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As our time restraints (with a flight booked out of Brazil) we had to also skim this section quite fast also.
Mendoza is a wine town, with a large party scene and restaurant vibe. You don’t often sleep when it is dark, and you don’t eat before 10pm (unless you cook yourself). The best thing about Argentina, is the BBQ Culture, you can go to the local butcher and pick up huge amazing quality steaks for around $8.00 you will get nearly 1Kg, and all the hostels have BBQs you can use.
We had countless nights drinking and cooking up a BBQ with the people we met at the hostels, and then before you know it its 3am and time to go across the road to a club on a weeknight – which is completely packed. Then you stumble home around 7am+ and sleep in till 1 to only repeat the process the next day! No wonder my clothes are a little tighter after this stint!
BA is one of those large city’s, that you can experience many different ranges of culture in. The party life is abundant, the city itself is crowded and the
food culture at restaurants is meat, meat and more meat! The cheapest way we found to eat is through the Por Kilo restaurants, where you pay a small fee for 100grams fill your plate and they weigh it (buffet style) In BA there are many of these spread all throughout, mostly in the business district down Belgrano Avendida, as they are a great fast cheap lunch options for the locals to.
If you plan to be in BA, it doesn’t matter what night you will also have a chance to party large, but I suggest you do the weekend just for the market that opens up on Defensia Street on Sunday. The market itself is around 14 blocks long, with sub-sections heading off into other streets.
The market is filled with: arts, crafts, cloths, leather belts, leather and suede handbags, jewelry and amazing street empanadas (similar to a pastie) and often BBQ’s happening in car parks closed for the day with live music. This was a definite highlight and one of the most interesting markets we have been to!
From BA we headed to Iguaçu Falls. Again, touristy town, and the national park entrance fee
is not cheap! We decided to do the Argentinean side, as this is the side you see more and can get closer to the falls. All through the park there are heaps of walks that you do to get to different view points and water falls, (all stunning) and a you can do a boat ride from the side that takes you right under the water falls spray (you get absolutely drenched) which was really fun!
Travel Points:
Argentina itself has seen a huge inflation of recent, and this has seen the Peso drop in value significantly. The best thing to do before you travel here, is to take American dollars as the government has stopped the locals accessing this to encourage the use and growth of the Peso. This is not working out for them at all. In all around SA you are able to get USD out of the ATM’s except in Chile, Argentina and Brazil as their governments have all signed the agreements to keep their currency’s use only.
If you travel to Argentina, everyone wants the Dollar. When you withdraw from a ATM, you will get the exchange USD1 –
5 ARG Peso’s. On the street in what is referred to as the ‘Grey Market’, you can sell your USD and actually MAKE money with it and get 1 – 8 or even 1 – 9.
The inflation is rapid, every pre-printed menu has stickers over their ‘old prices’ and higher ones listed. We saw inflation happen first hand, the hostel we stayed at for 1 week (7nights) had a sign listing their prices as:
Dorm: ARG 56 Peso’s
and then the typical if you pay in cash in American 1 – 7 sign.
When we left, the prices had increased to ARG 80 Pesos, and the dollar they would accept 1 – 8.
Even in cloths shops along popular tourist areas will have signs out the front saying American Dollar 1 – 8, this would change daily also!
Because of all this the attitudes of the country can be quite poor. Crime has sky rocketed, and walking through some parts even at lunch time the police will approach you to leave and that you are in Danger, the tipping culture has sky rocketed to a stupid point where they
don’t only expect it but literally demand it and will tell you off rudely if they thing you haven’t tipped enough.
You pay so much for a bus ticket, but for them to load your bags in the bus they expect a tip on top of this, then if you don’t they leave your bags on the side of the road and yell at you to do it. Which I am more than happy to lift the bag 1 metre off the ground myself, since I carry it around on my back like a turtle most days – happy not to pay for someone to do that!
Then half way through the bus ride they walk through with a in asking you to tip them and the driver, the attitudes are really a shame! And can be a damper on things that’s for sure!
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Pablo
non-member comment
About tipping
Tipping in an Argie restaurante varies between 5 to 10%, generally is 7%, and it is NEVER demanded. Sorry, but some bad guys saw that you were tourists. In some restaurants they charge a "service charge" called "cubierto", I don´t eat in those, in some of them it covers the bread basket.