The reason we are writing this is because we feel that there are some more things we have to say about Argentina. We already wrote quite some general things in the Salta story as well as in the Buenos Aires story, but there is a lot more to saySince December 2001 a lot has been happening in this country. Lots of demonstrations, the end of the 1 to 1 exchange rate for the dollar, high inflation rates, people losing their jobs, et cetera.

Demonstrations are still part of daily life. I think that we run into one about every other day: busses honking their horns, protesting students or citizens banging on pans because they are hungry and are not able (any more) to fulfil their daily needs. Banks especially are popular places to assemble. A few days ago we witnessed a memorial parade commemorating the 30 demonstrators who had been killed during a demonstration four months ago (21-12-2001). The thing is that nobody knew what happened that day: panic, too much teargas, excessive police activity? It seems that nobody knows. One of the purposes of the walk was to attach some memorial stones in the sidewalk. And this really looks dramatic: a big tile with some bunches of flowers on it, a fractured motor helmet and a poem on the tile referring to the kid.

And then again we realise why there are so many protests: the inflation rate is really extremely high. For example, a hamburger at a well-known fast food restaurant costs 79 peso cents. The next Monday they display big new adverts saying that the same burger (probably a fresh one but with the same ingredients) costs 'only' 1 peso! This means they experience an inflation rate of more than 20% (in just one weekend). Another example: small cushions for travelling purpose: from 3,50 to 5 peso in 1 day Only when you experience the inflation yourselves (cause you want to buy the damn thing), you realise how absurd the situation is. By now we really do understand how frustrated the people must be here. We too have felt quite frustrated actually. The reason is that we wanted to buy a ticket to Los Angeles that was priced in dollars. If we wanted to pay by credit card, we had to pay an additional 10% (100 USD), so we decided to go to the automatic teller machine and use cash pesos. That was when the travel agency told us that they used a 3,43 exchange rate, while the bank just asks 3,30 if you buy dollars. So this option would also mean a big lost (at the ATM you get 3,20 for a dollar). That was when we decided to pay with cash dollars so the next problem that we had to solve was 'how to get these?'

Before December 2001, ATMs in Argentina spit out pesos and dollars, but because of the shortages the banks are not able to release dollars any more. As a result everybody is allowed to buy dollars at the counter with a maximum of 500 dollars a day. Finally we understand why we see those endlessly long lines at the banks every day: everybody wants to buy insurance for the future.

Well, we thought we would play it smart and get pesos at the ATM which we exchange at the bank and then we pay in dollars. Small disadvantage: the pesos we got when the banks were already closed, were worth a lot less the next day. This was because the exchange rate at the banks had raised to 3,50 in one night. The thing we were afraid of by then indeed happened: the travel agency exchange rate had raised to 3,60. Really ridiculous! At that time we already lost about 110 dollar (cause we went to the ATM the night before), so we decided to wait and stand in line with the other dollar buyers. After some time, a bank-employee walked up the line to tell everybody that there was no more money left for non-clients. Bad luck I guess! The next bank told us that we were allowed to buy dollars, but they used an exchange rate of 3,70 for foreigners! At the next one, we could exchange only 200 dollars and another one exchanges for Argentinean people only. And we haven't even talked about the banks that don't exchange dollars at all. I don't know how high the coverage rate of the banks in Argentina is, but I think it might even be below 1%, which means that a small run to the banks is already fatal. When we almost gave up and agreed upon the 'big lost in only one night', we succeeded in changing 500 dollars each. So luckily this effort to leave South America 'only' costs us an extra 111 dollars (strange amount;-). So think about the Argentinean people: what if they want to buy a certain expensive thing; they must go out of their minds time and time again. When you get your salary, immediately run to a shop to spend it (doesn't matter what you get, just get rid of the pesos as soon as possible)!