Bancos y Baños

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First, an update on the tv situation: Argentina has this thing nailed. Not only do they provide tv in most restaurant dining areas, but also in the metro stations. Sure, there are little updates at the bottom of the screen to tell you what train is coming and when, but who cares when the game is on? Even the tv in our apartment is on wheels so that you can turn it to face the dining area. We are obviously trying our best to fit in here. But i digress...

Our time in Buenos Aires has been largely spent looking for bancos y baños. The stores and restaurants here seem to choose at random whether to accept credit cards, and many bank machines either don´t accept american cards or don´t give American dollars. For example, when we arrived our security deposit was due in US dollars, and we were told that the machines would give us dollars, but we tried 3 and had no luck. We finally had to get pesos and pay that way, which is annoying since we´ll now get our deposit back in pesos right before leaving the country. The other day, I (Holly) found a pair of dancing shoes that I wanted to buy that cost 300 pesos (about $85). For a purchase that large I planned to use my credit card, but the store didn´t accept cards. They directed us to a bank 2 blocks away, but on the way we realized that we hadn´t brought our bank cards with us and couldn´t get money. So we went back to the shoe place and gave a deposit so that they would hold the shoes until we could return the next day. The next day we find a local bank to get the money, then head back to San Telmo for the shoes. Actually, when we got there the place was closed for lunch, so we went for lunch in the touristy square, before finding out that the restaurant also didn´t accept cards. But I needed to use the bathroom so we had to sit anyway, and we had just enough for lunch and the shoes. We had also planned, however, to take a tango lesson after buying the shoes, but then didn´t have enough pesos. We stopped into the tango place (which is also a restaurant that provides nightly shows) but they didn´t take cards either.

So again, we went off in search of a bank. We found 2 within the next 7 blocks, but neither had working ATMs. We figured there would surely be an ATM at the nearby train station, so we walked over there but the information guy tried to send us back to the bank outside that had the malfunctioning ATM. UGH... he gave us directions to another bank 2 more blocks from the Tango place, which FINALLY had a functioning ATM but also had a long line because of it. We finally got money and high-tailed it back to the tango place in time for our lesson. I guess the moral of the story is that you should try to travel with cash in South America and not depend on using your credit card, but I{m not sure that is safe advice.

A similar trial occurs each time we need to find a bathroom. South America is similar to Europe in the fact that the facilities are either non-functioning, have no seat, have no toilet paper, have no toilet (foot prints on the ground with a hole), have no lock, or all of the above. In this case it is generally good to be female, as I discovered when the Buenos Aires military guards let me into their dorm house to use their bathroom because there were no public ones around (again, best to carry one´s own paper). We usually find that restaurants have bathrooms for clients, so we have to buy something, usually in the form of café con leche, water, ice cream, and the like, which only perpetuates the future bathroom requirement. It´s an endless cycle that every tourist must endure.

Anyway, we did have lots of fun in Buenos Aires. Our friends that we met in Uruguay have an apartment not far from the one we rented, so we met up for dinner a few times and hung out with their family members who came to visit. (our apartment is also conveniently located next to an ice cream shop... hehe) We went to El Caminito where the houses are painted in bright colors and there is lots of tourist activity, where we met a tango dancer / artist who spent a few years teaching dance in DC. He let us into his studio and showed us lots of his work, as well as posters and books that were either written about him or feature pictures of him. Narcisistic... maybe, but he was an interesting character. He let me take photos of him while he painted water colors and did pen drawings. He had us each write our signatures, which he turned into drawings of a couple dancing tango. It was a unique photography opportunity, which worked for him because we bought one of his works, and worked for us because he gave us a few freebies as well. (Editors Note: This is an abridged version of this whole blog entry, which was originally wiped out when Holly typed the word e-rot-ic to describe one of his works and the internet cafe filter in Buenos Aires shut down the entire thing. We lost about 20 minutes worth.) We also took tango lessons as we said. We ate lots of empanadas and drank lots of wine, and we shopped till we dropped, then shopped some more.



Now that this is as long as a book, we are back to Lima and on our way to Machu Pichu. Not sure what we´re going to do about the food situation, since I have taken a vow of becoming a fruit-arian here and not eating anything but fruit and bread. We do NOT want a repeat of last time, especially on our way up a mountain, so we´ll see if we have the energy to do it. Wish us luck! We hope you are at least somewhat enjoying our tales... at least enough to hold you for another week as we are in Cuzco. We´ll leave you with a photo of what Peru thinks of our economic situation.
Yes, even in the southern hemisphere, stuff runs down hill. Additional pictures posting soon as well. Adios!!

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