PREVIOUS
Second
time in Buenos Aires
Safety
As
to safety; you will need to be
particularly careful in any places where
there not many people around. Do dress
down, take care with video or digital
camera gear, watch out for
anyone getting too close - I
heard a favourite pickpocket scam is for
someone to daub muck on you then try to
help you clear it off while someone else
takes your cash etc, but did not see
anything like that.
We
had a safety box in our hotel room so
left almost all cash and valuables there
except when we really needed a credit
card or passport etc. I also sent
copies of passports and travel insurance,
credit card info etc to my hotmail
account just in case they were lost etc.
We
always used the radio taxi firm - Tiempo
- our hotel recommended and they were
kind enough to send cabs to us
wherever we were - day or night to pick
us up - useful for the cab driver to know
that someone else is expecting you to
turn up somewhere. Cabs are easier if you
speak Spanish well but most locals seemed
to call their favourite cab company
rather than hail one in the street (which
is not recommended anyway). Taxis are
inexpensive - most journies were less
than $2; only the airport transfer, at $10,
was more than $3.
Most
streets that you will need or want to go
in are safe with the above precautions
but you may feel a bit threatened at
times as people will inevitably look at
you and may make lewd remarks - which you
may or may not understand but should
ignore. Apart from that, we had no issues
at all.
You
may want to consider hiring a driver from
a reputable remise company - we used one
for the airport transfer - they only
charge about $10 per hour and will wait
for you - day or night.
There
are occasional street demonstrations that
are noisy and may daub slogans on public
buildings and banks but they don't seem
to be aimed at people. Do take advice
from the hotel / local people when you
get there.
We
may have played it safer than necessary
and you are probably more likely to trip
on some of the broken pavements or get
run down by one of the buses; their
driver's pay must be based on the number
of cross-city journies they manage in
their shift!
|
