Cost of living in BsAs from a Turista's point of view

How expensive or inexpensive traveling to Buesnos Aires is? At 3.14 peso to 1 dollar, here my break down of daily expense:

Breakfast at 12:00pm: 4 media luna and two pastries from a pastry shop at las Heras and coffee at my apartment

cost: 4 peso

Lunch: A steak (10 peso), Asado (8 peso), half roasted chicken (16 peso), Salad (6 peso), beer (4 peso),Spaghetti with sauce (15 peso)

average cost: 20 peso

Modest Dinner: in a restaurant: steak, salad, water,

average cost: 30 peso

A night out to the milonga:

entrance: 12 peso
water: 6 peso
coffee: 6 peso
empanada: 2.50 peso/each
Taxi back home: 12 peso

Average cost of a night out: 40-50 peso

I had been taking the collectivo (bus) most of the time except coming back to the apartment 4-5AM after milonga. So I had saved quite a bit transportation cost. Still my average expense a day is around 100 peso.

If I went out to a fancy restaurant or ordered a bottle of wine or champagne at the milonga. The cost went up accordingly. Mind you, as I went out every night, I kept my expense modest. Even a few times I took a few friends out for dinner, we went to local restaurants that serve portenos.

My rent for my studio apartment at Recoleta costed: $560 a month (1750 peso).

Two pairs of Neotango shoes : 380 peso at 190 each (after 10% cash discount)

Eight sessions of msssage: 480 peso at 60 each

Credit recharge on my BsAs cell phone: 30 peso

38 Tango CDs at Zival: 800 peso

5 bottle of delicious Malbec at Disco: 130 peso

Transportation from and to the Airport: 160 peso

My private classes and couple of dinners with friends: 4200 peso

Round trip ticket: 2450 peso ($780 dollar)

for 24 days: 12,650 pesos ($4000)

Average good salary in BA: 2000 peso?

I don't know about you. It doesn't sound like an inexpensive heaven. A pair of Neotango has gone up 20 peso since December of last year, in merely 3 months. The entrance fee in some milongas has gone up too. We went to Puerto Madero one night. The club we tried to go charged 50 pesos for entrance. We looked at each other, Nah, too steep.

But comparing with other big cities in the world, it is still a relatively inexpensive place to visit for short term. I havn't gone to Europe for two years simply because it becomes very expensive to travel in the Euro zone. Asia is too far for me. :) (how ironic consider where i came from) Hong Kong is a very expensive place to visit. A night at a decent hotel costs around $100. Although I have a nice big apartment to stay in China, there is no tango in that city. I won't be staying at any place without a milonga for more than a week. I can't.

So for my next visit to Buenos Aires, I am planning to stay for a few months. It has tango, beautiful chicas, interesting night life, characteristic barrios and generally good people. Hopefully, by the time I go, it is still affordable for me.