Ciudad de loco

Hola Chicos,

I thought I would put together a quick list of some crazy things you probably didn't know about Buenos Aires.

• US dollars and Euros in cash are worth 40% more when exchanged on the street rather than in a bank

• It's completely normal to check all cash thoroughly for counterfeit notes
• You cannot (legally) change Argentine pesos into other currencies

• Argentinians keep their savings in US dollars (in cash) due to the 'instability' of the Argentine peso - hence the higher exchange rate on the street
• The beef is amazing (ok you probably knew that already)

• Porteños are very hesitant about foreign food (but why would you want to eat anything else when you can have beef and french fries?!)
• Porteños don't like spicy food
• Men greet other men with a kiss on the cheek
• Icecream is some of the best in the world
• The night before an election you cannot buy alcohol
• Dinner is at 10pm - eat any earlier and you are a tourist
• Dinner is casual, no need to suit up
• Clubs don't open until 11pm, but noone actually goes until after 2am
• During the entire summer most of the locals leave the city and head to the beach
• You can have pretty much anything delivered to your door, except a parcel from overseas
• Traffic is chaos, but people line up very politely for the bus

• Alcohol is crazy cheap, but nobody gets drunk

• There are lots of dogs (=lots of poop), so watch your step

• The monthly inflation is more than the total annual inflation of most countries
• Footpaths are always crumbling and broken - rather than being repaired, they are filled with rubble, rubbish, or, if you're really lucky, a plank of wood.
• There are hundreds of cats that live in the tombs at the cemetery and they feast on the flesh of the rotting corpses. Ok so that last part might not be proven just yet but it does seem likely.

• A cup of coffee costs somewhere between $8 and $46 pesos
• Bacon and eggs for breakfast.... Argentina says NO. Hashbrowns? You're dreaming. 

• 'Service'... Take a seat, wait an hour to see the menu, wait an hour to order, order, wait an hour for the food, eat, spend one hour trying to get the waiters attention to ask for the bill, wait an hour for the bill, pay then go home to bed seeing as it is now 3am
• A burger at McDonalds costs more than a burger at a gourmet burger bar

• Protests are a regular (usually multiple times a week) occurrence in the city centre and involve tens of thousands of people, very loud fireworks, drums and 'singing'
• Spanish is the main language spoken here, but sounds different to other forms of Spanish - we speak 'Cas-te-sha-no' not 'Cas-te-ya-no'
• You can call your best mate "Boludo" but also yell "BOLUDO!" at deranged taxi drivers
• Going to the park on a hot day, taking off your shirt or wearing a bikini and laying in the sun is completely normal - even when you are not remotely close to any form of waterbody
• A confitería would rather take your word that you will return to pay your bill later with change, than accept a $100 peso note
• The $100 peso note is the largest bill available and is worth about $10USD - makes for some large wads of cash
• Being late is the norm
• Beer comes in 1 litre bottles
• Everybody drinks mate

• Argentina has the greatest extremes of weather reaching between -45 to 45 degrees C

• The Teatro Colón is in the top 5 top rated theatres in the world for sound acoustics (and has nothing to do with the digestive system - Colón means Columbus)

• There is a 'Day of' for everything, for example, today is the day of the banker, so all banks are closed! There is also day of the supermarket employee, day of the doctor, day of the engineer. 
• For some reason lawyers have earned the title of 'Dr' here and get two entire months off during summer.

Thanks for reading

O and H