My stay at Uriel and Angel's place in Retiro was wonderful! The apartment was as described, with a big comfy bed, a little desk, a kitchenette, etc. It's small, so I wouldn't necessarily stay here if I had a companion with me, but it was perfect for my 6 weeks as a solo researcher in Buenos Aires. The building is secure, the 24-hour doormen are friendly, and I loved the neighborhood. But most of all, I appreciated how responsive, friendly, and helpful Uriel was as my host. I'll try to go into everything a little more below:
First, Uriel was my point of contact and he was an absolutely fabulous one. I had a series of small mishaps at the start of my trip (first day, I accidentally locked my passport & etc. in the safe but the previous tenant hadn't reset the code so I couldn't open it again... second day I stepped in a hole and sprained my foot... oof) and Uriel was always extremely responsive and helpful. For the safe incident, he very quickly sent someone with the master key to the safe, I learned to reset the code, and all was well pretty much right away. With regard to my injury, he provided great information to help me learn how to safely get a cab or a ride-share and recommendations about where to go for x-rays and all of that. Throughout the rest of my 6-week visit, which was happily much less eventful, he was very responsive whenever I had a question or concern and made sure to let me know if anyone needed to enter the apartment and to ask me if it was ok/make sure it worked with my schedule. He was very accommodating of me wanting to get a later checkout time, too! Overall, I don't think I could've had a better host experience, as Uriel was not only responsive and respectful, but friendly and kind, too.
Now, the apartment!
The pros (extensive): big comfy bed, great shower (very hot with nice water pressure!), pretty view of surrounding buildings, good amount of closet space, good little work area, and nice couch (which was replaced to an even nicer one toward the end of my stay :) ). Air conditioning works well, too. You can control it yourself, switching between the three settings as you see fit. The apartment also has power strips that act as adapters for US and (I think?) European-style plugs, which was excellent because someone (me) didn't do her research and so didn't know the plugs are different in Argentina... oops. Glad I could learn that without my phone dying in the process!
The cons (extremely limited): I didn't make a lot of use of the kitchenette beyond the kettle and the mini fridge because it is very small so there's not much prep space for meals and the microwave and little oven are on a shelf above my head so that made them a little tricky to think about using (I'm 5'6", for reference). However, I will note that the apartment is well-equipped with mugs, glasses, plates, silverware, etc., so if you choose to cook you won't be lacking! I would just maybe recommend that the hosts invest in a small step stool or something for the unit so it's easier to get hot things out of the microwave and oven safely. Secondly, the outlets are in weird places relative to the furniture sometimes, but I think that's just a fact about the apartment it's important to know rather than something the hosts can necessarily change. But it's good to note that the main outlet in the bedroom area is under & behind the bed (you can reach a power strip that the lamps are plugged into to plug your phone charger in but it can be tricky - I ultimately unplugged the lamp on the side of the bed I wasn't really using for easier access), and the main outlet near the workspace is behind the couch. Additionally, the electronic lock was mostly extremely handy (as someone prone to forgetting things) but sometimes I'd put in the proper code and it would say it had unlocked the door, but the door was definitely not unlocked. It wasn't a huge issue though because the second or third time it would always actually work, but important to know in case it can be fixed/so you don't freak out if it happens to you.
The building: I didn't try using a lot of the amenities (like the courtyard or coworking space) because I was out of the apartment exploring or working a lot, and I sprained my foot so no gym, but I was pleased with the security aspect. The doormen were responsive and friendly, and I liked that someone was there 24/7 in case I forgot the outdoor key or felt unsafe returning late at night. The building is clean and well-maintained, but decently old so the elevators are a little jerky. Who cares, though! They get you where you need to go. You have to ask the doormen for a key to whatever laundry room is available and there's only 1 washer and 1 drier per room, but it's free (which is more than I can say for my actual apartment at home) and everything worked fine when I used them :) it's important to follow the directions, though, and they're in Spanish, so keep that in mind if you don't read it well!
The neighborhood: Retiro is great. The street the apartment is on is small and nice. You are right across the street from a little grocery store, there are several smaller produce stores on the block, and there are a lot of great restaurants in the area. I particularly liked a little restaurant a bit down the street from the grocery store where you can get really tasty food for 500-750 pesos. I went there because it was in Uriel and Angel's initial recommendations and it