I have been living in Buenos Aires, Argentina for close to 5 months now.  I first came in March of 2007 with a friend. We came for a three week vacation in Capital Federal and Greater Buenos Aires.  When I first arrived at Ezeiza International Airport I was so excited and full of expectations.  I was mostly focused on the three to one dollar to peso exchange rate.  That’s what everyone was telling me before coming to Buenos Aires.  That time I stayed in the Micro Centro which is the heart of Capital Federal.  There are many people walking in all directions all day long.  It’s a super populates area in which tourists and locals can’t be differentiated.  The first thing I did the next day was to eat a choripan just a few steps of my friend’s apartment on Esmeralda Street.   I can remember like if it was yesterday.  I ordered a choripan with french fries and a coke.  All together it didn’t even add up to $3 US dollars. Choripan is a type of sandwich that consists of a pork sausage that is grilled to perfection served in a baguette.  To that you can add chimichurri which is a type of salsa/vinaigrette used as a condiment for various meats.  On the first bite I took I immediately noticed the difference in flavor and quality of the sausage.  It was delicious, simply yummy.  I can tell you so much about the gastronomy in Buenos Aires.  Most days in my visit to Buenos Aires I ate in a restaurant.  Not because I couldn’t cook at my friends apartment but because it was so inexpensive and the quality of the food was amazing.  Every time I ate out, my ticket didn’t go over $10 US Dollars.

After being a few days in the Micro Centro, I visited some other friends who live in the province of Buenos Aires.  The province of Buenos Aires is also known as Greater Buenos Aires or Provincia.  The provincia is bigger than Capital Federal by far.  It is easily accessible with the Buenos Aires public transportation that includes trains, subways, buses, taxies and “remises”.  Remises are similar to taxis, the difference between them in Argentina, is that taxies are flagged down on the street and remises work with a reservation by phone.  Taxis and remises are fairly inexpensive for tourist traveling with euros and dollars due to the famous exchange rate.  The provinces I visited were:  Quilmes, Sáenz Peña, Monte Grande, and Caseros.   I took the train and buses to get to those provinces.  To visit Monte Grande and Quilmes you have to a train from the “Constitición Train Station” and to visit Sáenz Peña and Caseros you have to take the San Martín Train from the “Retiro Train Station”.  Also, you can take the 124 bus from Corrientes Avenue to take you to Sáenz Peña as well.  I totally recommend visiting the provinces because you get to see a different side of the Argentine society.  You get to see other places away from the city’s hustle and bustle and get a glimpse of the real life in the suburbs.  In the provinces food prices are also lower and you can enjoy food in a more rustic and organic form.

My friend and I decided to get even more away from the city.  So we went to the bus station in search of a tour bus or a long distance attraction.  There we saw a huge poster of the Iguazú Falls.  Immediately, we were convinced that we had to visit the “cataracts”, which are located in Misiones, Argentina.  We purchased the tickets and embarked on a 14 hour bus ride to the north of Argentina.  On the way to the falls, were able to see the different landscapes and climates of Argentina.  It was beautiful to see the rivers, cattle, plantations, mountains and much more.  When we got to Misiones we rented a nice room in a nearby hostel and right away to the public bus to the Iguazú National Park.  We walked around experiencing and absorbing the beauty of that place.  There were thousands of butterflies with many colors and patterns.  We saw different animals but the most impressive one was a crocodile called “jakaré”.  When we finally started hearing the roar of the falls we started to get super exited.  We got there and we were in complete shock.  The hugeness of it is almost indescribable.   The lives of many butterflies ended in that waterfall due to the tremendous pressure that pulled them down.  We stayed there for almost one hour admiring the miracle of mother earth.  Now, I have never been to the Niagara falls but every person that has had the chance to see both, the Niagara and Iguazú Falls tell me that the Iguazú Falls are far more astonishing that the Niagara Falls.

A few days before leaving Buenos Aires I was sure that I wanted to stay.  So many things played a role on that decision.   The pace of life, quality if food, living simplistic, the language, the history of a post-communist society.   I decided to see how I could extend my stay in this wonderful country filled with passion and angst.  So naturally I started to look at colleges.  For American and European tourists, private collage education is extremely affordable.  Private universities like Universidad de Palermo, Universidad de Belgrano, Universidad del Cine, and Universidad del Salvador are among the most sought after by foreign students.  The programs are very hands on from the beginning and you definitely get your money’s worth.  I took as much information as I could from the universities in Buenos Aires to research them back home and hopefully make a decision.

My visit to Buenos Aires brought good things to my life.  I also happened to find a very lovely person that made my decision to stay in Buenos Aires a whole lot easier.  Buenos Aires is like an enchanted city and luckily I was one of those touched by love.  It might sound a little bit too perfect but I truly happened to me.  I am not saying it will happen to you but it surely can!  When I arrived back home, I was sad to think that I might not go back to Argentina in many years to come.  But I decided to go against all odds and two months after I came back to Buenos Aires and decided to make it my new home.  I recommend visiting Buenos Aires to everyone.  No place is the prefect place to live, but some places are very close to perfection.  I hope you visit Argentina soon and experience far more great things than me.