plaza San Martin and the Plaza de Mayo.
This plaza has a rich history and the mothers of the plaza de Mayo still march their every Thursday holding the pictures of their disappeared youngsters and wearing their iconic headscarves. This is also the sight of the Casa Rosada where Evita made her famous balcony speech.

From there we would move on to take in San Telmo and la Boca with the famous Caminito.
We would move on then to the Theatro Colon and the 9th of July Avenue which at 18lanes wide is the worlds largest and quite a sight to behold.

Contact Info@bataxis.com

0054 911 58528509

John Boyle

MySpaceBA.com Blog: Www.bataxis.com tours and transfers: Argentina a wasted decade or a wasted century?.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 4 Aug 2017 13:08:00 -0400

MySpaceBA.com Blog: Www.bataxis.com tours and transfers: Argentina a wasted decade or a wasted century?.: Its so hard to cram the history of the last century in Argentina into a short story so many things have happened and the country keeps repe...

Argentina a lost decade or a lost century?.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 4 Aug 2017 13:01:00 -0400

Its so hard to cram the history of the last century in Argentina into a short story so many things have happened and the country keeps repeating the same mistakes and refusing to move on.
   To pick the moment of the steep decline would be 1929 and the great depression. But I will briefly go back further to 1868 and the president Domingo Sarmiento. When he took charge Argentina had 90% illiteracy but during his term 11,000 schools were built and a platform was put in place. From 1880 right through to 1929 Argentina would boom and have almost uniterupted growth. It would be second only to the united states in attracting immigration from Europe and elsewhere.
     So when 1929 came it hit Argentina very hard as it did many other parts of the world. Within a few years fascism was on the rise in Germany but more importantly in Spain and Italy the two countries with the strongest European links to Argentina. And tragically this right wing populist path would be chosen by Argentina. The young Jaun Peron would become the military attache to Italy and would visit Muselini Hitler and Franco.
   Argentina's path to economic destruction was being paved with quicksand but still all was not lost. They managed to stay out of World War 11 until March of 1945 when they finally got off the fence and declared war on Germany. A decision that looked as false as it probably was.
   At this point as the world was rebuilding and pledging itself to do better for its people and if Argentina had followed the day was not lost.But Argentina was about to show just how disconnected it was from reality and the rest of the world.
   In 1946 as Europe cleansed itself of all it's right wing dictators (except for Franco) Argentina was about to elect a right wing populist military man named Jaun Domingo Peron.
    A new form of political party was born PERONISM. It would bring about nepotism and corruption on a scale that would shame the devil and lead Argentina to hell.
    As Jaun Peron and his second Wife Evita wowed the working classes by throwing money and shoes at them (but never books)and giving the occasional cronies free houses capital flight began and Argentina began to hemorrhage it's wealth.
     In 1952 Evita would die of cancer and in1955 a military coup would oust Peron.
But the cancer of PERONISM refused to die with Evita and the party kept coming back and the result was always the same. Corruption nepotism and economic chaos.
In 1973 like a bad Penny Peron returned again as president of Argentina his 3rd wife Isabel as his vice President. Peron passed away the following year and wife number 3 would become the president.
   As Peron and Isabel had lived many years in Spain they had seen and knew all to well Franco's methods. So the death squad the Triple As was formed The Argentine anti Communist Alliance.
This death squad Made up mainly of military members would go on to exterminate all of Isabels enemies and use the cover of the cold war to label them as Communists.
   But far worse was in store for Argentina as a military coup would unseat Isabel in 1976 leading to a bloodbath the like of which nobody could imagine and still struggle to grasp. Thousands would die as Argentina suffered a 7 year military dictatorship.
    In 83 Argentina returned to democracy and a rare prize a decent honest president Ricardo Alfonsin and he built a new platform that has maintained democracy ever since. He challenged the power of the military (they would never again appoint there own leaders) he challenged the Catholic church and the unions and both did all they could to undermine him.
    Then sadly the PERONISM returned and economic chaos and the largest bankruptcy in history followed 2001. Everyone who had savings in the bank lost 70% in a day as Argentina defaulted on more the 100 billion dollars of debt.
    You would think the country would learn it's lesson but no in 2003 they elected peronist Nestor Kirchner.
The corruption had reached the top levers of power and would go on to corrupt everything it touched. For 12 years Nestor then his wife Cristina would loot Argentina. In the spirit of Peron and Evita they would throw worthless pesos to the poor to buy their votes while stealing all the US Dollar's that entered the system. A Mafia was running and ruining the country.
    But in 2015 a candidate and the mayor of Buenos Aires ran against the peronist on a platform of Zero tolerance of corruption and the weary voter's heard the message and thankfully listened.
Mauricio Macri was elected to expose and deal with corruption and has so far lived up to his word. The Argentine economy is showing strong signs of growth and foreign investors once more have Argentina on their radar. But what a journey Argentina has taken , it should be a Canada or Australia but for most of the last 100'years it's been a basket case country that keeps shooting itself in the foot.
My name is John Boyle I am a tour guide in Buenos Aires
I hope you have enjoyed y article.
If you would like to book a tour or visit our website please click the link below or email me at info@bataxis.com 005491158528509
    http://www.buenosairestaxis.com/city-tours/

Buenos Aires The night of the museums 2016

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 09:57:00 -0300

Oct 31st is a special night in Buenos Aires. 180 museums will throw open their doors from 8 pm until 3am free of charge. And if you download the night of the museums buspass that will also be free.
So this cultural extravaganza is a must for any tourists in town at the moment.
You will also be able to enjoy live music and theatre at many locations. You can visit the world tango museum, or board the frigate Sarmiento. With 180 locations to choose from the city is yours for the night
Free Bus Pass

For those who want to get around to various sites across the city, the major bus lines will allow museum goers to ride free as long as you have a copy of the La Noche de Los Museos bus pass.

While some of the city’s largest and most popular museums such as MALBA, El Museo de Bella Artes and the Natural Science Museum participate, they typically attract big crowds and might be better left until after midnight or another day.

With over 180 museums participating in every neighborhood of the city, it’s impossible to see it all. To search for specific events or to do a search by neighborhood, see the guide linked below.

The evening begins at 8 p.m. and ends at a rather tame 3 a.m. for nocturnal Buenos Aires.
View the La Noche de los Museos Map

La Noche de Los Museos Guide
October 31, 2015
Time 8 p.m. — 3 a.m.

The best English speaking tours and transfers company in Buenos Aires

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 11:14:00 -0300

When you make a trip to Argentina there is so much to plan and arrange. Argentina is relatively new as a tourist destination so many of the tips you would normally get from previous travelers may not be available.
Well imagine a company that could take care of all your needs, we believe we have created that very company. http://www.buenosairestaxis.com/product/day-trip-buenos-aires/
We began in 2004 as www.myspaceba.com which rents furnished apartments to tourists and Bussiness people coming to Buenos Aires. We now have on our website more than 200 fully furnished apartments located in all the best neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires.
In 2007 we added www.bataxis.com to this and began to make airport transfers in Buenos Aires for people who wanted English speaking drivers.
Then due to public demand we added the now wildly popular city tours. Five hours tours taking in all the sights and history of Buenos Aires. Checkout our tripadvisor reviews below.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g312741-d3533878-Reviews-Buenos_Aires_Taxis_Private_Tours-Buenos_Aires_Capital_Federal_District.html
We then added San Isidro and Tigre Delta tours. And day trip to Estancias (ranches).
Buenos Aires is always changing and we do our best to change with it. So when Buenos Aires became a major cruise ship destination we quickly realised that one of the major problems for tourists was what to do with their luggage when they left the ship and wanted to go to Iguazu waterfalls for example. The cost of bringing all their luggage of an internal flight would be tantamount to open wallet surgery. So we started www.storageba.com which enabled people to combine luggage storage with airport transfers. They could be collected from the ship and taken to Aep or EZE and leave their luggage in our safe keeping.
One of the keys to running a successful Business I have learned is to be able to say OnlyWe.
By that I mean Only We offer such a complete and comprehensive service that can take care of all your needs.
We can be contacted for apartment rentals by email at info@myspaceba.com
Or for tours transfers and luggage storage at info@bataxis.com
Telephone is 00541147933496
My name is John Boyle and I hope you have enjoyed my article.

A tale of two heroes Maradona and Gaza.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 14:34:00 -0400

It won't be long now. One day soon we will wake up to the news that the wayward footballer Paul Gascoinge has died. His body will have finally given up the ghost and his sad pathetic fight against alcoholism will be over. People will say how sad it was and that there was nothing that could have been done to help him. But is that really true?.
I have lived the last 12 years in Buenos Aires and in those years another wayward star has almost managed to drink himself to death on two occasions. You may have heard of him Diego Maradona.
On both occasions he was so close to deaths door that the state stepped in. They sectioned him and shipped him to rehab in Cuba under the watchful eye of Fidel Castro.
Although he fell off the wagon the first time the second time was a success and he has gone on to manage the national team aswell as a string of coaching contacts in the Middle East.
Is Gazas life so worthless that no one will step up. He was hailed to the heavens when he was scoring wonder goals. And now people and the state and his old drinking buddy's Chris Evans and Danny Baker just look the other way.
This is not just a tale of two wayward footballers but also of two different cultures and how they deal with certain issues. Sadly for Paul he is past his sell by date and of no political value so he faces a sad lonely death.

Argentinas wasted Kirchner decade and new beginning.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 10:18:00 -0400

In November of 2015 Argentina ended 12 years of Kirchnerism and Peronism with one mighty blow and returned the economy back toward the free market and away from protectionism.

The government of Cristina Kitchener had sailed against the wind for 8 solid years and 12 if you count the four years of her husband Nestor before her. She followed the ideology of Jaun Peron to the letter and financed it with shameless corruption. In order to keep the poor on board she ran the printing presses day and night printing an endless supply of pesos to meet pay demands. The flood of pesos led to rampant inflation and more pay demands which were met with more freshly printed bills.

Meanwhile any hard currency US Dollars that came into the country were being milked off and dished out in kick backs to all the peronists bigwigs and hangers on.

But things were about to unravel, slowly at first but in the end a tidal wave of corruption allegations would sweep her from power.

One of the first major blows to her government came on 22 of Feb 2012 when a commuter train pulled into Once train station with more than 1000 passengers on board. It's entire breaking system failed and the train plowed into the buffers leaving 51 dead and more than 700 injured.

The public were outraged and the transport minister Ricardo Jaime was thrown to the wolves.

It was quickly discovered that despite coming from a humble beginning that he had acquired his own private jet and Yacht and that his wife and daughters had inexplicable amounts of money in their bank accounts. The health and safety funds of the rail network had been embezzled.

The government liked to stall all investigations by handing them to their own in house judge (Oyabide) and he would do just that "Investigate " all told he investigated cases endlessly, so endlessly that none ever reached a court room. When the new government took office he quickly resigned and ran off with his ill gotten gains.

Now Nestor Kirchner hailed from the province of Santa Cruz 0.4 % of Argentinas population live in this province but 12% of government building contracts were issued from here.

And mostly to Nestor Kirchners friend former bank clerk Lazaro Baez. The Kirchners used Baez as a means to embezzle untold millions out of the country into tax havens. To give an idea of how much may have been involved Baez has now been found to own more than 140 homes many of these are large estancias. And he is not the top of the food chain,those above him took far more.

But it is the latest revelations that have really called time on the Kirchner ideology and even has it most ardent supporters screaming for blood.

One of the heads of planning for the full 12 years of the Kirchner government Jose Lopez was in the small hours of the 14th of June 2016 caught trying to hide almost 9 Million dollars and a machine gun in the grounds of a monastery in the province of Buenos Aires. His paranoia had got the better of him and he become convinced the police were going to raid his house so chose to try and bury his illicit gains some where safe. Unfortunately for him a neighbor alerted the police to a man throwing sacks of money into the grounds of the convent at 3am. And the rest is pure soap opera.

Meanwhile the new president Mauricio Macri has taken over and is desperately trying to calm the inflation and balance Argentinas books. Argentina has a huge amount of its economy under the table so to speak. So raising taxes would only hit those who are already paying taxes. So he has gone for a catch all approach and has hit water electricity and gas as well as petrol and cigarettes.

The result has been a sharp contraction in spending from everybody on everything. The Macri honey moon is clearly over and the people are wondering if the medicine will cure or kill the patient. Argentines are not accustomed to thinking long term. But the first green shoots are beginning to appear as the long dead housing market is beginning to recover. Macri plans to be able to issue a million mortgages in his four year term. This in itself will transform Argentina.

He has also removed the hated U$D160 dollar visa fee the US citizens had to pay to enter Argentina.

And cruise ship passengers will now pay the Argentine port entry fee of U$S14 only at one port and not each port of call.

Further good news for next year comes in the form of budget airline Ryanair buying Andes air to create Argentinas first budget airline. Prices for flying here internally have always been an outrage.

It is also estimated that as much as 400 Billion dollars of Argentina money has been filtered out to safe havens or is in Banco de La Mattress as Argentines say. Macri plans an amnesty to allow this money to return and with interest rates in the US and Europe at record lows he may be very successful. Argentina has everything but the confidence of its own people and Macri will have his work cut out to change that way of thinking. But the alternative is the return of the corruption and the peronists. There is a saying here that rings very true.

That the peronists love the poor so much that they keep creating more of them.

And that in a nut shell is why Macri must succeed.

The British Invasion of Buenos Aires 1806 - 1807 and Argentinas claimtothe Malvinas / Falkland Islands.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 2 Aug 2015 16:11:00 -0300

One of the forgotten wars of Britains past came in 1806 when they stormed Buenos Aires and initially took the city. The spanish had not wanted to arm and train the locals as they feared them as much as any potential invaders. After the initial success the British redcoats found themselves surrounded in the city and had to fight their way back out suffering huge losses on the way. But they did not go far, they crossed the river-plate (Rio de la Plata) and dropped anchor outside Montevideo. There they waited for reinforcements and laid siege to the city and stormed it. The then moved along the northern shore of the river-plate before once more crossing it (26 miles 42km) and laying siege to Buenos Aires once more. But this time the portenoes (people of the port) had had a year to prepare. And were wise enough to know you don't fight the redcoats in the open field. They had prepared a defensive ring around the Plaza Mayor (now the plaza de Mayo) and along what is now know as defensa street.

The redcoats divided themselves into many groups of between 250 and 600 men depending on the objective at hand. They then launched many simultaneous attacks hoping to overwhelm the defenders, but found themselves charging head long at cannons packed with grapeshot (shrapnel). Many of the attacks floundered immediately and very quickly the redcoats had lost 2500 men either dead wounded or taken prisoner. By this stage the portenoes were firing down on them from every roof top from in front and behind them. the redcoats were trapped again. They finally had to plead for terms of surrender which were delivered to them written on the hide of a donkey. They finally had to leave Buenos Aires once more on condition that they sailed straight back to England.

In Buenos Aires jubilation turned to rebellion and 3 years later it would be the turn of the Spanish to flee. The uprising began on the 25th May in 1810 and the nation of Argentina was in the process of being born. The birth or the nation was completed on the 9th of July 1816 all that was held by Spain became part of the land signed over to the new Republic including the Malvinas Islands which the British know as the Falklands. Britain knew now that seizing Buenos Aires was out of the question but with naval superiority they knew they could size and hold the islands. And 17 years later in 1833 that's exactly what they did. But by this time the islands had and Argentine governor and a population, it was part of the sovereign territory of Argentina.

And that is why the Argentines feel very strongly that Las Malvinas Son Argentinas.

The photos below show the shrapnel damage to the church tower in defensa street 400 in the centre of Buenos Aires and inside the church are the battle standards of the British redcoats.

Buenos Aires Tourism (One stop everything)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 9 Sep 2014 10:15:00 -0300

If you are planning to visit Buenos Aires you will probably be researching online to try and make all your plans come together in the most seamless manner.
Well that's where we can help. Over the last few years we have expanded and added to our business not what is best for us but what is best for you the tourist.
   On our website www.myspaceba.com we have more than 260 fully furnished apartments for rent. All in the best locations of Buenos Aires and all available for short and long term rentals.
   We can collect you from the airport with our company www.bataxis.com and personally make your check in. All of our drivers are English speakers.
   We also offer city tours and delta trips and days out at Estancias (ranches)
   And if you are planning to travel around Argentina but do not wish to take all your luggage with you we also offer luggage storage via www.storageba.com .
Our aim is to help you get the most out of your visit to our wonderful country.
http://www.buenosairestaxis.com/product/day-trip-buenos-aires/

We Run Buenos Aires 2014 Nike Stole My Money

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 9 Jun 2014 12:29:00 -0400

When a large company like Nike say they are going to arrange a half marathon in Buenos Aires you assume that you are dealing with a serious company that will put on a good show. I booked online along with 10,000 others paying $220 pesos for the privilege of pounding the streets of Buenos Aires. This equates to 2 million 2 hundred thousand pesos. For this Nikes obligation was to close a few streets give every body a t shirt a timing chip and a bottle of Gatorade.
    But somebody some where decided that the profit margin was not high enough and that if they were to cull the field of runners they could save a ton of money on t shirts medals and Gatorade.
    And that is what they did , they sold 10,000 place yet only 7114 runners made the race. That is 2886 people who just woke up one day and decided to donate $220 pesos to Nike. The people of Buenos Aires are kind like that!. They just love giving money to big corporations and getting nothing in return.
   Or maybe they didn't?. The fact is they had your money and an obligation to fulfil but opted instead to cull the list of runners as though it were a Florida electoral register. And with a rejection rate of close to 30% and for any reason they were able to achieve this  disgusting rip off.
    At every race I have ever run not having a medical cert just meant you signed a disclaimer stating that you did not hold the organisers responsible. Not in this race. In this race it meant no t shirt and no chip.
   Having a medical cert but not having the Nike form stamped by a doctor also meant no t shirt and no chip.
Having all of the above but not having a photo copy of the first 2 pages of your identity document also meant rejection. And so this theft continued until they had culled almost 3000 paying customers.
I cannot help but wonder are they now sitting on almost 3000 t shirts that were never issued, in the corner of their office are there boxes of medals that were never given out, or were the t shirts and medals never made in the first place?.
   Maybe Nike think that people will just take it and say nothing. Maybe the Argentines will?. After all they are accustomed to crap service, but I am not Argentine and am not willing to let this rip off pass me by without giving my 2 penneth worth.
  So despite not having a chip or the official t shirt my friend and I attended the race any way. We showed our receipts of payment to the officials and were told we could not enter the course. We ended up having to jump the fence like thieves in the night to run a race we had paid to enter. The run itself was fine but Nike had one final insult in store for us at the finish line. They had positioned marshalls down the final straight to stop anyone not wearing the official shirt from crossing the finish line. A few choice words from me convinced one marshall that it was not in his interest to try and actually stop me so I made it to the finish line and picked up my $220 peso bottle of Gatorade.
    The next step was to try and get my medal. I showed my receipt I explained what had happened but all to no avail. So home I went empty handed.
    One of the great things I love about running is getting back home to my twin 6 year old girls and me and my friend putting our medals on them. The next day one of the girls will take my medal to school and tell her friends and teachers that daddy won the race. The first thing they asked after this race was where's the medal?. It made me feel quite sick to be honest and furious enough to write this.

Buenos Aires Bird Poop Scam

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 16:32:00 -0300

       I have heard of this happening 3 times recently. Once on Arenales street once in front of the Shereton Retiro and most recently beside the plaza de Mayo.
The scam begins with the victim being squirted with very smelly liquid which is squirted up in the air and comes down on them as though it were bird droppings.
     Immediately two well dressed men about 50 appear (sometimes they have a woman with them) They have tissues and a bottle of water and set about cleaning the poop off you. They are friendly and keep looking up and saying pajaros (birds) as though to explain the origin of the poop. But their main objective is your wallet or phone. With in seconds a taxi pulls up they get in and are gone.
    They know that the penny will drop very quickly that something is not right and that you will realise you are being robbed that is why they have the taxi getaway as part of the scam.
    If this happens to you shout scream make as much noise as possible, they don't want to be violent they just want to robbed you and be gone. Get the number plate of that cab. And CALL THE POLICE.
The tourist police of Buenos Aires are located on Corrientes 436

Tel 43465748 or 08009995000

They have more than 30 officers that speak English French Italian and even Japanese.

Tourism has become a huge source of income for Argentina and these police officers are there to protect and look after the tourists.
The bottom line is if you don’t call them they can’t help you.

Kind Regards
John Boyle
http://www.buenosairestaxis.com/product/day-trip-buenos-aires/

Argentine football for tourists (not anymore)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 13:57:00 -0400

     As a football fan and a club member of C.A. Tigre the AFA plus card is a great idea in theory.
    The idea behind it is to register all football fans and make it easier to keep out the Hooligans (Bara Brava's). But to actually get one of these cards is proving to be very difficult. You need to attend your club on a Saturday morning and join a cue that stretches for many blocks. Once you reach the front of this line they give you an appointment to come back and do it all again on another day. But if you did not join the line early enough you are screwed because they only hand out so many appointments every Saturday. All of these appointments are for weekdays when you are very likely to be working, or don't wish to spend the early evening in a cue outside a football stadium when you should be home with your family.
   All of this is to gain the prize of an AFA plus card which contains all the latest hi tec bio metric info and is approved by the FBI and in use by many top European clubs including Real Madrid. Well if its so bloody hi Tec why can't a person ask for their appointment over the internet.
   Today I went to Tigre's ground and was told no more turns would be given out until Saturday. When I pointed out that half the people in the office were actually sitting there doing nothing the girl said I really don't know what to say to you and suggested I try and get a card from AFA at Ezieza. Ezieza is 43km(26 miles) from my home. Is this really what football fans have to go through to see a match?.

TOURISTS
   I am a foreign person living in Buenos Aires and when I first moved here almost 10 years ago I did as many tourists do and signed up to go to a match with a tour company. I went to the superclassico of Boca at home to River.
But under these new rules that will either be impossible unless the clubs have no intention of enforcing the use of these cards. One or the other it can't be both.
   Will Boca and River have separate doors for foreign tourists?. Will Tigre just not allow them in?. I have brought scores of foreign fans to Tigre matches over the last few years and yet I find myself not even renewing my club membership at the moment because I am unprepared to jump through idiot hoops to get one of these dam cards.
    Millions of tourists visit Buenos Aires every year and 10's of thousand's of them do or would love to attend matches. That door now appears to be closed to them.
Basically if every day fans are having trouble getting these cards what chance does a tourist have.

Argentina's Debt Crisis The End Game (Maybe)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 7 Jun 2013 09:25:00 -0400

    Argentinas debt crisis continues to roll through the courts in New York, but in order to explain where we are today one needs to go back in time and explain the various stages of the economic meltdown and bounce back of the Argentine economy.

December 21 2001
   Argentina defaults on 100 Billion U$S Dollars of debt and the economy which is at that time pegged to the U$S Dollar at a rate of 1 U$S Dollar = 1 Arg Peso collaspes.
The currency peg breaks and all Argentines with saving in the banks see their savings decimated losing roughly 70% in one day as the peso goes into free fall.
   Food kitchens spring up accross the country and millions lose their jobs. Argentina become a pariah nation and is excluded from borrowing on the international markets.
   The economy is left bobbing along almost dead in the water, but for a small silver lining, Argentina has just gone from being one of the worlds most expensive citys to one of its cheapest.
    By 2005 Argentina had recovered to a point where it was able to offer payments to the bond holders although with heavy discounts. The offer amounted to about 29cents on the Dollar plus interest and was accepted by the majority of bondholders.
   The key to note here is that those who were against the debt restructure were not forced to accept the haircut as in Greece Spain Cyprus and other countries where debts have been restructured. In Argentinas case the holdouts have continued fighting in the New York Courts seeking to receive 100 cents on the dollar. Another point to note is that almost all of the holdouts are Vulture funds who purchased the bonds at only cents on the Dollar at the time of the Argentine melt down.
The battle has raged on it the courts and in 2010 Argentina reopened the offer to the holdouts. With this they managed to reduce to holdouts to only 7% of the bondholders.
But the tail is still wagging the dog and the vulture funds have been trying to seize Argentine assets around the world ,most notably the frigate Libertad which was held in Ghana for several months last year.
    So the stage is now set for New York.
Argentina has once more opened the offer so that the vulture funds can climb aboard.
It is widely expected they will reject this.
    So what are the options for the courts and what could be the responses.
1) The courts could order Argentina to pay the bondholders in full. Approx U$S1.3 billion.
But if Argentina were to accept this then the 93% of bondholders that have accepted the haircut could then claim they also want the full amount.
The result would be almost instant default and nobody would be paid.
2) Argentina could ignore the New York courts and continue paying the 93% of the bondholders by using European or Asian clearing banks.
This would cause a technical default. IE Some would claim Argentina is in default and Argentina would say " No we are NOT".
3) The courts could come down in favour of Argentina and say that 7% cannot demand to be treated differently to the 93% who accepted the haircut. After all in Greece Ireland Cyprus Portugal Spain ect the haircut was enforced on everybody in order to save the countries from bankruptcy. Imagine if 7% or even just one bond holder were allowed to stop the bail outs in there tracks.
    It would mean that no country could ever default again and no debt could ever be restructured.
The very factors that led to world war two would now be enshrined in international law.

ARGENTINAS BABY SNATCHERS Face JUSTICE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 6 Jul 2012 08:42:00 -0400

jUSTICE AND HUMILIATION FOR ARGENTINAS BABY SNATCHERS

The key figures in Argentina’s military dictatorship of 1976 to 1983 were finally brought to justice in Buenos Aires..
They received sentances ranging from 50 to 15 years for the reign of terror they inflicted on Argentina

Their pretence that they had fought a noble war was stripped away from them as the eleven men were convicted of a systematic plan of baby theft and illegal adoptions.

The 11 included former Junta leader Jorge Videla, Reynaldo Bigone, and Jorge (the tiger) Acosta. All already serving life for countless other human rights abuses and murders.

STOLEN LIVES

During the dictatorship 76 to 83 it is estimated that up to 30,000 Argentines were kidnapped off the streets and taken to illegal detention centres. Once there they were horribly tortured and many of the women raped by Argentina’s so called guardians.

Of these 30,000 it is estimated that up to 500 were pregnant women. These women gave birth in captivity and were then killed. Usually by being hurled drugged and naked from military aircraft into the River Plate (Rio De La Plata) or some times dumped in pits or sometimes their bodies would simply be burned along with old tyres in order to conceal the smell.

But justice has returned to Argentina and via a huge DNA testing programme the authorities have managed to find 105 of the stolen babies to reunite them with the surviving members of their extended families.

And with each reclaimed life came more evidence against Argentina’s brutal dictatorship. Culminating in this trial where they were exposed to the country and the world for what they truly were/are.

JB Buenos Aires

Frinking a new word in the dictionary From Buenos Aires

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 3 Jul 2012 17:17:00 -0400

In 2010 a group of expats in Buenos Aires decided to start meeting up on Fridays after work for a few drinks. The group soon became known as the Frinkers (The Friday Night Drinkers) And the group has grown and grown sometimes attracting upto 70 people. They have now hit the magical number of One hundred Frinking nights.
And the group has now been rewarded by the urban dictionary adding the word frinking to their updated dictionary. See example Below

Frinking
	The act of heading out for a drink on a Friday night after work with friends. (FRIday driNKING). Frinks (the drinks) and Frinkers (those that head out Frinking) all stem from the root verb "To Frink". Originated amongst ex-pats in Buenos Aires in 2010 and has spread to other English language countries as travelers have passed on. I'm heading out Frinking tonight. Every week since 2010, Frinking has taken place in Buenos Aires on a Friday night, with a Facebook Events Group, and Meet Up Group to promote it. buy frinking mugs & shirts frinks frinkers drinks frink drink by BAFrinkerJun 29, 2012share this add a video

The Argentine Footabll Relegation System 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:57:00 -0400

SUNDAY 24TH OF JUNE.
BUENOS AIRES FOOTBALL CLUB TIGRE FACE THE BIGGEST MATCH OF THEIR 110 YEAR HISTORY.
Its a match in which they can win the league title and get plunged into a relegation battle at the same time.
This has been brought about by Argentinas convoluted relegation system in which relegation is worked out by deviding a teams points by the number of games played over a 3 year period.
This has in the passed served to protect the big clubs and make it very dificult for a newly promoted clubs to stay up.

Tigre plight is still unsure but i will try to explain the situation.
They are joint top with Arsenal so if we both win we will go into a play off against each other to decide the title.
If we both draw then Boca could join us in a 3 way play off if they win their final game.

Now the other end of the table.
If Rafaela win and San martin draw and union lose.
Then Tigre would have to go into a 3 way play off against san Martin and Union .
The losers of this 3 way play off would then have to go into a playoff against the team that finished 4th in the second division.
And 4th in that division could still be River Plate the Buenos Aires Giant
Thus setting up a titan battle in the north of Buenos Aires.
This battle would decide who is finally relegated.
So while the season could finish on Sunday Tigre's season could drag on for another 6 matches in which time they could be crowned champions and demoted to the second division. A bigger travesty of justice is hard to imagine.
Saludos
John

Buenos Aires ranked worlds 121st most expensive city

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 02:52:00 -0400

Regional focus

Europe, the Middle East and Africa

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Tokyo is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, pushing Luanda, Angola, down to second position, according to Mercer’s latest Cost of Living Survey. Osaka is in third position, up three places from last year, whereas Moscow remains in fourth and Geneva in fifth positions. Singapore and Zurich share sixth place, up two and one places respectively since 2011. Ndjamena, Chad, drops five places, but Hong Kong retains its ninth place.

Karachi (214) is ranked as the world’s least expensive city for expatriates, less than one-third as expensive as Tokyo. Recent world events, including economic and political upheavals, have affected the rankings for many regions through currency fluctuations, inflation, and volatility in accommodation prices.

In the UK, London (25) is the most expensive city for expatriates, down seven places from last year. At 133, Birmingham is up 17 places, having overtaken Aberdeen (144) and Glasgow (161). Belfast (165) is the UK’s least expensive city, up 13 places in the ranking since 2011.

The survey covers 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. The cost of housing is also included and, as it is often the biggest expense for expatriates, it plays an important part in determining where cities are ranked. Mercer's cost-of-living survey is the world’s most comprehensive and is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees. New York is used as the base city and all cities are compared against it. Currency movements are measured against the US dollar.

Nathalie Constantin-Métral, Principal at Mercer, is responsible for compiling the ranking each year. She commented: “Deploying expatriate employees is becoming an increasingly important aspect of multinational companies’ business strategy, including expansion. But with volatile markets and stunted economic growth in many parts of the world, a keen eye on cost efficiency is essential, including on expatriate remuneration packages. Making sure salaries adequately reflect the difference in cost of living to the employee’s home country is important in order to attract and retain the right talent where companies need them.”

“When compared to New York, our benchmark city, most European cities have witnessed a decline in cost of living. Some exceptions exist where accommodation prices have increased or additional VAT taxes have pushed the cost of living up. In North America, most cities have gone up in the ranking, as the US dollar has strengthened against a large proportion of the world’s other currencies. In Asia, more than six in ten cities moved up in the rankings, including all surveyed cities in Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand. Cities in Australia and New Zealand witnessed some of the biggest jumps, as their currencies strengthened significantly against the US dollar.”

Europe, the Middle East and Africa

At number four in the global ranking, Moscow remains the most expensive city in Europe for expatriates. Geneva follows in fifth position and Zurich in sixth (up one place from last year). The next European city in the ranking, Bern (14), is up two places from last year, following the strengthening of the Swiss franc against the US dollar.

With a few exceptions, the remaining European cities have all dropped in the rankings, mainly due to a considerable weakening of local currencies, including the euro, against the US dollar. Oslo (18) is down three places from 2011, whereas the next European city on the list, London (25) is down seven places. In 28th position, St. Petersburg is up one place. Paris (37) is down 10 places, whereas Milan (38), Rome (42), Stockholm (46), Vienna (48) and Amsterdam (57) are all down from seven to 13 places. Helsinki (65) and Prague (69) have both slid down the list, 23 and 22 places respectively. Brussels (71) dropped a more moderate nine places, followed by Dublin (72) – down 14 places. Ranking 207, Skopje, Macedonia, is the least expensive city for expatriates in Europe.

Ms Constantin-Métral explained: “Despite some marked price increases across the region in the first half of last year and widespread increases in VAT charges, most European cities dropped in the ranking. This is mainly due to the unstable economic situation across Europe, which has led to the depreciation of most local currencies against the US dollar. Countries badly hit by the Eurozone crisis, including Greece, Italy and Spain, have also experienced drops in rental accommodation prices.”

Tel Aviv (31) continues to be the most expensive city in the Middle East for expatriates, despite dropping seven places since 2011. Ranking 67 and up eight places from last year, Beirut has overtaken Abu Dhabi (76, down nine places from last year). Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (186), continues to rank as the least expensive city in the region. “On the whole, most Middle Eastern cities have dropped in the ranking, mainly because price increases on goods and services have been more moderate here than in our benchmark city, New York. Slight decreases in expatriate accommodation costs were also observed in Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” said Ms Constantin-Métral.

Despite dropping off the top spot on the global list, Luanda, Angola (2), remains the highest ranking city in Africa. Ndjamena, Chad (8), follows, dropping five places since 2011. Dropping eight places, Libreville, Gabon (20), is the next African city on the list, followed by Khartoum, Sudan (26), which is up 18 places. “It might be surprising to see 20 African cities in the top third of the ranking. The main driver behind this is the difficulty finding good, secure accommodation for expatriates. So the limited supply of acceptable accommodation is very expensive. The cost of imported international goods is also high, contributing to many regional cities moving up the ranking,” said Ms Constantin-Métral.

In South Africa, Johannesburg (154) and Cape Town (179) have fallen 23 and 21 places, respectively, reflecting the considerable weakening the South African rand has suffered against the US dollar in the last year. Tunis, Tunisia (209), remains the least expensive city for expatriates in the region, down two places from last year.

The Americas

São Paulo (12) and Rio de Janeiro (13) remain the most expensive cities for expatriates across both North and South America, and are closely trailed by Caracas (29), which jumped 22 places since last year. In South America, Brasilia (45) is now the fourth most expensive city, down 12 places. Dropping from 53rd position, Havana (99) experienced the largest drop in the region as the US dollar strengthened considerably against the Cuban peso. At 121, up from 159, Buenos Aires made the region’s biggest jump up the list following strong inflation, which considerably increased the cost of goods, and an increase in accommodation cost.

Ms Constantin-Métral commented: “Inflation pressures continued to push some South American cities up the ranking, whereas for some of the region’s cities, weakening of the local currencies caused them to rank lower.”

Ranking 33 (down from 32 in 2011), New York City remains the most costly city in the United States. Los Angeles (68) and San Francisco (90) are slowly catching up, however, having jumped a respective nine and 16 places since last year. Amongst other major US cities, Washington (107) is up one place, Miami (110) is up five places and Chicago, also at 110, is down two places. Portland, Oregon (178), and Winston-Salem, North Carolina (195), remain the least expensive surveyed cities for expatriates in the United States. Ms Constantin-Métral said: “Although price increases have remained moderate overall, most US cities have gone up in the ranking, mainly as a result of the strong US dollar.”

Toronto (61) remains the highest ranking city in Canada, closely followed by Vancouver (63). Montréal (87) has dropped eight places, whereas Calgary (92) has climbed four.

Asia Pacific

This year, Tokyo (1) emerged as the most expensive city for expatriates both in Asia and globally. Climbing three places since 2011, Osaka (3) is the next Asian city on the list, followed by Singapore (6) and Hong Kong (9). Nagoya, Japan (10), is up one place, and Shanghai (16) and Beijing (17) climbed five and three places respectively, overtaking Seoul (22, down three places). Two more Chinese cities follow: Shenzhen (30) and Guangzhou (31), up 13 and seven places respectively since 2011. “The combination of increased prices on goods and a strengthening of the Chinese yuan has pushed Chinese cities up the ranking. Continued high demand for accommodation has also led to moderate increases in rental costs,” said Ms Constantin-Métral.

In India, New Delhi (113) and Mumbai (114) have dropped considerably – by 28 and 19 places respectively. Elsewhere in Asia, Jakarta (61) is up eight places, Bangkok (81) is up seven and Kuala Lumpur (102) is up two places. Hanoi’s position remained unchanged at 136, and Karachi (214) remains the region’s least expensive city for expatriates.

Australian cities continue to rank high on the list in the Asia Pacific region and, following the strengthening of the Australian dollar, have all experienced further jumps up the global list since last year. Sydney (11) and Melbourne (15) experienced relatively moderate jumps, up three and six places respectively, whereas Perth (19) and Canberra (23) both jumped 11 places. Brisbane (24) rose by seven places, and Adelaide (27) shot up 19 places. Australia now has three surveyed cities in the top 20 and all six surveyed cities in the top 30. In New Zealand, both Auckland (56) and Wellington (74) both jumped a very significant 62 places.

“The leap up the list by cities in New Zealand follows large increases in both accommodation cost and demand, coupled with a stronger New Zealand dollar,” explained Ms Constantin-Métral. “Demand for rental properties has also increased significantly in all the Australian cities we rank. Coupled with very limited availability, the result has been very tight markets and increased prices.”

Mercer produces individual cost of living and rental accommodation cost reports for each city surveyed. For details, or to purchase copies of the individual city reports, visit www.mercer.com/costofliving or call Client Services, Warsaw on +48 22 434 5383.

Notes to Editors

Important: The list of rankings is provided to journalists for reference, and should not be published in full. The top 10 and bottom 10 cities in either list may be reproduced in a table. The figures for Mercer’s cost of living and rental accommodation costs comparisons are derived from a survey conducted in March 2012. March 2012 exchange rates and Mercer’s international basket of goods and services have been used as basis measurements.

The information is used by governments and major companies to protect the purchasing power of their employees when transferred abroad; rental accommodation costs data is used to assess local expatriate housing allowances. The choice of cities surveyed is based on the demand for data.

Mercer provides advice and market data on international and expatriate compensation management, and works with multinational companies and governments worldwide. It maintains one of the most comprehensive databases on international assignment policies, compensation practices, and data on worldwide cost of living, housing, and hardship allowances. Its annual global mobility forums provide companies with the latest trends and research on mobility issues. Follow Mercer’s mobility activities on Twitter @MercerMobility.

Mercer is a global leader in human resource consulting and related services. The firm works with clients to solve their most complex human capital issues by designing and helping manage health, retirement and other benefits. Mercer’s 20,000 employees are based in more than 40 countries. Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC), a global team of professional services companies offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy and human capital. With 53,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue exceeding $10 billion, Marsh & McLennan Companies is also the parent company of Marsh, a global leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy Carpenter, a global leader in providing risk and reinsurance intermediary services; and Oliver Wyman, a global leader in management consulting. Follow Mercer on Twitter @MercerInsights

City Rankings

Top 50 cities: Cost of living ranking
Mercer international basket including rental accommodation costs
Base City: New York, US

Rankings
March 2012	March 2011	City	Country
1	2	TOKYO	JAPAN
2	1	LUANDA	ANGOLA
3	6	OSAKA	JAPAN
4	4	MOSCOW	RUSSIA
5	5	GENEVA	SWITZERLAND
6	7	ZURICH	SWITZERLAND
6	8	SINGAPORE	SINGAPORE
8	3	N'DJAMENA	CHAD
9	9	HONG KONG	HONG KONG
10	11	NAGOYA	JAPAN
11	14	SYDNEY	AUSTRALIA
12	10	SÃO PAULO	BRAZIL
13	12	RIO DE JANEIRO	BRAZIL
14	16	BERN	SWITZERLAND
15	21	MELBOURNE	AUSTRALIA
16	21	SHANGHAI	CHINA
17	20	BEIJING	CHINA
18	15	OSLO	NORWAY
19	30	PERTH	AUSTRALIA
20	12	LIBREVILLE	GABON
21	17	COPENHAGEN	DENMARK
22	19	SEOUL	SOUTH KOREA
23	34	CANBERRA	AUSTRALIA
24	31	BRISBANE	AUSTRALIA
25	18	LONDON	UNITED KINGDOM
26	44	KHARTOUM	SUDAN
27	46	ADELAIDE	AUSTRALIA
28	29	ST. PETERSBURG	RUSSIA
29	51	CARACAS	VENEZUELA
30	43	SHENZEN	CHINA
31	38	TEL AVIV	ISRAEL
31	38	GUANGZHOU	CHINA
33	32	NEW YORK CITY, NY	UNITED STATES
34	23	NIAMEY	NIGER
35	70	YANGON	MYANMAR
36	61	KINSHASA	DEM. REP. OF THE CONGO
37	27	PARIS	FRANCE
38	25	MILAN	ITALY
39	41	LAGOS	NIGERIA
39	63	BAMAKO	MALI
41	67	ABIDJAN	CÔTE D'IVOIRE
42	34	ROME	ITALY
43	55	BRAZZAVILLE	CONGO
44	39	DJIBOUTI	DJIBOUTI
45	33	BRASILIA	BRAZIL
46	39	STOCKHOLM	SWEDEN
47	37	NOUMÉA	NEW CALEDONIA
48	36	VIENNA	AUSTRIA
49	48	BAKU	AZERBAIJAN
50	25	VICTORIA	SEYCHELLES
50	44	DAKAR	SENEGAL

Greece 2012 = Argentina 2001 Same Crash Different ...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:06:00 -0400

MySpaceBA.com Blog: Furnished Apartments in Buenos Aires: Greece 2012 = Argentina 2001 Same Crash Different ...: Watching the slow motion car crash that is the Greek exit form the Euro is all to familiar to the average Argentine. They have been that don...

Greece 2012 Mirrors Argentina 2001 Economic Disaster

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:28:00 -0400

Watching the slow motion car crash that is the Greek exit form the Euro is all to familiar to the average Argentine. They have been that done that and gone step by step through every little horror show that the Greek population are now enduring.
   A brief history of the Argentine crash.
1976-83 Military Dictatorship. 30,000 Argentines Murdered by the state.
83-90 Weak demorcracy and hyper-inflation
1990 Argentine peso pegged one to one with the U$S
Dec 2001 Argentina defaults on over 100 billion U$S of Public Debt.
   The key to the Argentine crises is in the peg to the U$S Dollar.(Much as Greece is pegged to the Euro) It stopped the inflation and it brought an end to the chaos. But it also pinned Argentina to the US currency and in the 90s Bill Clinton was US president ,he had a balanced budget and a very strong Dollar. This made Argentina very uncompetetive with other countrys in the region and by 1998 Argentina plunged into a deep recesion. (As Greece did in 2007)
    At this point both coutrys needed to be able to have some wriggle room to kick start their economys. Both were given more loans and dragged deeper and deeper into debt.

   In Buenos Aires the capital flight bagan and Argentines shipped over U$S100 billion Dollars to the safety of US banks. Mainly in Miami for some reason. For this they received 4% interest and the security of knowing that their money was in real greenbacks and not the pegged peso that was being used in Buenos Aires.
The Argentine Government finding the coffers were empty had to go to the lending agencys (the US banks) and borrow back the money but at 16%.
In Greece the capital flight is all but over ,thought this week its citizens still managed to pull another 800 million Euros out of the system before its innevitable collaspe.
The bigger suprise was that any one still had any money in those banks in the first place. The greek goverment finds itself paying at least 16% to borrow back the money that its own citizens have sent abroad.
   When Argentina finally defaulted the country exploded in rage and anyone who still had money in the bank lost 70% of their savings from one day to the next. And millions lost their jobs and food kitchens were set up all around the country in order to prevent starvation.
    I remember walking past the Parliament Building(Congresso) at about 8pm in Febuary 2002 and seeing hundreds of people queing for food. What struck me most was that this food kitchen was right in front of Government building so that the politicians could not help but see the mess they had been a party to.
   The default though very harsh set Argentina free and soon growth returned and for most years since the economy has grown at over 8%.This year growth is forcast at 4%.
Peoples savings were decimated for example U$S100 became $100 pesos approx U$S33. But if you had a mortgage of US$100,000 that became $100,000pesos Approx U$S33,000. So there were also winners.
    Much of the Billions that had been removed off shore returned and a building boom took off. Argentina became one of the cheapest places in the world ,so tourism took off and hotels shot up all over the country.
    So with Greece the imediate future is bleak but there is a silver lining. The money to kick start their economy is already in place . Just overseas or in Banco de la Mattress
or in safty deposit boxes. And its Greek money that they have not had the confidence to spend in a recesion hit economy. When they see the first signs of growth the money will flood back in as it did in Argentina.
The down side of default is the vulture funds. They will buy distressed and defaulted bonds for cents on the dollar and sue for the full amount. Thus leaving default and accessing the global finance markets becomes impossible until these vulchers have been paid off.
   Argentina has still not exited default and so long as comodity prices remain high maybe she will soldier on without the international markets.
   But i will always remember the saying i heard in Buenos Aires in 2002.
If you owe the bank a thousand dollars its your problem.
If you owe the bank 130 Billion dollars its their problem.
JB
Buenos Aires

Currency Exchange Buenos Aires The Informal Dolar

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:06:00 -0400

    Getting your hands on the almighty U$S Dollar in Buenos Aires is fast becoming a game of whispers trust and and meetings in tiny offices where the money is counted quickly, handshakes are exchanged and the deal is done. No names are asked and any conversation is minimal.
   The reason behind this is that the Goverment in order to stem capital flight has made it almost impossible for Argentines to buy the Dollar legally at todays rate of $4.53 pesos (2nd July 2012) to the Dolar. Hence the Argentines are seeking out the black market and paying over $5.93 pesos each for Dollars. Why would they do that you ask? Simply because inflation in the pesos is out of the bag and there is no earthly point in holding a currency that devalues at approx 20% per annum.
    The knock on effect of the dollars drying up has been to stall what was a vibrant housing market and bring new starts in building projects to a grinding halt. With asking prices coming down by 10% and more and the potential buyers still not showing an interest. The fact is that just holding onto the Dollars now looks safer than the property market.
    Import restrictions have sent locally produced goods through the roof, as the local producers are always quick to exploit a captive market. And the removal of the opposition means Xmas has come early.
In short Argentina needs to deal with the inflation or it will continue killing off one bussiness sector after another.
   The latest sector to find itself struggling is Hotels, As with fixed costs rising at 20% per year (minimum). They cannot pass this on to the tourists and any sudden down turn leaves them very exposed to high fixed outgoings and very low tourists numbers.
   Only a few years ago Argentina had more than 200 hotels either in construction or about to break ground. Now it has many hotels on the brink of going bust and not much sign of a light at the end of the tunnel.
   Many tourists are findings the furnished apartment rental market to be a much cheaper option with companys such as www.myspaceba.com offering over 260 different furnished apartments to suit all budgets and in all the major barrios of Buenos Aires. As apartments don't have staff costs as such they have managed to fend off the ravages of inflation and have become a bastion of good value in troubled times.
   Remember as the tourist coming in ,You have the stronger currency and therefore the advantage in all most all negotiations, You should try to use this to your advantage.
Buenos Aires is a fantastic city and there is still great value to be found, and you can still eat the best beef and drink great red wines at very reasonable prices.
Yours
JB
www.bataxis.com

Buenos Aires is Rocking

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:02:00 -0300

Alist of up and coming events to make your visit to Buenos Aires Unforgetable.

Eric Clapton in Buenos Aires:

http://www.vuenosairez.com/ar/ciudad-de-buenos-aires/agenda/eric-clapton-en-argentina/61096

Friday 14th Oct Eric Clapton at the Riverplate Stadium

Deep Purple in Buenos Aires

http://www.vuenosairez.com/ar/ciudad-de-buenos-aires/agenda/deep-purple-en-argentina/58641

Until the 16th of Oct Deep purple will be rocking Luna Park in downtown Buenos Aires.

Rod Stewart in Buenos Aires

http://www.vuenosairez.com/ar/ciudad-de-buenos-aires/agenda/rod-stewart-en-argentina/61325

Thurs 20th of Oct the fantastic Rod Stewart will be lighting the Velez Sarfield stadium in Bueno Aires with his many timeless hits.

Aerosmith in Buenos Aires

http://www.vuenosairez.com/ar/la-plata/agenda/aerosmith-en-argentina/60824

Not everyones cup of tea and certainly not mine (sorry) but on the 28th of oct This group will be in el Unico en La Plata

Buena Vista Social Club in Buenos Aires

http://www.vuenosairez.com/ar/ciudad-de-buenos-aires/agenda/buena-vista-social-club-en-argentina/62874

25th oct Luna Park Get a taste of old Cuba with the fantastic Buena Vista Social Club

On the 12th of November all of the Museums of Buenos Aires will be open free of charge and all night in what is fast becoming one the the most popular theme night laid on by the city.
Check out the link below because with free subte passes and free bus passes it really is a night to remember.

La noche de los museos........very soon

El próximo 12 de noviembre se realizará la 8ª edición de La Noche de los Museos.

http://www.lanochedelosmuseos.gob.ar/index.htm