Our 2nd day (Monday) in Buenos Aires took us on another walking tour to see the downtown buildings including the pink presidential palace (no one knows why it was painted pink). Unfortunately, we couldn’t tour the building as this is transition week when the current socialist president is leaving office and the new right-wing president is moving in. While we were at the plaza, we also witnessed the stealing of a tourist’s jewelry by a motorcycle riding duo. Pick pocketing & petty theft seem to be the most common crimes.
When we arrived on Saturday we learned that Tuesday’s religious holiday created a 4 -day weekend for most. Many shops were closed these days as we wandered through the city. Traffic was much lighter – a big benefit. The big negative was that most ATMs were out of cash! It appears that most Portenos (locals from BA) are on a cash basis for their purchases; so, there are always extensive lines at the bank ATMs throughout the city. Many restaurants do not accept credit cards.
The other issue is the exchange rate. The fixed rate is 9.7 pesos per dollar. The legal “blue” market rate for US $100 bills is above 14 pesos per USD. Today, the official price for our “credit card” lunch was $80 vs. $53 if we had paid with U.S. dollars. The new government is expected to eliminate the fixed rate. Inflation currently runs at 30%. We were anticipating that due to the struggling economy in Buenos Aires and the exchange rate, prices would be quite low in Buenos Aires. Not so, prices are sky high! Not only is food and clothing higher than in the U.S. but there is also a 21% tax on clothing and other items. The only thing that is inexpensive is Argentinean wine!
After 3 1/2 months of mostly eating out every meal, we were looking forward to taking off our tourist hats, shopping at the markets and grocery stores and living the Argentian way. Grocery shopping has been quite challenging. Grocery stores have limited selections for everything. You can’t even find Greek yogurt in the refrigerated section. The Argentine diet consist mostly of beef, beef and more beef along with some chicken. Any fish,with the exception of canned tuna cannot be found at any store in the city. There is only one fish market in the entire city which is quite far from our place in Palermo Soho. If there is fish on a restaurant menu, it will be salmon which will be much higher priced than any beef dish. The variety of fruits and vegetables is also quite limited. We think it is because they most likely do not import any of these items due to the country’s economic situation. Surprisingly, the numerous small fruits and vegetable stores throughout the city charge much lower prices than the grocery stores. Another interesting fact is that there are absolutely no spices sold in any grocery stores. You can’t even find pepper in the grocery stores or on a table in a restaurant, just salt. Large “beefy” portions are the signature statement for Argentinean cuisine.
