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I have lived in Mexico and lived in Argentina but not BA. I like Mexico City but I think BA is much nicer and has a better overall quality of life. Mexico City has some nice neighborhoods but a lot that is just an urban wasteland. There are some things such as the history of Mexico City,though that make it really interesting.
At one time they used to say Mexico City had the worst air pollution in the entire world. Its high altitude "bowl effect" makes it worse. Of course, Chinese cities have terrible air, too.
Interesting question. Latin America has tons of great, underrated cities, but these two are probably the greatest in my opinion. I lived in Buenos Aires for six years until last April, and then I lived in Mexico City for six months before coming back to the States. Both cities are very cosmopolitan and have an incredibly varied cultural life. The governments of both cities devote extensive resources to cultural activities, which are at least in theory open to all (that said, I'm no fan of Mauricio Macri). You can find interesting things (museums, concerts, plays, etc.) sponsored by the city government to do on every night of the week for relatively little money (or for free) in both cities.
All that being said, I love both of them, but I'm going to break with the consensus here and say I prefer Mexico City, for a few reasons:
1. The food. BA has a varied food scene, but it's really expensive. If you're earning a local salary and you want to go out to eat a lot, it's going to be mostly pizza, pasta, empanadas and steak. Don't get me wrong, standard Argentine food is good, fresh and of great quality, but it's not very diverse and it gets really old after a few months. And since porteños just aren't used to eating things with spicy or strong flavors, you'll find that a lot of international restaurants that serve Indian, Thai, Mexican, etc. are not exactly what you would call authentic. The one exception is Peruvian food; the Peruvian community in BA is large enough so that they can spice it up and still have a large following. On the other hand, I absolutely love Mexican food. There's so much more to it than tacos and enchiladas, despite what many people think. Even those two things have so many regional variations it would make your head spin. The flavors are complex and have tons of ingredients. Other than that, there's cochinita pibil, different kinds of mole (poblano is my favorite), chiles en nogada, sopa de lima, barbacoa sonorense, pozole, I could go on but my mouth is watering.
2. The people. After six years, I found that I had very few Argentine friends despite having worked, studied, socialized, etc. Basically I found porteños to be warm at first, but it's difficult to move beyond that initial interaction to develop a meaningful friendship with someone. There were plenty of times where I thought I hit it off with someone, so I suggested we do something, and they looked at me like "What? We're not friends." I should note that language is not a barrier; I'm fluent in Spanish. This is just a cultural difference. Many people have friends they've known since childhood, and don't feel a strong need to make new ones later in life. That's fine, but it makes things hard if you're an outsider. I found chilangos to be a bit more open to spontaneity in this regard and a bit more likely to invite you along when they're going out with friends or having a family party (which is pretty much all the time).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Buenos Aires by any stretch of the imagination. It's a terrific city and I love it, and of the two, it's definitely the prettier and more organized. Plus, my boyfriend of 4 years is a born-and-bred porteño, so I'm sure I'll end up living there again at some point. However, just given my own subjective personal preferences, interests and the activities I enjoy, and for the reasons I cited above, Mexico City just felt a lot more like home to me. It was actually quite hard for me to leave at the end of my time there.
And just one added observation that applies to both cities (or any city, really): tourists tend to romanticize and idealize, and they should be aware that daily life in a place is quite different from what you see during a two-week or even two-month stay. If you're a foreigner and living off your savings in Recoleta or Palermo or Condesa or Roma, life seems positively rosy. You're close to the subway, the respective city centers and you have any entertainment option imaginable at your doorstep. However, if you're living there and making an average local salary, none of those locations are affordable. The last 2 years I lived in BA, I lived in Villa del Parque. It's a beautiful neighborhood and by far my favorite of the places I lived in BA, but it's a terrible commute if you have to work downtown. I lived too far from the train to make it worth taking and nowhere near a subway station, and the bus would take a good hour and a half during commuter time. AND Villa del Parque is well within the city limits and geographically not all that far from the center. My point is that both of these cities are immensely rewarding places to live, but they have major problems with transportation infrastructure. Both of their subway systems cover a fraction of the area that they should, and even though they have buses to compensate, traffic means that you'll be doing start and stop for more time than you'd like. Again, they're both amazing cities, but it's good to keep things in perspective for those who are considering a move.
2. The people. After six years, I found that I had very few Argentine friends despite having worked, studied, socialized, etc. Basically I found porteños to be warm at first, but it's difficult to move beyond that initial interaction to develop a meaningful friendship with someone. There were plenty of times where I thought I hit it off with someone, so I suggested we do something, and they looked at me like "What? We're not friends." I should note that language is not a barrier; I'm fluent in Spanish. This is just a cultural difference. Many people have friends they've known since childhood, and don't feel a strong need to make new ones later in life.
I'm a porteño, and I don't agree with what I put in boldface. Everyone I know has made friends in different stages of life, not only in childhood. It's interesting that you are not the first foreigner living here or having lived here who says that. I really mean what I say. Through all my life here I've known very few people who stay basically with the same friends all their life. Just wanted to say that.
Since BA is probably the greatest city I've ever lived in, my vote is obvious :-) DF has its charms, though
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