At This Market, I Went Bargain-Hunting in Argentina

San Telmo Market was my favorite place in Argentina. I even stayed an extra week in Buenos Aires just for this Sunday-only flea market.

Every Sunday, countless stalls line both sides of the narrow streets of Defensa, stretching so far that you can’t see the end from the corner. The market sells plenty of secondhand vintage goods, but the market itself already feels like a precious antique.

This is the oldest neighborhood in Buenos Aires. Its weathered cobblestone streets, mid-rise European-style buildings, and creaking streetcars are among the last memories of Argentina’s golden age.

Unknown painters, leather craftsmen, old stamp dealers, washed-up musicians, fast-food vendors... all kinds of characters come together to make up this colorful market. To me, they are far more interesting than the goods laid out on the stalls. Just hearing tango music strike up beside you is enough to get your blood pumping.

If you know quality when you see it and enjoy treasure hunting, then instead of bargain-hunting in China’s A-share market, you might as well come here and bargain-hunt in Argentina.

Argentina’s economy has been in rough shape for years, and everyday life has become difficult for many people. The reasons are fairly simple: the government has neither broadened its revenue sources nor cut spending. The country never built up a strong lineup of competitive industries and has been getting by on relatively limited income from agriculture and mining. Meanwhile, in order to preserve generous social benefits and win votes, the government kept printing money and borrowing. The cattle and sheep of the Pampas alone obviously cannot sustain free education and healthcare.

Inflation has been astonishing. My landlord told me that prices had risen 50% in six months. Even though his company gave raises three times in a row, his salary only went up 30%. In the tide of economic decline, countless Argentine middle-class families like his have gradually slipped into poverty.

So many people have started selling off family possessions, which reminded me of the descendants of the Eight Banners in China. After all, their ancestors were once wealthy, and if you trace the family line back far enough, some were probably aristocrats. Argentina was once a country that had fully embraced a “buy, buy, buy” lifestyle, and when earlier generations immigrated from Europe to escape war, they really did bring quite a few treasures with them.