Just wanted to report that I thought El Baqueano was amazing. For $120 pesos, we had the tasting menu of 7 dishes with 7 paired wines ($165 pesos if you got the premium wines). They really try to do new flavors and tastes with exotic meats. I'm sometimes skeptical of places that focus on exotic meats, because sometimes I think the focus is more on the fact that the meat is unusual than trying to make it taste good.

Also, they apparently change their tasting menu daily. If it was closer to me, I'd go there a ton.

I probably didn't explain myself clearly enough. Firstly, I've seriously been to like 50 countries and this is the first restaurant I have EVER seen which didn't take at least one of VISA, Mastercard or AMEX.

Secondly, I showed the manager my rental contract which proved I lived about 20m up the road in a luxury apartment building. I offered to let him keep the contract as well as my driver's license until I returned with the $8 (lol).

I only got angry at him when he consistently continued to be a dick despite my endless politeness - the entire time, despite him being a ******, I was polite and respectful as this is not my country / culture - but there is a point where anyone here would not tolerate being insulted and abused like that, and I reached that point a lot longer after most (or all) of you would.

I got REALLY angry when, after all this, he yelled that if I didn't return with the $8, he'd take it out of the waitress's salary - her face was just one of devastation when he made this angry threat after everything I'd done to assuage his fears that I would return asap with his $8 (lol) and I got seriously pissed off at his ******ed and insulting attitude towards myself and to his waitress, who was nothing but polite, professional and fantastic.

I was beyond reasonable WAY past the stage where a normal person would flip. I hope this makes things a bit clearer....basically, this guy was just a dick. Every country has them.

I posted the full story in my blog (www.jonnyvincent.com) which I hope explains the situation clearly - I do not mean to offend any local Argentinians and if you have the time to read the full story, you'll realise this guy was just a dick and 100% is not representative of the culture or the country.

However, the financial situation here is really ludicrous. Yes, I read most of this thread. You can qualify, justify, analyse all you like - but when banks shut at 3pm and ATM's limit you to $100 max withdrawals and massive restaurants don't take credit cards, it's just a freaking joke. imo. Give me a logical explanation for these issues and I'll apologise for calling the financial situation here ******ed.

Hey, I didn't feel offended. I hate every single situation you stated as well, from the cab thing to the ATM issue. And I complain every day about how ridiculous living here can be.

But you seem to be very upset about the restaurant situation where you made a clear mistake, and being a bit superfluous about stuff. There's a lot of stuff here that is going very wrong, ATM limits and no change at cabs is just a symptom of that. BTW cab drivers can't go around with a lot of change because they are scared about being robbed or killed.

I'm not trying to defend my country or something, just trying to provide information (which I did many times through the threads) and giving you a piece of advice about what to expect when you travel to 3rd world countries.

Yes, Argentina sucks at simple stuff, News at 11.

The key to having a good Argentina experience is to always cover yourself. Never expect stuff to go your way, always have a back up plan, and be constantly plotting in your head how many bad alternate scenarios could happen whenever you do stuff. If you do this, and you're competent, you'll find you won't be disappointed very often. But like Evan said, if you expect Argie to be the US but cheaper, you're in for a fun time

Well said. Whenever I go do something bureaucratic here like pay a late bill or go to the doctor or pick up a package I have trained my self to expect nothing will happen. My expectations are that I will not accomplish the seemingly simple task of, say, canceling my land line in a 5 hour period. That way, you really feel good when something goes your way. And if you can't start thinking in that manner at least some of the time, I really don't think your stay in Argentina will be a pleasurable one.

Wow yoyo, don't let one bad experience ruin your time down here. Buenos Aires is an awesome city, and quite easy to live in once you get used to the money situation. There are ATM's which allow you 2500 peso withdrawls fwiw.

Yeah, I mean if you come to BsAs not wanting to like it, or looking for one thing thats wrong with it so you can judge it negatively, its a really really easy city to hate. But if you come here with a positive attitude, its a really easy city to fall in love with.

Also the ATM withdrawl limits vary day to day, some days I could get 800 pesos out, other days only 300. Citiibank customers (or people with a citibank affiliate bank) can get out 2.5k from citibank ATMs.

edit: Sup reggie! CC roulette doing better for you lately?

Can anyone comment on the state of live poker games in Buenos Aires? I read some third-hand info about a game at Casino Puerto Madero but I'd really like to hear from someone who has actually played in that or any other live game down there. Specifically, blinds, buy-ins, rake, etc.

Thanks!

Yes. Haven't lost in ages, but then I haven't played in ages!

AB Chris -- I don't think any of us have played in any live poker games. Also, I don't think Puerto Madero has poker anymore. But i don't know for sure, this is only what I've heard. If you search this thread and its forerunner, you will find posts about the casino.

Can anyone who's been to Iguazu recommend a nice place to spend a night? My parents are coming to visit next month, and I have to book a place for us to stay.

Hotel Saint George

Reggie -- I stayed on the Sheraton at the falls. As I remember it, it's the only hotel at the falls and by far the nicest. The rest of the hotels are in the city, which is 15 mins away.

sheraton is nice

As I posted above, I never felt offended by your views. I was a bit shocked at someone coming to a 3rd word country and expecting not to find some financial problems. All of this while you claim to have traveled to fifty countries, and that you are pretty "zen".

HELLO!!!! This is Argentina where banks kept money form people (have you ever heard about "corralito"??)... When they decided to give the money back, they would give you pesos instead of dollars (of you had 100K dollars in your account they would give you 100K pesos, only after devaluing pesos).
There was a very well known Journalist, that died because he couldn't afford surgery with all his money trapped by "corralito". (Horacio Garcia Blanco)

So basically I agree with you, this is a mess. A lot of stuff is wrong here, and this way we will never recover. But coming here and expecting none of this to happen is just insane. And complaining about your card being taken or not at a particular place or about the look a cab driver gave you, is just superfluous, not zen.

Dude, I was born in Mexico 27 years ago because in this country a fascist government killed 30.000 people. My father was kidnapped by the government, spent 30 days in "jail" while my grandparents didn't know where he was (meanwhile military forces went to their house "looking after him", they stole stuff, etc), when he was 19. Most of his high school friend were killed. The people responsible of this went to jail in 1984, only to be released in 1991. The president that released them was reelected in 1995. I really didn't care, bcz I'm not patriotic.

But I'm developing some patriotic feelings right now, because some ******ed idiot forgot to check if they take credit cards at a restaurant. Thank you.

From what I heard the puerto madero games are not NLHE, but some aberration they created there, where the first to act at the flop is the last player that raised preflop. And stuff like that. High antes iiirc too.

I played live at Colonia (Uruguay), 2/5 (or 2/4, I don't remember), with no cap. Minimum BI was 50BB. The rake was 10%, uncapped iirc. Softer than 50NL online, at least the time I played. I don't know if they spread higher games.

In Punta del Este (Uruguay), they play higher. I think 3/6 is the lowest during sumer.

Mar del Plata's casino is spreading NLHE games too. I never played at those, but I know the games start at 1/2 (peso), and 10/20 was the highest (or 5/10?).

I just went through all the 1bedrooms in Recoleta on bytargentina. I was looking for something in the ~1500USD/month range was was really dissapointed. The most expensive apartment was only 1600 and it was old and not impressive at all. Most of the others were in the ~1000$ range and looked like they were 40-50 years old with furniture just as old. Where should I be looking for something that is MODERN, with nice furniture, a nice pool, a decent gym, perhaps a nice tv?

How much should I be expecting to pay for a 1bedroom like this? Is there a better/newer neighborhood I should be looking in?

hmm looks nice. Thanks. I had heard the sheraton wasn't all its cracked up to be, but I'll look into that too.

I agree w your sentiment. I'm moving to BsAs around september and already have been looking on numerous sites for an apartment. It should be modern, have balcony that's big enough to sit outside and just well equipped. I yet have to find one for ~1.5K USD.. Guess i'm gonna take the best i can find for 1 month and when arriving in BsAs, i'll be looking there for a better one or possibly try to hook up w another (or multiple) pokerplayers and rent something real balla.

Smth really ill like the condo w jacuzzi and stuff that adammonroe and 2( ?) other players rented
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=372

If you can't find a good apartment in BsAs for 1500$/month then you really do suck at life. I went to some pretty sick places, around Palermo specifically, that were like 1000$/m. I almost feel the urge to go back just so I can show how inept you are by getting myself a good apartment for about 1k.

Arg, now I'm thinking about how awesome a set up I had, restaurants nearby, grocery store one block away, gym 3 blocks away, friends that lived close by, good shopping to my left in soho, a good mall to my north at the alto, 10 peso cab ride from the inner city bars/clubs....

yes, come back colin

Colin, for someone who didn't spend that much time here, you continually hit it out of the park when posting on this thread. So I'm with Praetor, you should come back.

Yeah, the local girls are tearing up...without your alcohol-fueled shenanigans, the place will never be the same.

rip.

OK guys, yoyo has been banned for a week. Let's keep this thread civil.