This week was our last in Buenos Aires and Argentina, we are currently making our way through West Argentina and Chile on our way to Lima, Peru.  I thought I would put together a list of resources for those that will come behind us (and ourselves in case we make a return trip someday).

First off, many websites are written for the new arrival, but I here is a wiki about Buenos Aires, which pretty much sums up the main points.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Buenos_aires



Coins
Buenos Aires has been struggling with the availability of coins for a few year.  This is for a few reasons; the bus system until recently (see next item) has only accepted coins, the metal is worth more then the value (people believe the mafia is melting them in Bolivia), and there is a premium that small businesses pay to obtains coins from the bus companies (they pay ~5% overhead to obtains the coins they need to run their business). Because of this, many things will be rounded to avoid change (ie the taxis), but sometimes you may run into a kiosk that will not sell you something because you don't have the correct change.  Here are two tips for getting coins.
1) Purchase a single subway pass with a 5 peso bill.  The pass costs 1.10 and your change will be a 2 peso bill and 1.90 in change.
2) Take a few minutes to visit either Retiro or Once train station and visit the Monedas window.  The government uses these windows to allows people to get coins without using the bank.  You can take up to $200 pesos in coins. During our 5 months in BsAs, we made two trips for a total of $200 pesos.

Subway/Bus
Monedero/SUBE Card - Instead of paying with cash each time, you can put money on a card that can be scanned against your balance.  These cards can be picked up at many kiosks through the city (and I believe the subway ticket windows as well).  A normal porteno will have one that is linked to a credit card, but you will have one that you can add cash to at any time.  Because of the many issues with obtaining coins for the bus, this can save you many headaches.  Monedero is the system developed by the Subway company that is now SUBE compatible (which is the symbol you will see on the buses).  Not all buses have a functioning card reader, but during the 5 months we were in BsAs, the percentage went from 1% to like 95%, so it's finally been pretty much fully rolled out for the main buses within the city.



Money
ATMs - You will quickly find out that you will be limited to $1000 pesoes ($250 USD) from most every ATM within the country.  The one exception we have found is CitiBank ATMs,with a limit of $1500.  You will need to make sure it is one without a Banelco logo! You will still be charged the $16 peso withdraw fee, but you will be taking our 50% more.

Travel Insurance
http://www.squaremouth.com/

Running in Buenos Aires
http://www.clubdecorredores.com/
http://buenosaireshashhouseharriers.blogspot.com/

Classifieds
http://www.mercadolibre.com.ar/
http://buenosaires.en.craigslist.org/

Food Reviews
http://www.guiaoleo.com.ar/

Things to Do
http://www.festivales.gob.ar/
http://bue.gov.ar/

Movie Theaters
http://www.cinemark.com.ar/
http://www.hoyts.com.ar/


Online Movies and TV shows
http://www.cuevana.tv/

Mobile Phone - A SIM card (called a "chip") can be picked up for less then $20 pesos.
http://movistar.com.ar/planes/prepago/ - information about packages you can use, such as 3G data.
https://www.flowroute.com/ - allows you to forward a US phone number to your international cell phone number.  More information in a previous post

Expat Forums
http://www.baexpats.org/

Discount Websites
http://www.groupon.com.ar/
http://www.dealandia.com/

Housing (Temp Rentals)
http://www.compartodepto.com/
http://buenosaires.en.craigslist.org/
Previous post on housing

Job Search

http://www.bumeran.com.ar/
http://www.computrabajo.com.ar/
http://www.zonajobs.com.ar/


Education
Voces de Sur - elementary castellano Spanish workbook
http://www.scribd.com/doc/58831822/Voces-Del-Sur-Espanol-de-Hoy-Nivel-Elemental