The Capital Of Cool

City officials welcome the expatriate influx but insist that factors other than the affordable cost of living are driving the phenomenon. "There are lots of cities that are just as cheap as Buenos Aires," says Silvia Fajre, culture minister for the municipal government. "But this city has an intense cultural rhythm that you just can't find anywhere else in the world, so we're glad that foreigners are taking part." Local artists seem to like it as well; for them the new arrivals can mean a boost in international exposure and sales. "[Foreigners] recognize that something fresh is happening in the arts scene here, and they're really contributing to it," says Argentine painter and visual artist Mariano Molina, 36.

Foreign artists are also laying roots outside the local art scene. Nonprofit organizations like HelpArgentina, the Working World and InsightArgentina were all started by young Americans in Buenos Aires over the past five years. Australian journalist Lucy Cousins and her English colleague Kristie Robinson recognized an untapped market for a socially and environmentally oriented publication. So they started The Argentimes, a biweekly English-language newspaper that debuted in June and has a circulation of 5,000. "We always knew that expats would read it, but we never expected the Argentine readership to be so big," says Cousins, 27. "We get e-mails every day from English teachers here telling us they use the paper as a learning tool. The warm response from the Argentines has been overwhelming." That's the kind of reception every expat craves from her host.

© 2007