March 29th, 2024
I've discovered a group trip format that I really love, and I wanted to share it with others because (a) you might find it fun to host or join something like this in the future and (b) selfishly, I would like more people to organize trips like this so that I can join them!
The basic idea simple: live in an interesting new place for a few days or weeks with friends in walking distance, as if we were neighbors. I pick a walkable neighborhood in...
December 12th, 2023
It's been frustrating to see the US coverage of Milei, Argentina's new president. The American press seems to deeply misunderstand what's going on. It seems the US reporters can only understand Argentine politics through the lens of the US, when really it's just a totally different situation.
For one thing, the American press loves to call Milei a "populist", which couldn't be more incorrect. He ran against the populist left (the Peronists), ...
November 21st, 2023
If you're wondering how the heck a hardline libertarian just won the Argentinian presidential election, here's some background.
First, a key fact is that the government is printing money at an accelerating rate, resulting in 143% annual inflation as of the most recent count. The economy is deteriorating rapidly, the poverty rate has spiked to more than 40%, and the daily indignities of Argentina's topsy turvy monetary policy are mounting. If ...
September 10th, 2022
In Argentina, your money is worth double if you skip the airport currency exchange and instead go to one of the many black market exchanges hidden throughout Buenos Aires.
These illegal exchanges are called "cuevas" (the word for "cave" in Spanish), and they are a crucial part of Argentina's financial infrastructure. Argentinians are constantly exchanging their pesos (ARS) for other currencies, usually US dollars (USD), and back again because ...
March 6th, 2022
I wrote a Buenos Aires guide with recommendations and tips for a group of friends I was traveling with in December 2021, and I figured it might be useful to other people too. I adore Buenos Aires and spend about a month each year there, so I'm always thrilled to hear when friends are going to spend time in the city, and I love sharing what I know about the place with newcomers.
Buenos Aires is an underrated city. My friends are often surpris...
January 2nd, 2022
Inflation hits some parts of the economy harder and faster than others. It's obvious once you say it, and yet the way pundits and academics talk about inflation glosses over this reality. As a result, most people who haven't had direct experience with high inflation have a flawed view of how it affects daily life.
Popular use of the term "inflation" makes it sound like the inflation rate is a single indisputable number that you can plug into ...
December 26th, 2019
Language skills are highly multi-dimensional*, so while learning a language, it's important to come at it from lots of different directions. Here are some of the tricks I've used to practice Spanish that I haven't heard so many other people use. (They're likely useful for other languages too, of course.)
(1) Translate past writing you've already published in English
One fun exercise is to take something you wrote in English, translate it t...
September 16th, 2019
04.13.2006
Argentina On Two Steaks A Day
The classic beginner's mistake in Argentina is to neglect the first steak of the day. You will be tempted to just peck at it or even skip it altogether, rationalizing that you need to save yourself for the much larger steak later that night. But this is a false economy, like refusing to drink water in the early parts of a marathon. That first steak has to get you through the afternoon and ...