“Travel” Week 35-37
Days: 239-259
The new location, dubbed “Scandinavian” in the Airbnb listing was nicely decorated and more suitable for hunkering down for the coldest, darkest months of the year.
| Rent (30 days) | 221.24 USD |
The apartment was to the west of town, two blocks off the main bar street and closer to Parque San Martin. I saved myself the trouble of taking an Uber and walked my stuff over in two trips (about a 15 minute walk). Though I had reached out to the hosts about a cash price, the blue exchange rate they wanted for dollars to pesos meant it was cheaper to just put it on my credit card with Airbnb’s slightly more than 10% service fee.
| Atomo | 850 |
| Carrefour Hypermarket | 2460 |
| Beer | 120 |
| Total | 3430 ARS (USD 32.48) |
I went a little bit crazy on my shopping and if I had grabbed a single stick of gum at the Carrefour, I wouldn’t have had enough cash to pay the bill. I invested a few dollars in buying a kitchen towel, garbage bags, and cooking utensils because despite the large kitchen, my hygge home had a cold kitchen. Where I really went overboard was the craving to do a picada platter over the weekend (salami, cheeses, olives with wine). Of course, I also took advantage of the reopening of the bars and my proximity to try a pint craft beer. It was a disappointing experience. If table service in Argentina was sketchy before the pandemic, it is a virtual nightmare now.
| Carrefour | 440 |
| Vegetables | 120 |
| Total | 560 ARS (USD 5.30) |
Mostly just replenishing milk, eggs, and yogurt, but I also sprung for a bag of potato chips. I decided that I should relax and allow myself some sort of treat with each shopping trip.
| Chinese supermarket | 580 |
| Garlic | 40 |
| Total: | 620 ARS (USD 5.87) |
I mostly just stocked up on wine at the Chinese supermarket, which for some reason has the best selection of cheaper bottles. I picked up something I thought was popcorn (one of my current addictions) but it turned out to be some other form of dried corn, which I later followed the recipe on the back to make a creamy soup.
| Carrefour | 911 ARS (USD 8.63) |
I normally don’t buy fruits or vegetables at the supermarket because the prices are too high, but I found some apples, navel oranges, and prepped salad significant discounts applied. This was the beginning of my “pasta week” where I decided to cook a different pasta dish every day, beginning with using up the leftover curry lentils that were hanging out in my fridge.
| Starbucks | 610 |
| Milk & Cheese (at Carrefour) | 190 |
| Total: | 800 ARS (USD 7.57) |
I picked up new cash from the Western Union at a much worse rate than my last transaction. For fun, I tried to spend all my old cash across the Starbucks (it is so nice to drink something other than supermarket coffee) and getting the cheese and milk I needed to make macaroni and cheese from scratch. Having exactly 210 pesos I went into the Carrefour and picked up 211.96 worth of goods, counting on them rounding down to be exact. However, at the register, the cheese scanned at a higher price. Fortunately, Carrefour has a policy that they refund you twice the difference between the label and the register.
| Atomo | 478 |
| Carrots, apples, bell pepper | 200 |
| Total | 678 ARS (USD 6.95) |
I picked up chorizo, white wine, and more spices at the Atomo to make a bolognese sauce and went to a fruteria in the neighborhood. I took a run at the park in the afternoon because the weather was fair.
| Suprema (boneless, skinless chicken breast) | 200 |
| Lettuce, cherry tomatoes, mandarin oranges | 100 |
| Total: | 300 ARS (USD 3.07) |
Tried out a new community shop where the meat counter and vegetable counter are separate. I was pleased with the prices and selection. It’s easier when the vegetables are all laid out with names and prices on them. After a week of pasta, I need a lot more salads in my life.
| Carrefour Hypermarket | 1420 |
| Apples, lettuce, bell pepper | 160 |
| Total: | 1580 ARS (USD 16.20) |
Needing to fancy up my salads, I got some cheese, sliced olives, and a seed mix on top of my regular random shopping. It turned out to be much more than I was expecting, but after three weeks, I needed to restock a bunch of shelf-stable foods.
Since I paid a whole month, but this post only covers three weeks, I’d have to prorate the rent to estimate my daily expenses. It looks like I am still living quite cheap at about 11.50 a day. I could definitely be living cheaper if I stayed in the last apartment, but this one is much nicer. I get to actually enjoy Netflix on a TV screen!
Running Total: 5071.67 USD (RMB 35510.8)
Daily Average: 19.58 USD (RMB 137.1)