Cockroach/bug situation in Buenos Aires?

October 10, 2007 9:23 PM

Does Buenos Aires have a lot of cockroaches? How many/how big? Are they avoidable in your apartment/building?

I'm deciding between several cities for study abroad. Having lived in cities with a lot of cockroaches I'd rather not repeat the experience.

Is Buenos Aires more like Seattle, where you will only find cockroaches in squalor, more like NYC where they are unavoidable in any large apartment building but rare in single-family houses, or more like Miami, where many people have them even in a single-family house (and they're huge and fly)?

Also, how large are they? And, what's the bugginess factor like there in general?

Buenos Aires seems to have a temperate climate, so this is unclear to me...

posted by Ashley801 to travel & transportation (5 comments total)

I don't seem to remember it being particularly buggy, however I was there during winter.

Also, Buenos Aires is awesome, wish I had spent more time there. It definitely earns its reputation as being "the Paris of Latin America" but at 1/4 the price and amazing shopping. Would not recommend if you are a vegetarian however. People say the Argentines are arrogant, but I found them incredibly friendly.
posted by whoaali at 9:35 PM on October 10, 2007

The Argentine Cockroach (blattodea gigantica) is well known across Latin America. Though rarely reaching more than 5" in length, it is known for it's angry hissing noise when confronted. Found mainly in Argentina's capitol city, reproduction rate is unmatched in bugdom and is the leading cause of death and...

Sorry, just teasing.

I agree with whoaali.
No bugs to write home about in Buenos Aires.
If you're fear of cockroaches prevents you from visiting such a beautiful city, I suggest you confront that fear either with a therapist or a nice can of boric acid. Them roaches don't take kindly to therapy.
posted by artdrectr at 11:13 PM on October 10, 2007

I will tell you that I saw my first flying cockroach of my life here and it scared the living crap out of me. There are not usually screens on the windows here and I have no air conditioning in my apartment, so I leave the windows open in the summer to survive. And I had a little guest fly in. But this only happened once, so I don't know that they're especially common.

I would say it's more like NYC, where it's a problem that must be dealt with, with spraying and whatnot. I really don't think it's like Miami.

Overall, "buggy" is not on a long list of adjectives -- both good and bad -- that I would have used to describe this city off the top of my head.
posted by veggieboy at 6:45 AM on October 11, 2007

Haven't seen any cockroaches at all here. The weather just started getting warmer, and the mosquitoes are coming out though. The biggest annoyance for me here is the dog crap covering all the streets. Makes walking in flip-flops an exercise in concentrating on the ground.
posted by conifer at 8:02 AM on October 11, 2007

I say "NYC." I lived in a nice slightly older house in Martinez and there were plenty of roaches in the kitchen.

But like veggieboy, buggy is not something that comes to mind when I think of Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires was cool and all, I just didn't feel any warmth from the people. Wildly generalizing here, they seemed fairly superficial and I was surprised by the overt racism I frequently heard. That was 9 years ago, though, and in any case of course YMMV.

I know this is not your question, but if you're thinking of spanish-speaking countries for study abroad, I would consider other options. I studied in Argentina for half the year and Spain half the year, and I heard about people's experiences in Mexico and Chile and Costa Rica and other countries, and I wouldn't do it all over again in Argentina (although Spain was fantastic). I would go visit Argentina some day because it's gorgeous and interesting and fun, but I wouldn't re-do my study abroad there. Also, do you want to acquire an Argentinian accent? Maybe, maybe not.
posted by Amizu at 8:16 AM on October 11, 2007