Job Discussion Forums

[Gawain]

OK Matt the Boy, you said bread is 3pesos and milk is terrible in BA. I know beefsteak is the staple food in BA, but I�m trying to be semi-vegetarian and want a milk and bread diet! I don�t even like restaurants! Can anyone comment on a healthy diet in BA?

My ideal diet: Wholewheat cereal cheerios and bran flakes, milk, bottled orange juice, veggie greens like Bok Choy, bread, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt. Can I buy this stuff at a BA supermarket on teacher salary? Seems to me a nation obsessed with beef would also have a huge dairy industry and excellent milk, like New Zealand�but Matt says no way! Can I eat healthy cheap?

I want cheap but tolerable hotel room. I want to teach in BA for years, but don�t want to sign any lease. I�m a California native-speaker, TEFL-certified experienced teacher in my 40�s. Not a partier, not a drinker, and don�t like stereos. Being a teacher, I�ve got no money for an apartment, hardly any credit, no chance for an apartment guarantor, and I�m flying to BA without any job or contacts. Tolerable means a room to myself, furnished or unfurnished. I don�t mind sharing a kitchen and toilet, or having flat-mates, but I must have my own bedroom. This forum says plenty of hostels in BA. Are these dorm hostels, where you share sleeping quarters? Are these Youth Hostels which refuse to take anyone over 40?

Can I live for years in a quiet hotel room with my own bed and bathroom and fund it on teacher salary? Are walls in these hotels thick masonry or thin plasterboard? Is neighbor stereo noise a problem? Can I have no lease, no guarantor, no hassle?

You think EFL teaching is strictly for young partiers who drink like fish, don�t care what they eat, don�t care about their work hours or where they live, as long as they can tango all night with exotic birds? Is it time for me to retire in USA, get a tedious office job and die of boredom? Or can I find a home as an EFL teacher in BA, even sober? What do you think?

[nomadamericana]

I'm not MatthewBoy... but I will let you know my experiences in Argentina.
The DIET: Yes, it is predominately BEEF, Beef and more beef. I'd say that most if not all of the things you listed are commonly available at any supermercado. Yogurt (theres tons), Ceral (something similar or you could buy expensive imported Cherrios), Orange juice (you can get fresh squeezed for cheap), green vegetables (there might me a shortage on there... they eat lettuce but more 'exotic' things many not be avaible), sour cream and cottage cheese (I have never seen the later but there is something similar to sour cream. Possible that both are available)... as for MILK. I would have to agree that it is gross. To best describe it is not like the milk in the US... it comes in a box, warm and it is thicker, more cream like.... much like the milk I have had in Western Europe. I would say that if you decide to live in Buenos Aires or one of the other larger cities you will for sure be able to find most the healthy things you want, if not all of them.
Apartment/room: You will be able to find an apartment of room for rent easily, it just might be a more tedious task if you don't speak Spanish or no one in the city but it is certainly possible. I don't think you would have a problem staying in a hostal in the beginning... check out www.hostelworld.com for ones in Buenos Aires... there are tons. Some may be age restricted but not the majority.
It is a Latin country so there is noise in the streets, stero trucks driving around and what not but usually the walls are thick in the building and you can not hear too much noise.

Good Luck and I hope some of this info helped out.

~NomadAmericana

[matttheboy]

For your dietary stuff look at www.guillebaires.com.ar and look under `hard to find food items`

within the next few months i`ll have my own business which will fill some of your needs (it`ll be the 1st in buenos aires so i`m keeping it a secret for now).

Most of the stuff you need is available in supermarkets, i should think that in Jumbo you`ll find everything.

You should be able to find half decent accomodation if you want to share a room and not have a lease. I don`t know where to look but it must be out there. www.Google.com.ar might help. I lived in a hotel once for a month and it was hell, never felt like i was ever going home. I`d look for shared accomodation if i were you. The Buenos Airea Herald has listing for some shared places, look in that when you get here. I`ve met loads of over 40s in hostels around argentina so no worries there.

What`s semi-vegetarian? No red meat? no chicken? no fish? If you eat chicken you`ll be fine as there loads of it in every restaurant, fish isn�t so available and can be pricey (except calamares, or rabas as they call them here which are widely available and very good).

Milk is all UHT stuff, as nomadamericana said, like the stuff in europe (but not the UK). I find the stuff they sell in plastic bags and which are kept in the fridges in supermarkets to be much more tolerable. It has a shelf life of around 3-4 weeks unopened unlike the carton stuff which sits un refrigerated for months. I�f you don`t eat beef you will be missing out on a big part of argentine life and society...

Everything you want is available, it just might stretch your teaching wages to buy it....

[shanimal]

"Provoleta" (sp?) is a good thing to ask for (or bring) if you go to a barbecue. It's a big piece of cheese with spices sold specifically for the grill...and it's really yummy.

[amy1982]

you can pretty much have any diet you want in bsas, but for something other than "the norm" (ie beef), you will need to work harder. there are an abundance of produce shops that have a pretty good selection at decent prices. there are also grocery stores comparable to ours and then mega stores that even have peanut butter (sometimes). if you're willing to explore, i think you'll do fine.

breads, grains, and dairy foods aren't hard to find, but they will be relatively expensive if they are imports (that goes for anything imported). so be flexible and open to trying new things. as far as dairy stuff, a lot of it is different but, in general, at least comparable to what you are used to. i found the milk pretty gross, too. but it's not as noticeable in cereal, and you can build from there. also, while it isn't refrigerated in the store, you do put it in the fridge once it's opened (or the second you get home if it's just to weird )

inevitably, there will be a few things that are difficult to come by, here were mine...
salad dressing (oil and vinegar was all i could find)
peanut butter (i was only able to find it once in 6 months - $$)
goldfish crackers (my FAVORITE snack food - nonexistent)
anything remotely spicy (apparently garlic and bell peppers are sufficient for the porteno)

[srp]

matt, if your mystery business can get me skim milk, you would be a god to me. By the way, I know this is off-topic, but i've been looking into organizations for internship/volunteer jobs like you recommended a while ago, and i found a few that seem good for me. I'm especially interested in one that deals with AIDS awareness, so i think i may volunteer there starting around september.

sam

[naturegirl321]

[anubistaima]

I was a vegetarian in Argentina for years. You have to look harder, but things are available. Look for a DIETETICA, a little store that sells diet and natural foods and you'll find vegetarian options. Feel free to ask any questions.

[Marcethebest]

Hello,
I think that as regards hostels in BA, you should check that web site that Mat gives you, or consult in your own embassy.
As regards the food, though this is not first world country (I am fully and proudly an argentine ) you can find almost everything you want to eat. You have big stores like Jumbo, or your American Wal Mart or the french Carrefour. As regards having money to feed yourself, we, teachers, don�t starve.
Let me tell you this, may be it helps, or may be not, my husband is American, and he was scared to death to come and live here, now he says he wouldn�t leave this country because people are more friendly and you don�t have police harrassment as in the US, this is his own point of view!!
I hope you can make your experience happen, and let us hear from you if you really come to Argentina.
I wish you the best!

[guillebaires]

I have a question for you guys...
Are you sure that you were buying "leche descremada"and not "entera"???
See you!

Guille