So, we are kicking back in Bariloche this week. Doing some hiking tomorrow. Thought we would share some more random observations of Argentina, especially since Marc is seeing this surreal place with fresh eyes.
1. Laid back dogs. Like the people here, dogs are incredibly mellow. They sit around for hours, sleeping in front of shops, on street corners, in parks. They are in no hurry. Most sleep on their sides, the way dogs sleep when they are most relaxed, or very hot. No owners in site, but the dogs don´t go anywhere. They just hang out. They are friendly if you go up to them, but don´t go out of their way to beg for attention.
2. Pregnant women. Wow, we have observed a lot of pregnant women in Buenos Aires. Very pregnant women. Marc wondered if there was some event of national celebration that occured last February? General end of summer activity? Who knows, but big bellies are everywhere. Interestingly, the word for pregnant in Spanish is embarazada.
3. Banking inconvenience. Because of years of political and economic unstability in Argentina, there is a lot of insecurity surrounding the availability of money. Banking is just not as convenient as it is in the US. For example, there is a limit to the amount of money you can take out of an ATM each day and that amount can fluctuate within a bank and between banks. It generally ranges from between $300-600A (about $100-200US), and there is a lively exchange on expat blogs about which ATMs allow the largest withdrawls. Then, there are just plain weird occurances. Last week, I went to an ATM and no money was available until 4 pm that afternoon. Turns out this was true of all the ATMs in my neighborhood. Don´t know what that was about since my Spanish isn´t good enough to ask anyone, but it delayed my day trip out of town by two hours as I couldn´t get any funds. It is also not uncommon to stand in a very long line at the bank. Yesterday Marc and I stood in line at a bank for 35 minutes to exchange dollars. Some things really make me miss the US and banking is one of them.
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2 comments:
My jealousy is thick. Thick, I tell you. Bariloche has been on my long list of places to visit. Looking forward to hearing more of your travels. Thanks for entertaining us with your tales of adventure!
Hey Deb. How nice to hear from you! I can´t tell you how beautiful it is here. Racking my brain to see how I can make a living down here!
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