1/9-The Complicated Quest for Pesos

Who knew it could be so difficult to get money in Argentina! Of course, there is the whole issue with the high inflation, which doesn’t help matters. In addition, Argentina doesn’t seem to have bills larger than 1000 pesos. 

Our mission today was to find an ATM to withdraw pesos. After having coffee/hot chocolate while waiting (at the wrong cafe) for Matias and Camilla (the Swiss couple), we went to the bank. At the ATM, the maximum pesos you could get was 8000ARG. That’s 9.82USD. Yeah, not helpful.  The woman at the bank said we could exchange Chilean pesos at two of the supermercados. Nope. The second one had a sign that said you could use euros or dollars, but when I asked if I could pay in USD, the guy said no. Then we ran into Matias again. He said there was a restaurant that would take $100 bills for payment (Matias only had $20s). He asked if I had $100 bills. I said yes, and he asked if he could give me $20s for $100. I said I had too many $20s already. 

We decided it was lunch time. We stopped at a pizza place. 

My pizza (ham and provolone). There was a sign saying you could pay in debit or cash, and that $1.00=1000 pesos. That is a really good rate. On the currency exchange rate, $1.00=814.37pesos. So, I paid for my lunch with a nice crisp $100 bill, and got 81,300pesos in change. Remember, the largest bill is 1000. 

So this stack is basically $81.30! You feel rich, but really you aren’t. It reminds me of Nepal and the stack of rupees. At least here, you can use a debit card at many places. 

Resupply of food is another interesting adventure. The easiest thing to carry for lunches is tortillas. No tortillas here. Alex and Markus got bread. I don’t have room for bread. I got crackers (and cheese). It’s funny, they had plenty of the things I don’t need right now (muesli, granola). I did find a couple of Ramen packages, and a small package of instant mashed potatoes for dinners. I think, much like the Appalachian Trail, I just have boring food when camping, and try to eat well when in town at a restaurant. 

Here’s a couple of photos from our wanderings around El Chalten. 

Nice mountain there. 

Trekking sculpture. 

Tomorrow we head toward El Calafate. Alex has already booked accommodation. Weather should be good for the next several days.