A Welcome Home Stay

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Between the dates of October 12th and 14th, we stayed at Tracey´s former host family´s house. The visit was great! Her former host mom Coty treated us to home cooked meals (with vegetables!), a comfortable bed, and best of all, a loving house. We had a dinner party with some of Tracey´s old friends and Coty´s family and were able to learn more about the last 9 years in Argentina since Tracey left.

While some things are a bargain here (unbelievable steak, wine, public transportation, etc), some things are nearly as expensive as they are in the United States (clothing, eating out, entertainment, fuel and cars). We were very interested to understand what happened when their peso crashed and how exactly the Argentina people are making ends meet when salaries don´t keep pace with the cost of living. The president that was in office when Tracey was here, Carlos Menem, falsely inflated their economy to make things appear that they were better than when they were and kept the peso pegged at a one to one value with the U.S. Dollar. However, by doing this, Argentina wasn´t able to compete in the international market because their goods were so high. When Menem´s term finally ended the new administration was forced to immediately devalue their peso to its actual value and try to rebuild their economy on a solid footing, resulting in lots of political and economic turmoil in recent years. Does that sound familiar to anyone back home in the U.S.?

Because of the poor economy and their inability to compete with higher prices in Europe, it is difficult for them to get many foods imported into the country like vegetables and fruits. We asked why there weren´t more locally grown fruits and vegetables because Argentina has very fertile farmland, and most farmers are growing corn and soy because they can get more money for the crops. In fact fruits and vegetables are often times more expensive than meat, and are often of mediocre quality at best. We got here just in time for a tomato and potato strike...prices for tomatoes were up to $8 to $9 a kilo! Needless to say we began to understand why there is such a lack of variety and seasoning in the food here.

La Plata was a beautiful city, a nice change from the frenetic pace in Buenos Aires. We visited a national museum, a large park where everyone comes with their friends and drinks Mate, and an incredible awe inspiring cathedral. The best part was catching up with old friends though.

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