When Frank Almeida followed his girlfriend to Argentina in 1999, he didn’t realise he was on a one way ticket. With a casual shrug the owner of wildly successful cookie company Sugar and Spice explains: “She got homesick, brought up the possibility of moving to Argentina and I’ve always been open to living outside the US so I said sure.”

Mixing up your ‘boludos’ with your ‘bondis’? Can’t find ‘quilombo’ in your dictionary? Wondering why the grumpy bus driver just told you to ‘walk to your mother’s shell’? We’ve all been there, stuttering ‘no entiendo’ as a porteño makes a mockery of last week’s intense Spanish course. That’s why I’m down in Bariloche, looking for James Bracken, the man who literally wrote ‘Che Boludo’, an (illustrated) book on Argentine slang.

Six years ago Brendan Martin, 36, was working on Wall Street in the world of global finance. Then a friend suggested he watch a new film that had just been released in the United States; Naomi Klein’s ‘The Take’. The film documents the struggles of Argentine factory workers laid off during the 2001 economic crisis to reoccupy their former workplaces and rebuild them as democratic, worker-controlled enterprises.

Having arrived in Buenos Aires a year ago, Emilienne Brard, 29, created Sociedad Ambiental with her friend Adèle Pérez. The practical guides, written by the two French girls, aim to help people change a few things in their lives in order to be friendlier to the planet. This was a well considered choice, and a year after she arrived Emilienne finally looks back saying: “It is here that we found our way in life.”

As Nietzsche knew, “education decreases daily because of the raising haste.” Maya Frost also asked herself how to get her four daughters out of the US’ schooling system and within one month they decided to sell all their belongings and move abroad.

Ginger Gentile graduated from Columbia University with a degree in history in 2002 and decided to learn Spanish to be a union organiser in New York for The Garment Workers Union. After taking a month-long intensive Spanish course in Guatemala and travelling in Cuba, she arrived in Buenos Aires and has been living here ever since.

Edwin Sanabria Rojas, 25, always wanted to be an actor, and in February this year he decided to pursue his dream. He flew down to Buenos Aires from Bogotá, Colombia, the first time he had ever left his homeland. He admits to missing his mother and her cooking, but feels the sacrifice was worth it.

Emily Usher Shrair, originally from the US, came to Buenos Aires in 2007 as part of a study abroad programme. She became involved in the Sol Naciente Shelter, a home which for women, and their children, who have suffered from domestic violence and homelessness. Subsequently, she returned in June 2008 to expand the shelter into a learning centre.

Evelyn Bendjeskov, 46, describes herself as an “applier of arts” because this is the only term which encompasses the various projects she undertakes. She has been the director of art and of wardrobe for various films and theatre productions, and directed her own adverts for organisations including the UN.

An epic journey. A man travels the length of Latin America in a Volkswagen Beetle in search of adventure, culture and self-discovery. Tom Dieusaert, a 41-year-old journalist from Belgium, has written a book, ‘Diarios del Vocho’, about the epic journey that took him from Mexico to Argentina, through 13 countries. He ended his trip in 2004 in Buenos Aires, and has lived her ever since.