474: Buenos Aires tips, Why Argentina GDP fell, and the Best of ChatGPT
Buenos Aires was amazing, and nobody knows about it. Come down here, you won’t regret it. The people’s easygoing friendliness is the best part.
The Palermo neighborhoods (both of them) are digital nomad dense wonderlands of bars and restaurants and whatnot.
Recoleta is a stately neighborhood with attractions, while Centro has the San Telmo market, and La Boca is a cute touristy place with street tango dancers.
The Blue Dollar Exchange rate is 2x what the official USD to ARS exchange rate is, so if you come here with USD cash, you can exchange it on the street for 2x as much. Apparently Visa and MC credit cards also get this rate - so easy!
You can exchange on Florida street in Centro, or DM this guy I used on Whatsapp: +54 9 11 2480-0564
Other spots I enjoyed: Uptown, Teatro Ciego, CoChinChina, Bomba Del Tiempo, La Catedral, El Ateneo Gran Splendid. The Tierra Santa Biblical theme park looked novel, though I didn’t go.
The Ecoparque used to be a zoo but is now a free park with all the animals!
Here’s another friend’s list that was helpful. This Instagram account and this one were also full of daily events and happenings going on their Stories.
Now it’s back to Florianopolis for Carnival! Then back to the States the week after.
Tech
Kindred costs $0 per night and lets you pay per month to swap homes with others in a trusted network. Reminds me of the ‘only rent to your friends’ beta app My Place.
History
Juan Peron was Argentina’s most popular leader, having delivered to the people many progressive and labor rights in the 30s and 40s, ousted in a coup, and then returned for a third term afterwards. All of his wives were famous leaders too.
However, he also protected Nazi war criminals in the ratlines and waged nationalist fervor against dissidents, so it’s not all good. He and the Great Depression also presided over the economic fall of Argentina from the early 1900s, when it had a GDP equal to Germany!
The story of him bankrolling German fusion scientist Ronald Richter, who falsified fusion advances as propaganda, is an interesting one.
This story about an old legal battle between vampire queen Anne Rice and the founder of Popeyes in New Orleans was a fun read.
Fun
I LOLed multiple times reading the best of ChatGPT reddit and watching the things they make it say. Apparently now it’s been taught what kinds of things are controversial and doesn’t respond with them anymore, but you can get around it in certain situations by asking it about hypotheticals.
I mapped the South American internet. Seriously!
These cute Argentine animals looks like capybaras mixed with rabbits: