Unemployed & Unimpeded: Living in Buenos Aires

We arrived in the capital after a quick flight from Bariloche. The weather was still hot and sunny, but with the unwelcomed addition of humidity. We took the metro to a neighborhood called San Telmo. We had heard it has a bohemian vibe and is more Porteño (authentic Buenos Aires). We found a hostel for cheap and began our research. We came to Buenos Aires with the goal of renting an apartment for two months and getting to know the city inside and out. Although we didn't know where we were going to rent or how to go about renting, we had plenty of time to do the necessary investigating. After a few days, we had found numerous sites that offered rentals and ended up narrowing it down to a couple apartments through a company called 4RentArgentina. We walked through several neighborhoods and decided that Palermo, the young, vibrant district saturated with bars and restaurants fit us the best. We settled on an apartment in the heart of Palermo with a full kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom and AC.

The abode

Finally no more shared kitchen space

To start off, Buenos Aires is huge but it doesn't take too long to get anywhere if you know the best way. There is a great subway system that connects all the main areas and a comprehensive bus system that fills in the gaps. The first thing we had to do was change USD to pesos. We were lucky enough to have our friend Mike fly in for a week and provide us with dollars. The official exchange rate is 8.5, but if you change dollars on the blue market the rate can be as high as 13.4. The exchange is done on Florida Street where you'll hear many people asking you to change dollars. We found a small phone accessories store where the exchange is done in a back room. It sounds sketchy, but at the end of the day it's part of their business and they make sure it runs smoothly. We took our new pesos and saw what the city had to offer.