Travel Weeks 59-63
Not much to say to summarize the month, just working and running. Despite a pretty bad diet, I was making a little bit of progress on my weight.
Days 406-437:
| Spices at Market | 340 |
| Carrefour | 1058 |
| 6 eggs + Vegetables | 260 |
| Total: | 1658 ARS (USD 12.13) |
I went a little crazy buying spices at the central market, picking up garam masala, tumeric, and Chinese five spice. Of course, I picked up chicken, yogurt, and lentils at the Carrefour for a four day Indian cooking bonanza (where I just added a new dish every day to the leftovers). I also discovered some really delicious chocolate covered peanuts.
| Rent | 10000 ARS |
| Total | USD 72.20 |
So, I had also swung by the Western Union on Wednesday giving me a new personal exchange rate of 138.5 pesos to the dollar, meaning the real cost of my rent was even lower this month.
| Vea | 1635 ARS |
| Total: | USD 11.81 |
I went a little wild at the Vea on Sunday, taking advantage of the ofertas to stock up white wine, olives, roasted peanuts and more. The discounts knocked almost 500 pesos off the bill, though as I review the receipt, there are items I don’t recognize: “Espuma PRESTOB”, “SOBRE NEOPLEX TSII”. Those don’t sound like anything I would have bought. Strange.
| Carrefour | 1140 ARS |
| Total: | USD 8.23 |
There was a several week period where all the supermarkets were offering whole chickens at an unbelievable price (under 100 pesos per kilo). So, I started thinking of roasting a chicken and potatoes, and after a few weeks of stewing it over, I decided to go for it. Unfortunately, the quality of the frozen chickens was a little crummy, so I bought a fresh chicken (at 215 pesos/kg). It’s about the same price because the “marinate” the chickens before freezing, which just means injecting them with water to make them weigh more. The chicken lasted me four meals, and the 3 kg bag of potatoes lasted the rest of the week. Ironically, it was the week of the heat wave and I kept telling people not to use the oven.
| Dozen eggs + Vegetables | 330+80 |
| Deli | 320 |
| Vea | 1285 |
| Total: | USD 14.53 |
Cabbages prices were back down to 50 pesos each, so it was time to shift back into a vegetable centered diet. I saw the price of the watermelons (35/kg) on the way out and turned around to pick up a pre-cut quarter watermelon. I’ve been eating a lot of watermelon, and it’s been a blast to watch the prices go down from 80 to 35 as we get into the season. At the same time, I had the strangest craving to make my own McDonald’s style breakfast sandwiches, so bought the appropriate cheap cheese and salami (instead of ham) at the deli. I also took advantage of the sale on Imperial beers and decided to make fresh meatballs from a mix of beef and chorizo for a spaghetti dinner on Sunday. So… not all vegetables.
| Carrefour Hypermarket | 2219 ARS |
| Total: | USD 16.02 |
More coffee (ground Starbucks in clearance for 478 and a new brand of beans for 426), more snacks (chocolate covered peanuts and chocolate covered raisins), and mozzarella to make pizzas (to finish off the salami and marinara sauce) after eating pasta & cabbage all week.
| Dozen Eggs & Vegetables | 350 ARS |
| Total: | USD 2.53 |
Mostly salad ingredients and a pair of grapefruit.
| Wine | 460 |
| Carrefour | 1778 |
| Total: | 2238 ARS (USD 16.16) |
Beginning of Christmas prep, sparkling wine (190), 100% orange juice (172), cheeses, crackers, salami, peanut butter, honey, and pork ribs. I still hadn’t used the Chinese five spice for anything, so some braised pork ribs sound like a perfect meal to tide me over until the big day.
| Vegetables | 120 |
| Famiglia Perin Gelado (1/2kg) | 500 |
| Total: | 620 ARS (USD 4.48) |
I wasn’t planning to do a lot of vegetables, but some lettuce and tomato for a salad and 4 ears of corn to throw on the grill.
| Butcher | 1970 |
| Bakery | 330 |
| Total: | 2300 ARS (USD 16.61) |
Shops were still open on Christmas Eve, but a lot of queuing was needed to get inside. I bought tenderloin, tapa de asado, and chorizo for the grill along with bacon (because I couldn’t find any at Carrefour). In the second bakery I went to, I found the little cookies I like and grabbed a Christmas pudding stuffed with fruits and nuts.
| Vea | 288 ARS |
| Total: | USD 2.08 |
When was it I accidentally bought two bottles of balsamic vinegar? Well, I finished both of them off this week without realizing the danger, and with a lot of salad leftover, I needed to run to the store. I grabbed some more eggs too, a not-quite-diet coke, a baguette, and a single potato as well. I made choripan with some of the left over grilled chorizo, which were so good with sauerkraut and cheese and the fresh potato chips I made.
| Watermelon and salad | 200 ARS |
| Total: | USD 1.44 |
As I am finishing off the remnants of all the barbecue and Christmas junkfood, I needed to supplement my diet with watery foods, like lettuce, cucumber and watermelon.
| A pint of APA | 200 ARS |
| Total: | USD 1.44 |
I was expecting to be able to go out for a couple pints and maybe a burger and fries or something for New Years Eve, but everything was closed. Not because of Covid, but because of the holiday. Only one bar on the bar street was open, and they closed at 8pm. I’m still expecting beer prices to be 120-160 pesos (non Happy Hour), so 190 was a bit of a shock. Since I wasn’t planning to cook and I was planning on starting a diet in January, I didn’t have any food in the house.The supermarkets were also closed (since what time, I’m not sure) and no food was available on the food delivery app. It was a rather hungry New Year’s Eve for me as I lay in bed and watched movies from 9pm onward.
Just under $180 for the month, not bad considering how much I drank and how crazy I went for Christmas. Though slightly more than November, December is a day longer. I anticipate January to be very cheap.
Running Total: 6337.27 USD (RMB 41,401.4)
Daily Average: 14.50 USD (RMB 94.7)