Expatriate Games

Americans tango and socialize at a Buenos Aires gallery. (Horacio Paone - Horacio Paone)

"The architecture struck me first," he said. "It was like Europe." Then, he said, it was easy to succumb to the rhythm of the city, the sounds, dinner at 10, the music, "the affectionate way of the people."

He moved here in April 2004. Now he spends his evenings socializing in Plaza Cortazar, the cafe-dotted epicenter of the international scene in the Palermo Viejo neighborhood, and his days maintaining a Web site and writing a novel.

Some expats are using the low cost of living to break into the cultural scene at a distance from their home countries, where life as an artist is less affordable. Hank Wechgelaar, 64, moved here in December after a career as a substance abuse counselor in London. Now he spends his days painting small canvases with rural Latin American scenes and exhibits them in a London gallery. "The blue sky, the brightness, the spontaneity of the people," said Wechgelaar. "It all translates into colors for me."

There are also business and entertainment world burnouts from stress centers all over the Northern Hemisphere. Terry Walshe, 37, was toiling in London as a music video director when a friend invited him along on a vacation to B.A. for two weeks. He loved the climate ("It's not tropical hot like Brazil. More like Los Angeles") and the affordability. "I went back to London for a week, rented my flat and came back here." Now he and another Brit plan to open a restaurant and nightclub in the historic San Telmo district.

Then there are all the tango-mad women, like Laura Chummers, 30, a professional dancer from San Diego who arrived in 2002 intending to study the dance for three months. She liked the place so much she came back a month later to stay. In 2003 she started a company, Tanguera Tours, that offers itineraries for American women who want to spend their vacations swirling around romantically lit milongas , or tango halls.

While some expats in B.A. are the traditional types working for multinational corporations, the artsy types usually arrive with money to live on. Others work freelance jobs for American companies as writers or salespeople. And some look for work once here, which can be a cumbersome process. Americans who want to work legally must first secure a job offer. Then the company must obtain a work permit. The potential employee must then visit a consulate office in the United States for a work visa.

Chummers, who said she paid $30,000 for a prewar, two-bedroom apartment with high ceilings and five balconies in the downtown district of Balvanera, doesn't know how long she will stay. She said she has noticed a big increase in the number of expats in the last two years. "It has doubled," she said.

Dinner at 11

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Buenos Aires has one of the world's most thriving late-night scenes. An evening out usually starts around 11 with steaks, sausages and wine at a local parilla (grill). Then a group will hop in a taxi (which costs less than $4 to pretty much anywhere) and head to a spot like Opera Bay, a huge waterfront dance club where things get going around 2 or 3 a.m. At 5 or 6 o'clock, the group will be wide-eyed and ready for a snack of medialunas (sweet croissants) and coffee before heading home.

It can be thrilling for newcomers to get swept up in the social whirl, but it can also leave them wondering when the heck everyone actually sleeps.

One answer: Most apartments have roll-down, black-out shutters. On weekend mornings, when locals catch up on their sleep, the city is dead quiet. There is no traditional after-lunch siesta, but residents generally take naps in the early evening before going out. And they drink a lot of espresso.

Indeed, Porteños -- the term for Buenos Aires natives -- make some interesting lifestyle choices. The city has huge parks, but busy roads run through them, polluting the air. Many charming prewar buildings are being torn down because the locals prefer the new square towers. City streets are narrow, buses thunderous. Soccer matches are broadcast virtually 24 hours a day, and phalanxes of police in body armor sometimes close major roads to escort rowdy fans from stadiums.

Gallo, of Escapeartist.com, predicts that most Americans testing out B.A. will find the culture too "abbreviated" to stay forever. "It's a fun place to get away, but there's just not enough there."