About mikelley2

Status:

Expatriate  

Gender:

Male

Currently Lives:

Citizen Of:

United States

About mikelley2

My wife Donna and I have owned a finca in San Rafael since 2006 and have Bonarda, Pedro Ximines and Malbec grapes under tela. We built a house on the property three years ago and spend about four months a year there. We have one contratista on the property and love living there. We spend the rest of our time in Florida where we do boating , hunting and fishing. We manage to harvest about between 30 and 90 tons of grapes that we sell to Biancji and Sierra Pintada Bodega and put up one barrel of wine a year for ourselves. We also have a still there and make our own brandy as well.

Advice for New Expats

Bring money!

I would love to live in...

Argentina

Favorite Assignment:

Keck telescope engineer

Favorite Cuisine:

Southwestern

Some Forum Posts:

Argentina: Hail damage in San Rafael:

We have been experiencing a lot of damaging hail the last month in our area of Las Paredes in San Rafael. The government has been financing a program to seed the cells with silver iodide, a system that the US abandoned many years ago. They are using a Russian system of rockets attached to a couple of twin engine aircraft but have been experiencing flare failures where only a few of them have been effective. There is a study to see if financing an anti hail netting program for the many producers that would benefit from this means of protection. Our vineyard is protected from hail with this method and although it is initially expensive, we have had none but a small loss from the hail in the last ten years. Hopefully they will come up with a low cost method of helping the many farmers here that would benefit. Mike

Argentina: New immigration rules for Argentina?:

Be prepared for new regulations when considering immigration to Argentina. My contact in San Rafael says that anyone convicted of a felony will net be allowed in the country and new laws will be much tougher in the future to obtain a resident visa. This after Macri is tightening up after a study showing that 22% of the felons in prison are foreigners. Be prepared for immigration officials to be more vigilant. mike

Argentina: buying hectares for almond production:

There is a small almond grove close to my place in Las Paredes and my worker says that it has been in operation for about five years. They have lost crop after crop from the cold weather here and have never had a product. I would suggest you research the area here in San Rafael for the warmest climate possible to avoid the same problems. Mike

Argentina: Sell my AR Pesos for US$:

Tom. Am in San Rafael at the moment and need some pesos for my manager. Sold $US 5000 last week and could need another 3000 next, Am leaving the 7th of Dec for Fla. If you are in San Rafael call me at 4667110. Mike Kellay mikelley@bellsouth.net

Argentina: Banking and Houses:

I was under the impression this forum was to discuss things about Argentina, not to make disparaging remarks about the members. Lets be civil and stop this crap! Mike

Date Joined:

1/14/2014

Total Posts:

7

Posts/Day:

0.01