Travel Week 14
Day 92:
| Milanese ternera lunch | 330 |
| Ice cream | 105 |
| Fiambre | 889 |
| Total: | 1324 ARS (USD 17.42) (RMB 121.6) |
Ternera is veal, so I finally had a proper Kalbschnitzel in Argentina. Fiambre is a term for a platter of olives, salamis, cheeses, etc.
Day 93:
| Bondiola | 340 |
| Sunblock & stuff | 517.5 |
| Food and wine | 526.5 |
| Beef | 140 |
| Beers | 300 |
| Veggies | 270 |
| Total: | 2094 ARS (USD 27.55) (RMB 192.4) |
One of my regular restaurants upped the price of their executive lunch overnight by about 30 pesos in a very visible demonstration of inflation at work (Bondiola is pork loin), but I should keep going there because the waiters really appreciate the fact that I tip 10%. For Chinese New Years, I was planning on doing something special, and I ultimately settled on making “dumplings,” i.e. empanadas from scratch (well with ready-to-use dough). It was a fairly successful cooking experiment, though I went to bed early. I just can’t go out all night on any of the new year’s eves.
Day 94:
| Groceries | 131 |
| Smoothie | 80 |
| Beer | 300 |
| Musician tip | 100 |
| Total: | 611 ARS (USD 8.04) (RMB 56.1) |
I had so much extra empanada filling (both meat and cheese), that I decided to buy some extra ingredients to make tacos and pizzas. The leftover empanadas were nowhere near as delicious the second day. It was a nice sunny Saturday and since the hostel has a regular Saturday afternoon pool party, I spent the day sipping white wine from a melon and taking in some sun. After sobering up, I went out for drinks with a friend later in the evening.
Day 95:
| Selina Hostel (2 nights) | 18.57 USD |
| Coffee and pastries | 183 |
| Brunch | 300 |
| Beer | 100 |
| Ice and chips | 190 |
| Total: | 28.74 USD (RMB 200.7) |
I ended up having two breakfasts as I felt the urge to pop into a bakery/cafe for a spell on a lazy Sunday morning and later met up with a friend for brunch. I was supposed to be moving into an Airbnb this day, but I had discovered on Saturday night that the place I booked was no longer available because of plumbing issues. I booked two more nights in the hostel to give myself a chance to sort out a situation with a new Airbnb. I got a couple of the hostel guests to go out for a drink at a glorified kiosk with outside tables and some killer prices.
Day 96:
| Pastry for breakfast | 45 |
| Vegetables (to make salad) | 20 |
| Maxx | 170 |
| Laundry | 200 |
| Dinner, for 2 with beer | 685 |
| Total: | 1120 ARS (USD 14.74) (RMB 102.9) |
I had been counting on getting into an Airbnb to do some laundry, but with a total lack of clean clothes, I had to spring for the ever more expensive laundry service (luckily a same day turnaround). Also, after living it up under the excuse of Chinese New Years, it was time to start shifting my eating habits into something healthier. The regional food (basically stew and empanadas) wasn’t much of an improvement, but delicious nonetheless.
Day 97:
| Coffee and pastries | 110 |
| Airbnb (4 nights) | 48.91 USD |
| Chorizos | 110 |
| Ice cream | 135 |
| Groceries | 304 |
| Total: | 57.58 USD (RMB 402.1) |
I finally made it into an Airbnb and did quite well considering how last minute everything was (and getting rejected from more than one listing due to unavailability). It’s not (supposed to be) a whole apartment to myself, so I just booked a couple of days to try it out, but the owner is currently on vacation, so I am getting the steal of a lifetime.
Day 98:
| Veggies | 45 |
| Chicken breast | 70 |
| Groceries | 359 |
| Cookies | 50 |
| Gourmet coffee beans | 500 |
| HH Beer | 80 |
| Beers at Mundo Lingo | 200 |
| Fernet at Mundo Lingo | 320 |
| Total: | 1624 ARS (21.37 USD) (RMB 149.2) |
I did some rather elaborate shopping at proper market and some groceries stores to gather up the ingredients to make fajitas. I’m going to really enjoy having access to such a nice kitchen without having to share fridge space with 40 other people. Mundo Lingo, if I haven’t explained, is the language meetup, and I guess a lot of alcohol is needed to keep the social interactions fluid.
Some light housekeeping, Hostel World finally refunded the USD 5.4 deposit for the non-hostel in Punta del Diablo, Uruguay, but with my monthly credit card bill there was an extra 7.96 USD in foreign currency surcharges not previously accounted for.
Running Total: 2823.88 USD (RMB 19718.3)
Daily Average: 28.82 USD (RMB 201.2)