Category: Travel

Travel Week 13

It was a week of canceled plans and last minute decisions. I spent a couple days in Palermo (Buenos Aires) with the intention of going out to one of the small cities in the province of Buenos Aires (which is different than the federally administered city of the same name), but my contacts bailed on me and I popped into Rosario for a couple nights before hitting what is possibly my final destination as I transition from backpacker to digital nomad–Cordoba

Day 85:

Palermo is a place of parks and parties and I finally made it to see some of the parks, joining a group of Dutch girls on a walk through a section of the district I had never been to. Of course, as a gentleman I shared the cab ride back to the hostel in order to subsidize it for them and not because I was hungry and wanting to cook up some sausages and make a salad. There was a lazy afternoon of sipping cheap, sugary cocktails and I later joined a group from the hostel going out to Recoletta where some cultural event involved a stage and music and dancing.

Day 86:

I finally got some money through Western Union, and even after the 25 USD service fee (which Europeans don’t pay), the exchange rate was phenomenal. Moving forward, every 76.07 pesos is equal to 1 US dollar. The healthy eating (to offset the alcohol intake) continued with a visit to a salad bar (inside a Chinese run convenience store) to complement the left over lettuce, carrot, and bell pepper I needed to finish off before heading to the bus station. My old hostel in Rosario had room for me but was surprisingly lively with a large group of Brazilians and a couple of French Pepe La Pew types. Of course, I had to hit the Gintoneria for two quick drinks before splurging on the “world’s best empanadas.” I’m still not sure about that, but they are darn good and I got a wide range of flavors. I meant to have left overs, but I ended up giving some away and overeating the others.

Day 87:

Since breakfast is included with the hostel, lunch ended up being ice cream. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon enjoying the sun on the beach before rushing back to the hostel to shower, change, and hit happy at Gintoneria again, but this time with the hostel owner who is its greatest promoter. I was able to excuse myself after a pair of drinks in order to get back to the hostel to cook up a pair of steaks for dinner before going out for a beer on the main bar street of town in a cheesy German themed beer hall, which was ridiculously cheap (though my date paid the bill).

Day 88:

Like a big shot, I took a cab the 2.5 km to the bus terminal because I didn’t want to be drenched in sweat before spending the entire afternoon on the bus, which provided a snack and streaming video through the Wi-Fi connection. I returned to a hostel I had tried before to find the quiet, charming old house full of people, whom I joined to go to the climbing wall (a free perk of the hostel), but left early when it occurred to me that I had laid out cash on my bed and forgot to put it back in my wallet. It was still there. While eagerly awaiting the schedule asado that night, I enjoyed some appetizers, but when the guy in charge of the barbecue showed up with charcoal after 10pm, I realized I wouldn’t be eating until midnight. I ultimately bailed on the barbecue and the all night partying and decided I hated everyone when I got only 2 hours of sleep anyways.

Day 89:

The upshot of my miserable night is I matched a bunch of people on Tinder and was able to work out a lunch date and some drinks in the evening.

Day 90:

Though I started the trip with two pens (old pens from who knows how long ago) and a spiral notebook mainly full of research notes, I ended up misplacing them over Christmas. Hopefully, no one can read my handwriting and steal my ideas, but I finally got around to buying some cheap notebooks for designing my algorithm and jotting down vocabulary when reading. The day was long and my spirits were low, but a short jog and arranging last minute to meet up with an expat for drinks perked me back up.

Day 91:

Though I am aiming for an extended stay in an Airbnb where I can have my own space, the temptation of another hostel with a swimming pool was too much to pass by for the days leading up to Chinese New Years. Yes, I should be working, but CNY is the last excuse for holiday revelry. Before I even checked out, I was called out unexpectedly to buy someone breakfast… why it had to be at Starbucks, I don’t know. In the evening, I hit up the Mundo Lingo language exchange and enjoyed some tropical drinks while being gregarious.

Running Total: 2645.88 USD (RMB 18354.38)
Daily Average: 29.07 USD (RMB 201.6)

Day 57:

I thought I was going to a vegetarian buffet, and went a little nuts in dishing up some hearty food (nearly a kilogram altogether). Despite that, I still popped into a bakery for some cookies to accompany my afternoon coffee. In order to prepare for a late night clubbing with a group from the hostel, I picked up a bottle of vodka (paying an extra 7 pesos to the the Sky brand with an anti-trump message on the bottle). The figures in parentheses were payback.

Day 58:

After a pretty brutal hangover only waffles and bacon could fix, I had to buy a new tube of toothpaste because mine had gone missing. Who steals toothpaste? It’s quite expensive here (as in the United States), but I remember it being cheap in the UK for some reason. Apparently, I had gone around promising everyone to cook dinner, so in the evening I spent a few hours tracking down ingredients to make some fajitas. It’s always a pain to cook in a new country when you don’t know if the things you need are even available. I fed about six people with my dinner and I think that settled the karmic debt.

Day 59:

With Christmas coming up, it was time to move to a more central hostel to rendezvous with some other backpackers I had met (in Cordoba). I had to buy a small bottle of drink to bring the leftover vodka with me. I wasn’t too impressed with the new hostel, and my “friends” were busy with their own things, so I found the only craft beer bar in microcentral (technically, Montserrat) which is devoid of life on weekends and cooked a sad plate of ravioli from the Carrefour Express (don’t trust the discount pasta!). It was a fun evening as I stumbled upon a free dance lesson in the hostel.

Day 60:

An insane day of walking the San Telmo market and day drinking, which should have stopped with the day drinking. I really regret going back out to Palermo for clubbing, especially when once again it just involved stopping at a series of increasingly expensive bars, which was completely unnecessary as I had already chugged the remained of the vodka with an energy drink and just wanted to dance. I didn’t drink at the first bar, but left a tip for the waitress because these Germans and Swiss people are cheap (in a different way from me).

Day 61:

I finished off the other half of the unspectacular ravioli in the morning before heading the a third hostel for the real Christmas action. I have to write down the key deposit as an expense because I never got it back (there was chaos on the day I left with power outage and no water). It was a quiet recovery day and started to meet a range of people outside my predetermined group of “friends” who were feeling less and less like friends.

Apparently the taxi from the day before passed me a bad note (protip never sit in the front seat) and I had passed it on to a German who wanted to buy a tab on her card. I had to step up and eat the cost even though the whole sequence of events was a group activity and I had suggested taking a bus in the first place (5 minutes slower than a taxi, one third the price, no fraudsters).

Day 62:

Having talked to a lot of people in the hostel on the previous night and confirming that the hostel was not taking an active role in organizing anything for Christmas Eve or Christmas, I took the initiative to put together a barbecue. Originally estimating definitive interest from about 10 people (with my “friend” group expressly choosing to do their own thing), I estimated 300 pesos a head should cover all the expenses. By the time the food was ready, I squeezed in 20 people (including myself). It was not quite enough food, but the people were satisfied. Having learned my lessons of going clubbing in Palermo, I stayed at the hostel enjoying oh so much wine and having an early night of going to bed at 4am.

Day 63:

I was happy with my decision to “stay in,” but did not enjoy waking up at 6 as the club goers filtered back into the hostel. It was a very quiet day as everyone slept and repeated attempts to nap did nothing to ameliorate the 2 hours of sleep I got. I enjoyed the hostel breakfast and waited around to crack open the champagne for mimosas. The hostel had their regular “free tango lessons” night (which was good) and a group of us went out to Christmas dinner afterwards. I was a bit suspicious of the Indian restaurant, but it turned out to be reasonable value for money. The tango club which we wanted to go to afterwards was closed for Christmas and I took it as a miracle and an excuse to go to bed early.

The barbecue creates a bit of a dilemma for my bookkeeping as I made a profit on it. To make things easier, I’m just not counting it. Maybe I should make a habit of it as a side hustle.

This ends the Argentinian leg of my travels, as I head to Uruguay tomorrow. I do pay a bit of money to top up my phone credit, but since that was to activate international roaming in Uruguay, I can fold that into my Uruguayan costs.

Update: I originally forgot to add in 4.36 of credit card fees for international processing (from the monthly credit card bill), so that ups the daily average by 6 cents.

Running Total: 10741.9 RMB (USD 1539.84)
Daily Average: 170.5 RMB (USD 24.44)

Day 50:

I joined a group of the volunteers from the hostel to beat the heat with a trip to the city owned pool, which was quite nice and an interesting experience with a brief medical check of your feet to be permitted in. I should have failed with my gross looking feet, but the doctors didn’t really care that much. In the evening, I grabbed one beer at a huge (but empty) beer garden before buying 2-for-1 at a bar where a language exchange (Spanish & Cervezas) was happening. I didn’t practice much Spanish, but on my way back to the hostel bumped into a group of volunteers going to a “jazz festival.”

Day 51:

I learned a valuable lesson about reading the menu carefully when I ordered a meat dish “a la mostaza” and was surprised to find it completely covered in a mustard sauce. My first real food fail in Argentina, where I’ve really gotten into the groove of finding good lunches. I changed to a third hostel in Cordoba, a much smaller and quieter place to stay in a different part of town. Too lazy to go out clubbing, I drank some wine in the living room and plugged my harddrive into the TV to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Day 52:

It had been a couple days since I had made my own cup of coffee, but I finally followed a tip from a local to buy some gourmet beans at a cafe in the bohemian part of town, which hosts an artisans market on weekends. I was feeling more up to the going out at night, but ultimately just settled on a quiet beer at a craft brewery closer to my hostel than in the clubbing district since I was alone and there wasn’t anyone around the hostel to put a group together. When I got back, there were a few people around and I went across the street for a “nightcap.” It was a good thing that I bailed on “partying” because the light drizzle of rain turned into a full on storm.

Day 53:

Having been told multiple times that choripan (sausage sandwich) is a must-eat food of Cordoba, I finally decided to trek around the Sarmiento park to find one. I was shocked by the price, but it was pretty good. Having checked out of the hostel, I killed sometime in a Starbucks, which was surprisingly empty and proves just how different the daily rhythms are in Argentina as opposed to other places. A Sunday afternoon in any given Starbucks should be nearly impossible to find a seat. Before heading off to the bus terminal to return to Buenos Aires, I squeezed in a brief date with a friend to continue the daily drinking. Of course, there was also wine on the bus because I “splurged” on an executive class ticket.

Day 54:

Back in Buenos Aires for Star Wars and Christmas! I am staying in the swanky part of town–Palermo–which I hadn’t even visited the last time I was in Bs As. After dropping my stuff at the hostel, I rushed to the Cinemark to buy my ticket, which I was unable to procure online because I don’t have an Argentinian ID. I grabbed a healthy lunch to compensate for the bloating from a greasy Sunday and spent most of the day trying to pick up a wire transfer because I was dangerously low on cash. I went out with a couple backpackers in the hostel to a tapas place for some (expensive) happy hour beers and bought a round of cheaper lagers at a different bar. (Palermo is the party district of Buenos Aires and there are so many bars and clubs everywhere).

Day 55:

I decided to take a day trip to Tigre with two Brazilian women I had met at the hostel the night before. Tigre is about an hour away from Buenos Aires and a popular weekend destination where the top thing to do is take a boat tour around the confluence of rivers where people have restaurants, homes, and hotels only accessible by water. It was quite interesting. In the evening, I purchased a glass bottle of beer in the supermarket for the first time and figured out the deposit system. They charge an extra 25 pesos unless you exchange an empty. Fortunately, I had held on to an empty bottle from the late night drinks the night before. The beer was my “payment in kind” for the backpacker I met in the common space who shared some bread, cheese, olives, and tomatoes with me for my dinner.

Day 56:

Wednesday is discount museum day, but the Museum of Latin American Arts still costs quite a lot if you aren’t a student. I covered the lunch of my new friend, who spent the next two days paying me back (as will be documented for accounting purposes). The cucumber and lemon were to bulk up a couscous that said friend was sharing with me for dinner. Though I took a walk through the bar district in search of a happy hour promotion, I ultimately decided not to drink any alcohol since I had to stay up until 3:30 am to watch the new Star Wars. The theater was not sold out, but there was a decent crowd of young Argentinians almost all dressed with various Star Wars related T-shirts.

Running Total: 9675.4 RMB (USD 1380.88)
Daily Average: 172.78 RMB (USD 24.66)

Day 43:

It’s kind of insane how expensive it was to visit some wineries around Mendoza independently, especially consider the “bike and wine” package tour only cost about 800. That was a quite a boozy day, but an amazing experience to sample some very nice wines in the beautiful patios of the various bodegas.

Day 44:

It probably wasn’t necessary to stay out in Maipu for the two nights, especially as the otherwise lovely homestay-style hostel was devoid of guests. I guess it was nice to have a de facto private room for two nights, but it was good to move back into town for two nights to enjoy the weekend, which started out right with a hostel that does lots of events every night.

Day 45:

It turns out that other than the BBQ, the centrally located hostel was rather boring. Still stuffed from gorging on meat the previous night, I adjusted my karma with a light salad and ultimately bored by the evening, I found myself hanging out at a corner kiosk/hot dog stand where one could drink a beer for less than the hostel was charging. I booked an excursion to visit the “high mountains” for the next day and as that was leaving early, I “check out” before going to bed.

Day 46:

Though I would have liked to do some proper hiking around Aconcagua park, the mountain tour turned out to be a fairly decent deal (especially as transportation to the park is tricky and a one day hiking permit costs 1500 ARS). With the tour, we got to walk around a bit of the park, up to the first view point and visit a couple other sites as well.

Alfajor(es) are a kind of Argentinian cookie that most resembles a Little Debbie snack cake because the defining feature is a filling between the two cookie/cake layers and dipped in chocolate (sometimes).

Day 47:

It was a rough overnight journey from Mendoza to Cordoba on a “semicama” bus, which stopped several times in the middle of the night to exchange roughly 20 passengers each time. The bus would be better described as a semi-seat (than a semi-bed) because the seats barely leaned back. Nevertheless, I hit the ground running in Cordoba meeting people in the hostel and going on one of the “free” walking tours. In the evening, I bought some Fernet (an italian herbal liquor) and Coca-cola to drink like the locals on the hostel rooftop.

Day 48:

There was a heat wave in Cordoba (and other parts, I understand), but that did not deter me from running some errands in the morning. It is crazy how difficult it is to add credit to my phone, visiting multiple shops of the mobile operator and being repeatedly told to go to a kiosk where they charge a fee on top. Also feeling a bit rough around the temples, I stumbled upon a hair cut academy where I rolled the dice on a super cheap hair cut by volunteering myself to the hair stylist in training. When the heat started to subside, I took a short jog to the Sarmiento Park and returned in time to grab some pasta one of my roommates cooked up.

Day 49:

Though I liked the hostel alright, it was pretty hot inside with poor internet, so I decided to make a loop around town trying out a couple of different hostels (in case I want to return for a few weeks). The new hostel was a little bit more pricey, but well rated on Hostel World, and I needed to pay with a credit card to avoid the 21% VAT. I sprung for lunch at a fairly fancy Italian restaurant and moved over to the other hostel. In the evening, I tried out a craft beer place before exploring the part of town with a night life. Dinner was a variety of empenadas and some food that I need to figure out the name of because it was absolutely delicious.

This week was a bit more expensive with two full days of doing a proper tourist itinerary and stocking up on some supplies.

Running Total: 8337.6 RMB (USD 1195.77)
Daily Average: 170.2 RMB (USD 24.40)

Day 36:

For Thanksgiving, I splurged on a fancy steakhouse. I was considering trying to go all out on a barbecue for two on my own, but I did really enjoy the massive steak. Of course, other than the free breakfast at the hostel, I starved myself all day so I could really dig in.

Day 37:

I really can’t tell the differences between how empanadas are prepared in different parts of Argentina, but they assure me that they are very different. The ice cream was a bit expensive, but it came highly recommended as a local gourmet, artisanal shop. After a nearly 3 week break from alcohol, I was excited to hit up a happy hour again and try some craft beers. They weren’t anything too special.

Day 38:

Though otherwise a nice hostel in Tucuman, they had a strange policy of not allowing you to stay in the hostel after you check out. So I had to spend the day waiting for my night bus around town. I didn’t really want an ice cream at Burger King, but ultimately it was a place I could plug my electronics in and have an internet connection. I never got around to trying the panchoque, which is a a type of battered hot dog that I’ve only seen in Tucuman. I was well fed on the my executive service bus.

Day 39:

Arrived in Mendoza and immediately appreciated the city layout with shady streets and quiet, relaxed vibe.

Day 40:

Though I set out to find a cheap lunch, I ultimately sprang for a bbq set lunch which included five types of meat. Enough food to last me two days.

Day 41:

Still absolutely stuffed from the meat feast, I found a “healthy deli” and fixed up a salad for my lunch (plus a chicken breast and a quiche). I was staying with a couch surfer in the evening, which made for a interesting experience since he didn’t speak English.

Day 42:

Had some hours to kill after my couchsurfing host needed to go to work, but before I could take a bus out to Maipu where I was going to stay for two nights near the vineyards. I finally had a pancho (hot dog) and it was a nice experience. I wouldn’t make a habit of it, but I filled up for the day on the giant sized hot dog and french fries.

Considering that I splurged twice on grilled meat, I was expecting my spending to have a slight uptick, but really even the fancy food in Argentina is pretty cheap. The only real costs are the transportation from city to city, so I do need to just slow down and spend at least a week in each location. Though, never fear, the wine tour on day 43 is going to really add up.

Running Total: 6822.5 RMB (USD 969.75)
Daily Average: 162.44 RMB (USD 23.09)

Day 29:

So I actually did a bit of tourism with a visit to the MAAM, which hosts some mummies of sacrificed children (from the outskirts of the Incan empire). Coffee is a tricky thing to source in Argentina as their default is for either instant coffee or coffee grinds with sugar premixed. I bought a small package of drinkable coffee to tide me over until I gain track down a decent roaster in Buenos Aires. The deserty, northwestern region of Argentina had a small surprise for me with its local specialties–tamales, which are similar enough to the ones in Mexico. The empanadas are reportedly special, but I really can’t tell the difference and there is something else called a humita that I didn’t try at the little cafe where I sampled those for dinner.

Day 30:

It was a busy day of running errands around town. I realized that my eyes were probably in a constant state of agitation because my contacts were several months overdue for changing. I don’t understand how I forgot to restock contact lenses when I was in Beijing in June. As it is, the Irish imported lenses in Argentina are both limited in selection (30-day only) and super expensive. Meanwhile, the 30 day tourist package on my SIM card was about to expire and I needed to figure out how (much) to recharge and what packages were available for continued internet data service. Finally, as I was running low on cash, I tried out Xoom, a Paypal service for online remittances to send myself money. Even after the service fee, I got a better rate on my money than the previous exchange at the National Bank of Argentina in the airport.

Day 31:

It was pretty much a rest day with a bit of a splurge on a set meal at a cafe on the central plaza. It’s kind of a bummer that the set lunches sometimes don’t include a drink, in which case one is obliged to spend an extra 60-80 pesos on a bottle of water. This cafe snuck in a table cover charge, which I am aware of as a common thing in Argentina, but have generally avoided by sticking to the cheap places (which prominently display in the window: “No cover charge”).

Day 32:

Another slow day, where I found a super cheap restaurant with an extensive selection of “set meals.” The fun thing is that I quickly realized that all the bife de … and milanese de … where indicating various parts of the animal that don’t necessarily sell so well (hence being so cheap). I was quite happy with my beef tongue, but maybe one day I’ll dare to eat a heart steak.

Day 33:

After a long, but restful five days in Salta, I moved on to a small town in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, which is a geological feature that is basically just a desert canyon. The town is tiny and completely driven by the tourism industry with a surprising Southeast Asia backpacker scene vibe to it all. I finally got around to trying an Argentinian “tortilla” which is neither like the Spanish omelette or the Mexican wrap, but is like a cross between a quesadilla and an empanada grilled on charcoal.

Day 34:

After a morning hike, I returned to the town for a hearty lunch of excellent value near the bus station. Unfortunately, there was live music being performed and as I was basically the only customer, I felt obligated to stuff some money into the envelopes provided for that purpose. A German woman living at the hostel (as a volunteer) with her two toddlers cooked dinner en mass. It was a nice group dinner, and given the price per head over nearly 20 diners, probably not a bad way to scrape together a bit of money while traveling.

Day 35:

I was planning to stop in San Salvador de Jujuy for a night before moving on to San Miguel de Tucuman, but when I reached the terminal 6km out of town, I decided it might be better to just hop on the bus that left in 20 minutes rather than drag myself into town for 24 hours and repeat the process. The hostel I booked in Tucuman actually has the proper tax rebate/discount for paying with a foreign credit card (it would have been 400 pesos a night otherwise). A fugazzeta is a type of pizza with grilled onions.

The missing credit card transactions have reemerged on my account along with a roughly 3% foreign currency conversion fee per transaction. That’s really nice of Wells Fargo to wait a month before retroactively adding those fees into my bill (about an extra 4.55 so far that hasn’t been included in my calculations). If I had known that was the case, I would have been more inclined to spend cash.

Running Total: 5919 RMB (USD 841.65)
Daily Average: 169.11 RMB (USD 24.05)

Day 22:

I stopped in San Ignacio to visit the ruins of an old Jesuit mission, apparently one of the most complete in South America. Though very atmospheric, the visit was a bit underwhelming. I was very impressed by the mid century resort style hostel, where I was “accidentally” upgraded into a private room due to a miscommunication when checking in and fortunately managed to get away with the dorm bed price.

Day 23:

The purpose of visiting Puerto Iguazu was to see the “Niagra Falls of South America,” and they were well worth the admission price. I’m not sure I could have been convinced to shell out an additional 2,500 for a boat ride into the waterfalls and there was plenty of walking trails (all handicap accessible) around the almost Disney Land type park. Dinner was a very satisfying barbecue with a group of backpackers from the hostel at an outside, market-adjacent Brazilian style place. I feel we got a bit shorted on the sides, though the mountain of meat on the grill was just enough to fill everyone up.

Day 24:

Though I had a whole other day to kill in Puerto Iguazu and you can get 50% off admission on the second subsequent day, I didn’t think it was worth going a second day when I wasn’t going to follow the trail to the swimming hole or shell out for the value-added excursions. I had a nice chill day around town, instead.

Day 25:

I originally booked three nights at the Catedral Hostel in Corrientes, but realizing that buses do not depart every night, I managed to shorten my stay a day without eating more than a dollar on the HostelWorld fee. It was a bit hard to find good food because a lot of things close down on Sundays, but it was a very scenic McDonalds on one of the plazas and I ate in a well regarded resto-bar (perhaps I should have taken advantage of the 2-for-1 pizzas on Sundays, but as it was the waiter didn’t want me to order the milanesa because it was for more than one person). Chipa M’boca is sort of a dough wrapped around a stick and barbecued; relleno means they filled the tube with ham and cheese.

Day 26:

I took a day trip to sister city Resistencia, but because it was a national holiday (Day of National Unity), the several worthwhile museums were all closed, so it amounted to walking around in the blazing sun “enjoying” some of the myriads of sculptures around town and a very nice (though not so big) salad in a cafe (No Me Olvides). I spent the late afternoon on the beach in Corrientes (one of five public beaches open during the summer) and somehow suffered an intense allergic reaction with a runny nose and extreme discomfort in my right eye. It might be the beaches as the trip to the beach in Rosario also lead me to stick with glasses for a couple days while the redness and agitation in my right eye receded. One funny thing about the near worthless Argentinian currency is that the pharmacy couldn’t be bothered making change for the 94.something peso pack of pills so they gave me a band-aid instead. (I’ve also seen grocery stores giving handfuls of candies instead of small change).

Day 27:

In a small and popular Italian style bakery and cafe (Martha de Bianchetti), I managed to order an espresso (two actually) and both a basket of chipacitos (little cheese bread balls) and an array of little gourmet cookies. It was both excellent and a success in navigating in Spanish.

Day 28:

The bus was scheduled to arrive at 10:30 am, but didn’t reach Salta until nearly 5 pm. I’m lucky I was traveling “business” class and they handed out packs of uninspired snacks for dinner and breakfast. I don’t mind tipping the guys who load and unload your luggage, but sometimes they are a little aggressive with the request for “propina” (tip). I was mildly disappointed that the hostel did not organize a barbecue as advertised in their online description, and though I could have easily gotten some food from the supermarket to cook (like everyone else in the hostel), I couldn’t muster up an appetite.

So, two of my credit card transactions, namely the entrance ticket at Iguazu and the bus ticket from Corrientes to Salta are not showing up on my credit card activity, so I might be able to just keep traveling through Argentina, putting everything on my card and having Wells Fargo pay for it. Does that make me a Robin Hood or a Frank Abagnale?

Running Total: 5024.8 RMB (USD 714.85)
Daily Average: 179.46 RMB (USD 25.53)