Buenos Aires is not perfect

I have established in one of the previous posts that Buenos Aires is a really cool city, and more importantly achieves this without trying too hard. Porteños are however more sceptical about their city. Trying to fit in I decided to compile my list of things that would bother me had I lived/ worked in the city longer. Nowadays, being a short-term visitor, quite relaxed about life and with plenty of spare time – they simply don’t bother me too much. 

• Services are generally poor and really slow; this is something Porteños complain about as well. Public sector services, restaurants, supermarkets – service is not organised efficiently and, frankly, hardly anyone seems to really care. On the positive note and to my great relief, broadband provider’s helpline turned out to be actually… helpful
• Bs As is a city for cars and nothing illustrates it better than thirteen one way lanes of Avenida Libertador (not a circular of any sort). Pedestrians are tolerated as long as they stay on the pavements. Pedestrian crossings are numerous but seem to be invisible for drivers, so one needs to be very careful crossing.
• The city is very green, but environmental awareness is low. There is no real recycling, unless you count as such poor cartoneros, who go through rubbish on the street and take away anything that can be sold. The most annoying thing however is the amount of plastic bags given with your shopping in the supermarket – they are really small and of poor quality so it is not uncommon for the shop assistant to put only two/three items in each.
• As much as I love the night life in Buenos Aires, the parties simply start too late. I attended a birthday party that started at midnight, although obviously nobody showed up that early. Also, there is no point going to a disco (boliche) before 2am – dancing does not start until 3am anyway.
• Subte, as the local metro system is called, is quite old and its air conditioning system is highly inefficient. I cannot imagine using it to go to work wearing a suit.
• Holidays. This is not very Bs As specific, but far the most important/ annoying if you happen to work here - you only get 15 days of vacation during your first five years of employment in the same company. If you change your employer, the clock starts to tick from the beginning. In some cases, if you take all 15 days in one go, they include weekends! This is pure capitalist exploitation; I did not expect this from a country that gave the world Ernesto Che Guevara.

This is it. Only the last point is a big deal for me; combined with the distance to other parts of the world it makes travelling a real luxury. The rest is just nuisance and I still stand by my statement that Buenos Aires is a very pleasant city to live. A similar list for any of the other seven cities I have lived in to date would be longer. Buenos Aires may not be perfect, but at least it is not trying too hard. Cool.