Starbucks, the Seattle-based bean grinder to the masses, opened its 23rd store Thursday, proving to critics that it’s successfully marching nonstop march to conquer the entire universe.

Starbucks opened its latest store at the Paseo Alcorta shopping center in Palermo, where upscale shoppers and attractive women often abound.

“It makes us very happy to open another hip store where hot, wealthy people gather to see and be seen,” Starbucks General Manager Diego Paolini said in a statement. “If you’re a hot person, there’s nothing better than looking at other hot people while drinking hot, ethically sourced coffee.”

OK, that’s not really what Paolini said.

The 245 square-meter store is located on the mall’s third floor and has room for 80 customers.

For a helpful Google map of Starbucks locations, click here.

For more info about Starbucks Argentina, click here. If you wanna “like” the Starbucks Argentina Facebook page, click here (120,000 already have). If you hate Starbucks, click here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

“You want a prediction about the weather, you’re asking the wrong Phil. I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.” — Phil, from the movie Groundhog Day.

If it’s been feeling pretty cold lately, that’s because it is cold!

Indeed, it was colder in Buenos Aires Friday than it has been since August 1, 1991, according to the national weather service, or SMM.

Friday morning the temperature dropped to  -1 degree Celsius, or 30.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeap, that means it was actually freezing in Buenos Aires. It doesn’t happen that often.

“It hasn’t been this cold since 1991,” Maria de los Milagros, a spokeswoman for the national weather service, told The Argentine Post late Friday.

“The record back then was -2 degrees,” she said. “At this time of the year we normally get a polar storm front. What varies each year is the length and temperature. This year it’s been going on for pretty long. The temps we’re getting now are not setting records, but it sure is cold.”

De los Milagros expects the cold front to last at least until Sunday in the City of Buenos Aires. In northern parts of the country it may last through Monday.

This week it has even been snowing in parts of Buenos Aires Province and elsewhere in the country.

“In August the weather starts to become more variable with some cold days and some days that are pretty warm,” she said.

On a personal note, it seems to me that the most annoying thing about winter in Buenos Aires is the city’s overabundance of restaurants whose bathrooms have no hot water. Why is this? Is it really that expensive to add a hot water faucet? I went to wash my hands Thursday at the deservedly popular restaurant Oui Oui. The bathroom had only one faucet, and it spewed forth nothing but extremely cold water. For the love of God, is this really necessary? Freezing cold water feels awful on a freezing cold day, and it doesn’t even kill germs. But I digress….

Popularity: 1% [?]

After around 14 hours of heating debate, Argentina’s Senate early Thursday passed legislation that is unprecedented throughout all of Latin America:

It gives gays and lesbians the same marriage rights traditionally given to straight couples.

The final vote for the bill, which was already passed by the Lower House and will now become law, was 33 to 27, with three abstentions. You can read the story we did for The Wall Street Journal by clicking here. (Subscription may be required.)

The law gives gay married couples adoption rights equivalent to those held by straight couples. This had been the main point of contention for opponents, many of whom had protested outside Congress earlier this week.

The bill is bound to enhance Argentina’s already-glowing reputation as a country open to gay tourism.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Ever get stuck in traffic in downtown Buenos Aires?

Or have you ever been stranded at the subway or train station waiting for a a ride that never seems to arrive?

This splendid new iPhone App may be of help.

It offers subway, traffic and train updates to keep you posted on transportation around the city.

Click here for download it for the iPhone. For the Android, click here. (I can offer no Android support, sorry.)

*Kudos to Emo for the heads up.

Popularity: 1% [?]

You may have heard of “Bueno, entonces,” the Spanish language learning tool available for iPhones, iPods or your desktop or TV.

Now is your chance to try it out for free.

Act fast because the App is now free on iTunes. But it won’t be free forever.

To give it a shot, click here.

For more information, click here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

To experience the World Cup in style, I decided to buy a gigantic new HDTV.

But since these things cost a fortune in Argentina, I bought it in the U.S., where they typically sell for half or even one third of what they do here.

In February, I wrote about purchasing a new 40″ Samsung LED HDTV, which I brought down with me on American Airlines. This time I pulled the trigger on a new 55″ Samsung LED HDTV, an even bigger monstrosity which here in Argentina costs an obscene 20,000 pesos.

The box for his beast was huge. But it wasn’t tough enough to stand the flight. So I took the box to a packaging store and had it stuffed into a second box, this one double-packed with bubble wrap and extra styrofoam.
(more…)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Argentina has formally raised the entrance fee for Americans to $140, according to a “disposición” published Tuesday in the Official Bulletin.

The higher reciprocity fee, which apparently went into effect on June 4, is in direct response to a U.S. decision to raise the fee it charges Argentines to get a U.S. travel visa.

Argentina announced last year that it would start charging the fee to travelers of all countries whose governments forced Argentines to pay visa fees to visit those countries. In a message at the time, the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires issued the following statement:

“This warden message is being issued to alert U.S. citizens that on December 20, 2009, the Government of Argentina will begin charging American Citizens visiting Argentina for business or tourism an entry fee of $131 U.S. dollars. The fee will be collected only at Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport. Once paid, the fee permits multiple entries into Argentina for ten years in accordance with United States visa reciprocity. Americans may pay in dollars, by credit card, or with travelers checks.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Do you like Pringles? How about fiery Tabasco sauce or JIF peanut butter?

What about Philadelphia Cream Cheese, ranch dressing or Hershey’s chocolate?

How about Scotch whisky?

If you like any of these things, or any other kind of imported food, you might be unhappy to learn that such goods may soon disappear from local stores.

Starting June 1, the government plans to ban food and drink imports if the products have an Argentine-made equivalent.

Nope, I’m not making this up. Indeed, I spent half the day Thursday confirming this with major retailers and industry executives who are familiar with the government’s plans.

So if the government goes ahead with its plans, you may need to say goodbye to those yummy treats and get used to eating more of the home-grown stuff. The ban does not apply to “foreign” products – say, Kellogg’s cereals, for example – that are produced in Argentina.

The article I wrote isn’t available online, but La Nación, which broke the news, has a story here (in Spanish) with more details.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Wooohooo! Argentine President Cristina Fernández on Monday signed a decree declaring Monday May 24 a national holiday.

The decree, which aims to help Argentines celebrate the country’s 200th bicentennial anniversary, thereby creates a four-day weekend from May 22-25. Tuesday May 25 is already a national holiday.

“People need to have their lives planned,” Fernández said Monday, noting that she had asked Congress to pass a bill approving the holiday.

But by Monday it didn’t appear that Congress would get around to voting on the holiday, so Fernández took action, making a congressional vote unnecessary.

“People need to be able to participate in all of the celebrations that will take place all around the country,” she said. “This is a once in a lifetime event. It really was necessary to declare this a holiday. What the heck, if people in Congress don’t understand that this should be a holiday, then we’ve got some problems. It’s just silly.”

On May 25 of each year Argentina celebrates the creation of its first government.

For more info about Argentina’s public holidays (in Spanish) click here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

American Airlines will start offering daytime flights to and from Miami in July.

American already makes two daily flights to Miami (MIA) via the Ezeiza International Airport (EZE). It also offers direct flights to Dallas (DFW) and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

All of those flights are overnight. The new Miami flights will leave in the morning and arrive in the evening. The daytime flights will be offered between July 2 and Aug. 23.

“As we celebrate 20 years of service to Buenos Aires, we are delighted to offer this new flight during the high season,” said Peter Dolara, American’s Senior Vice President based in Miami. “Argentina offers our customers looking for a South American vacation a rich and unique cultural experience. Known for being an important financial center, Buenos Aires is also a popular destination for our business travelers.”

As with its other Argentine routes, American will use the Boing 777-200 plane. Click here for a map of the plane and its seat layout. The plane carries 247 passengers – 37 in business, the rest in cattle class.

The daytime flight schedule follows (shown in local times):

From Miami to BA: Leaving 11:10am and arriving at 8:50pm (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, starting July 2)

From BA to Miami: Leaving 10:55am and arriving at 7:05pm ((Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, starting July 3)

*Hat tip to my buddy Brian Byrnes for a heads up on this.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Local banks are now charging foreigners a whopping 15.50 pesos (US $4) for ATM withdrawals.

The fee also applies to Argentines and anyone else who uses a local ATM to get cash from a foreign bank.

In July 2009 banks banks in Argentina started charging a US $3 fee on ATM withdrawals from foreign banks.

The only way to avoid the fee seems to be to use Citibank’s proprietary ATM machines. All other ATMs, as far as I know, charge the fee.

The Argentine Central Bank has said it has nothing to do with the fees, while spokesmen for banks haven’t wanted to talk about the issue.

In a statement last July, Banelco said both it and Link started charging a US $3 commission on every cash withdrawal using foreign cards. The companies, which work as networks representing Argentine banks, said the practice is the same as has been applied in other countries “for more than a decade.”

But the discriminatory application of a fee only on foreign cards doesn’t seem comparable to the fees commonly charged in most countries. Representatives from Banelco and Link have declined to answer questions about this or discuss the motives behind the fees.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The number of people visiting Argentina rose a bit in December.

This is the second consecutive month tourism has rebounded, after falling for 10 straight months.

The number of visitors rose about 3% to 196,475 in December, compared with 190,318 a year ago.

While here, tourists spent around $316 million, little changed from a year ago, the national statistics agency, INDEC, reported Monday.

The average tourist spent almost $97 day, up 27% from the previous year. That’s good news for local merchants and pretty much everyone involved in the tourism industry.

As usual, Brazilians spent the most per day ($143) while other Latin Americans spent the least ($69). Brazilians stay an average of 17 days while Europeans stay 22, indicating that Brazilians come to shop while Europeans are more frugal.

INDEC’s measurement is based on the number of visitors who arrive to the country via Ezeiza, or EZE, the airport located outside Buenos Aires. About half of the country’s tourists arrive through EZE.

Popularity: 1% [?]