Expat Community > Argentina

GringitoLoco
Joined 2014
Posts: 5

Gringo with Cordoba-native girlfriend

10 years ago

Hola, I searched around the web and found this forum to be well populated so decided I'd create a profile and introduce myself.

My name is Jonathan, I'm 31 from New Jersey, USA.. 8 months ago I met an amazing Cordoba-native online; the woman I'm proud to now call my girlfriend.

On July 4th/5th, 2015 I flew into Cordoba (via Aerolineas Argentina, stopping in B.A. first) and stayed with her family for 2 weeks. I must say these were the most exciting 2 weeks of my life.. to meet the woman of my dreams (such an amazing, loving family) and visit such an exotic location. While there we took a bus to Buenas Aires to enjoy a little tourism, and then saw parts of the country-side; Bialet Masse, Alta Gracia, Villa Carlos Paz, etc. Beautiful!

I am from a generally sheltered northeastern US lifestyle; my idea of a rough neighborhood would be suburban parts of NJ, NYC or Philadelphia, PA. During my visit I was in a less-than-desirable neighborhood, but policia was often present during the evening hours. We always walked to church and local kiosks in pairs and drove at night. Still, to me there is such a humble charm to such an area. I'm a simple guy and I greatly admire the humility in everyday life I experienced there. I'm the guy who romances the idea of old-world Mexico you see in movies, not the guy who boffs at a third-world country. My focus is on family, friends and happiness.

At this time I'm planning a return to Cordoba at the end of December or earlier January, 2015; hopefully for about a month's time. I am currently a member of a start-up internet company, so my future employment will allow me to work remotely.

The way we see it now, I will eventually relocate to Cordoba (Lord willing!) and call Villa Carlos Paz our new home. I do not own a house here in the US, so I do not have a lot of belongings (just a small dog), and I will sell my car. I am learning Spanish for the first time as I never took it in school, but thankfully my girlfriend is an ESL teacher, so I'm at an advantage.

Some things I will need to iron out are finance related. If I am being paid by a small business in the US, how does that transfer to Argentina? I was advised to open an account with a bank in both countries (I know there are a few) so I can withdraw Argentine pesos without paying outrageous ATM withdrawal fees. I know there are differences between the [higher] blue rate and the official conversion rate. For the time-being I will be traveling via US passport, but ultimately, if all goes as we hope for, I will apply for an Argentine citizenship post-marriage. How will that then affect my bank account(s) and access to them?

I'm also open to suggestions in travel plans. In July I booked via cheapoair.com two months in advance but paid nearly $1,200 USD. The flight was from JFK to B.A., then a short layover from B.A. to Cordoba. What I liked about this was it was an evening flight so I slept most of the time. I could have booked a flight for around $950 but the total flight time would have been closer to 24+ hours and killed another day of my valuable trip time.
Currently I'm thinking I'll fly out somewhere between end of December and early January and return about a month later. Looks like I can leave Christmas Day on LAN airlines and pay around $1,000.

Thanks for your time and input.
Regards,
Jonathan

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Gringo with Cordoba-native girlfriend

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