the good

Customer service from a drag queen.  Best ever in Buenos Aires.

the bad

The state of things, the organisation and essentially, the tramites or paperwork.  Today was exceptionally bad, even by Argentine standards.  It started with a trip to the public hospital to do a blood test, which is a tramite you have to do 1 week before you get married, apparantly at any public hospital.  Arriving at the public hospital of our choice at 7am, we were told it needed to be a certain type of public hospital, not just any old one.  So getting a bus back to a hospital near our house, we arrived at the second hospital.  After lining up, more lining up and then more of it, the doctor who is extracting our blood starts having an argument with another doctor while he has the syringe in my boyfriends arm, not actually looking at the syringe, and yelling at the other doctor.

We leave the hospital and go home.  I am working at home because I am waiting for another tramite, a certificate that verifies my address in order to renew my visa.  The process is that you go to your local police station and ask for the certificate.  They take your details and tell you they will come past your place in the next 48 hours between the hours of 8 and 2pm.  So what happens if you work?  You have to stay home, because someone has to be there to show your ID to receive the certificate.  So I stay and work from home for 2 days.  The certificate never arrives.  I call the police and they tell me that the postal workers have it, and will deliver it either Saturday morning or Monday morning.  I tell the police officer that I will not be waiting any more time in my house, as I already did that and nobody came.  He tells me that after Monday, I should just go back to the police station and pick it up from there.

The proof of address certificate is possibly the most puzzling of all tramites in Argentina, because theoretically, you could just hang out in a friend´s apartment and say that you live there (if you wanted to).  I have a signed contract that I rent this apartment, in my name, but no, someone has to come past, and see that I answer the door, because apparantly nobody works in Argentina, although if I didn´t have this job, I wouldn´t be able get a visa to stay in the country legally, and wouldn´t need the certificate in the first place.

Today I also tried to book a bus trip to Salta, and after hanging up on me twice and when someone finally answered for real,  they took my number and said they would call back but never did.  My family had a problem with their flight and the apartment rental company they are using do not answer their phone.  Bottom line, trying to call someone doesn´t work, and customer service is a mere memory from a place where it does exist... Australia.

I just have to deep breathe and think that tomorrow is a new day... and prepare myself for the frustrations to come...

the good

Drinking mate in the park on a saturday.  While most people are at the beach in january, the ones who are left are hanging out in parks on the weekends either sunbathing or relaxing in the shade of a big tree.  And of course everyone is drinking mate despite the hot weather, which is made bearable in the park with the lovely cooling breeze.

the bad

Power cuts.  Well actually first it was the electricity including the light, fan (its summer!!) telephone and internet, then it was intermittently on and off for the next 18 hours, then later that night it was the internet and phone again, then the water, slowing to a trickle and then none until the next day.  But we got through it and are keen to see what awaits us next...

The sale

Australia is a consumers paradise but I like to think it's not as over-the-top as the USA.  For me it strikes a balance in between the US and Argentina.  There are lots of individual retailers, from one off boutique stores, to chain stores that are all over the country.  We don't really have the mega-store here, which cater for high turnovers and big numbers of everything and fall into the cheap and nasty category.  And nearly all retailers know how to have a sale and retain their customers, which really goes a long way.  Memberships and mailing lists give regular shoppers discounts and a more personalised shopping experience. 

I recently joined the Borders (bookshop) VIP club, which is free to join and they give you a $20 credit on your card when you sign up.  Twenty dollars to spend in their store for free, just for signing up!  And every week they email you a coupon for a special deal, such as '30% off cookbooks', or 'buy 2 fiction books get 1 free'.  I have never actually seen a book shop have a sale in Buenos Aires, and there are so many book shops that if one of them was to offer discounts and VIP deals, they would attract more customers and make more money. 

Sales and special offers make it so easy to spend money, but you don't have to spend as much of it, and it's definitely a more rewarding experience.

Inflation Time in Argentina

In the last few weeks I have started realizing how much prices have been going up. Food, clothes (not that they were ever cheap... or good quality), and even my building expenses risen.

Examples:
1. I got coffee with my friend Nikki this last weekend. We went to a cool cafe in Palermo. I understand that there are some chic cafes to go to and I should not have expected reasonable prices, but I got a cafe con leche and it was 13 pesos! It came with a tiny bar of choclate and a glass of water, but I cant believe that I am willing to pay that. Also, it was super tiny because it was in a tiny teacup. Here is a picture:



I remember when I could get a cafe con leche and three medialunas for 5 pesos.

2. My building expenses have never been over 200 pesos. I live in a smallish studio apartment and most of the expenses go to the salary of our encargado, who is super nice and cool and really good at his job. This month I got my bill and it was 230 pesos, which is 50 pesos more than it was last week. Does that make sense? They didnt spend money on fixing anything big in the building. I cant figure out why it went up so much.

3. This last weekend I wanted to buy some shorts. I saw two pairs and each one was 250 pesos. All I want are some shorts for the summer, but I would never spend that much on some shorts that I could get for 15 dollars at Old Navy in the U.S. I guess I will be hot in my pants all summer...


Anyway, so this has been a complaining entry, but the inflation has seriously gotten ridiculous.

The even more distinct

When most people get off the bus in Adelaide they say thank you to the driver.  Enough said.