Reply: Relocating to Argentina

Blogger CapnRick said...

HI. My name is Rick. I am a retired government officer and live with my wife in an apartment in the La Perla district of Mar del Plata. If a US family wants to relocate to Argentina, you will truly love it as I do... provided you have an income from outside the country and are fluent in Spanish. Running a business here is not for the faint of heart... hard work alone won't get it. The biggest problem in my opinion is that the court system doesn't work. Period. I love the country, but it will never be a reasonable place to run a business until the courts quit acting like the mafia and act more like courts. Laws only apply to those without influence here. Rich kids cause accidents, driving Daddy's Land Rover like idiots while coked out of their heads, kill innocent people and get by without even a hand slap... it happens.

I love this country, but I live off my retirement, the occasional consulting gig, and the revenue from a few websites. All the revenue goes to my US bank account. My daughter goes to the bank once a month to wire us money from the account. Same for my wife who has some rental property income in the US, plus her teacher's salary in MarDel.

I have spoken Spanish since childhood, growing up near the Texas/Mexican border. My wife speaks no English, nor does anyone I know here.

Everything FerFal says about the security situation here is true, from my personal experience. If you are not extremely ready to confront an attacker here with deadly force, you would probably do a lousy job of protecting your family. The thugs here HATE anyone who has more than they, and have nothing but contempt for anyone who has less. If you like to fight 4 - 5 armed guys at a time, come on down, and... as Ferfal says, bring your camera.

I do security training for the armed forces of various countries, and have developed a 30-page report on issues for Traveler's Security. If FerFal gives permission, I will be pleased to email anyone who requests a copy. My email is rick_davis7@hotmail.com and can be reached on Skype as CapnRick. In it you will find that FerFal makes a lot of the same recommendations as I do, from a slightly different perspective. His view is really spot on for Argentina, whereas as my reports were developed from over 30+ years traveling the globe, mainly Latin America. Please feel free to reproduce, quote or forward the report as you see fit with no restriction or obligation.

We all need to help one another. I have been helped in many ways down through the years.

FerFal, I am a big fan. Feel free to edit this in any way. Please feel free to call me in MarDel via Skype or email me and I will email my Traveler Security report so you can look it over. I actually added some stuff your reports reminded me of that I had forgotten... so, I guess it's your report, too. Suerte to you and yours.

ps: your picture of the brave Dogo looks exactly like my white pit-bull/boxer mix... a 40 kilo female named Mafi, except her ears were not cropped. She is an EXCELLENT security dog. As you said... impervious to pain and as deadly as a shotgun. Only Dogo fans recognize that she is NOT one.

February 25, 2009 5:27 PM

Hey Rick, nice to hear from you.
Man, I wanted to spend some days in Mar Del Plata this summer but I couldn’t.
I used to go there a lot when I was a kid, my grandparents had a house in barrio Constitucion.
Wish I could have gone to the beach at least a couple days.:)

I’m sure once the tourist months are over all the bad guys will come back to Bs As to their normal schedule and leave you guys alone:)

Take care.


FerFAL