argentina: pre-election fervor
Having been away from the journalistic side of things for WAY too long, there’s quite a bit to cover. Let’s get started with politics & wrap up a few loose ends…
Read More »argentina: pre-election fervorHaving been away from the journalistic side of things for WAY too long, there’s quite a bit to cover. Let’s get started with politics & wrap up a few loose ends…
Read More »argentina: pre-election fervorMany people are complaining about rising prices on basic food items. At the grocery store in mid-February, a woman told me she thought Argentines were cowards for putting up with price increases… an interesting opinion. I’m not sure what she would do, but my idea is to stick with a group of basic food products & monitor prices at the three largest chain supermarkets over the next few weeks. One of the first big news stories after devaluation was the rise of bread prices by 30%. Now the milk industry is following suit.
Read More »buenos aires: supermarket price comparisonFabio & I recently moved… yea! We had been looking for a new apartment a couple weeks prior to the Uruguay trip & found a place we liked in Barrio Norte. That’s a psuedo-neighborhood that has no official boundaries, but everyone knows it straddles Recoleta and Retiro. All in all, a nice part of town with great connections everywhere.
Read More »buenos aires: moving inA long time since the last update but with good reason. I just got back from a quick Uruguay trip to renew my passport stamp. I’m officially in Argentina as a tourist which allows for a 90-day stay. Every time those 90 days expire, I have to travel outside of Argentina & return again to obtain a new entry stamp. Sounds like a hassle but with work trips to Europe, it usually isn’t a problem.
Read More »argentina: legal againThere has been a lull in big stories during the past month, but many smaller events to track. In spite of the economic and political crisis (or precisely because of it), the 4-day holiday during Holy Week saw a huge increase in local tourism as almost the entire city of Buenos Aires left on vacation. Many stayed in Argentina to keep costs down, & it was bizarre to see so few people in town.
Read More »argentina: ghosts from the pastFirst of all, apologies for the lack of updates & photos. I’ve been improving the website design & adding information to other sections. I hope you enjoy the results. So what’s been happening? Lots.
Read More »argentina: fewer protests, higher dollarThe first week of March has come to an end which means two things: autumn is coming & the school year has begun. Naturally, the education system is not immune to current political & economic problems in Argentina. Faced with less funding for schools & salary cuts, threats of striking teachers in half the provinces of Argentina had many people wondering if classes would be in session or not. Buenos Aires had no problems on the first day of class, but the strike was adhered to in seven other provinces. The following day, news media reported that most teachers in the country reported for work, & the story quickly disappeared from headlines. President Duhalde went to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego to inaugurate the school year. Fortunately there were students and teachers present to listen to his public address!
Read More »argentina: another crazy weekAs of today, no more bank accounts in US dollars exist in Argentina. Ten years of peso-dollar convertibility are officially over.
Read More »argentina: no more dollarsMy first experience exchanging dollars to pesos in Argentina went surprisingly well. After over a decade of pegging the peso to the dollar (known as convertibilidad), most exchange places outside of downtown Buenos Aires had gone out of business. Also ATMs previously offered either pesos or dollars, but that’s not an option now. Everyone heads to the microcentro to exchange cash, so off we went too.
Read More »argentina: free market peso, day 2This glossary accompanied the Argentina Experienced website (and later the abroad: ramblings from robert blog) in order to help readers understand terminology related to the 2001 crisis. Living through that period gave me a crash course in economics & local slang. Dive in!
Read More »glossary: 2001 economic crisis