We are now almost at the end of our one month stay in Buenos Aires. On Sunday we head up to the Andes to the Lake District area of Bariloche.
Below are some of the things we have noticed or experienced so far of life in Argentina:
- Buenos Aires is a lot more like a European city than South American - it's easy to think you are in Paris or Madrid with the wide tree lined avenues running through the city (some with 9 lanes in one direction!) and the lovely parks.
- The "Portenos" (Buenos Aires people) dress well and are known to think of themselves as more superior to the rest of South America.
- Mate is the equivalent of the "British tea" - you see people drinking it on the street outside their houses or shops - there are many varieties though out the country,
- You kiss everyone you meet once on the cheek
- We don't need to rent a car in the city as there is an abundance of good public transportation and taxis are everywhere at a fraction of the price of a London cab. When we did rent a car, we ended up getting lost!
Inflation..... is a way of life - forecast at 33% this year (and same last year) Argentineans are well used to continual price increases (unlike us). We are now getting use to the prices quoted in books we read or websites, to be well below the actual current price. Outside of the touristy areas, a (rare) English menu in a local restaurant will usually have prices lower than the Spanish menu, purely because they have not updated it so often - of course the final bill prices are higher.... I gave up after the first time of trying to point out that our bill was more than the price quoted in the menu!
We were last here in 1997. Then it was not a cheap place to visit. The peso was pegged 1:1 to the US$, supposedly having the same amount of US$ in vaults, as pesos in circulation. This had followed the real crisis they had had in the 80s where inflation was often over 50% per month! The country could not sustain this 1:1 rate, exports were hurting, the government was not being quite right on reserves... (we heard that there was probably more US$ in personal vaults than the treasury), and in 2002 the currency was devalued to a more realistic level. Argentina then became (like most of South America) a cheap place to visit.
Interestingly though, usually high inflation would be coupled with currency depreciation (ie no net change to the visiting Gringos) but despite the 30% ish inflation over the last year, the exchange rate has stayed fairly constant at 4 peso to 1 US$. Previously it would have been compensated by the weakening peso. Argentina is no longer as cheap as it was a few years ago, to the foreign visitor.
We often wonder how some locals manage here - we see many homeless in the streets - one day, when we were buying an ice cream, Jimmy bought 3 more and gave them to the young kids who were sitting with their mother who was begging at the side of the road - they didn't seem to know what to do with them.... Charlotte has noticed and hopefully it has got her to appreciate what she has.