Palermo... Oh No!!!

So, I read before I left that writing a travel blog, or travel in general is all about the preparation. So, so true as my first days experience tells me..... I truly thought myself prepared:

• Rosetta Stone Spanish for Latin America, I bought it and started it and crammed before I left
• Top things to do in Buenos Aires I looked them up
• Bought all the LP (lonely planet) apps
• I listened to all the tips people gave me, about safety and the like
• I listened to all the talk of black market exchange rates so went out with US dollars as advised

This it seems was not enough.... So this is where my story begins, and where unfamiliarity with a country seems to throw all common sense out of my mind.

After hours of meandering through beautiful leafy Palermo streets in the sunshine, past countless cafes, bistro's, restaurants and bars I am truly starved and decide to pick one and sit down to eat. Immediately realise I don't know how to ask for a table in Spanish. So the Rosetta stone hole appears... I can talk about running dogs, drinking and eating, girls and boys, cats sleeping, but can't ask to be seated and if I get the phrase book out will look like a complete tourist and will probably be instantly mugged (I am of course oblivious to my snow white legs that probably already gave it away). No fear though, the waitress happily confirms she could spot I was English a mile off... Sweet, good to know I fit in. I start to feel a bit more safe though, comfortable in the thought that the guy flaunting the iPad at the next table might get mugged before me, should such events occur!

So, seated I order a salad and water and am presented with a huge mass of food... I plough through this (I think for nearly an hour!) and finally on finishing ask for the bill. It turns up and I am faced with $71, this is where the fun begins....

Safety tip, don't leave with too much money on you... so I left with $40 USD. This being my first bill, the $ to me is obviously USD. Hmm... So I present my card, its cash only as are most places in Buenos Aires I now find out. Ok, so I now have to say I don't have cash for the bill so is there a cash point... Now having literally just walked every street in the neighbourhood and not seen a single bank or cash point I start to worry, but am given directions, oh no.. it's broken.... Ok, so I have more money back in the apartment.... (I am very fortunate that Argentinians are very very trusting and patient) so I head back to base (after minor panic attack when the door to the apartment won't open) and return cash in hand ready to pay.

So, it's only at this point that it actually dawns on me this is a bloody expensive salad for $71, and soon I find out that it is in fact Peso (shown as a $... Great!).. After 10 further minutes of painful back and forth with no translator we work out its actually USD13, which I could have paid in the first place... a valuable and embarrassing learning experience indeed.

So, my next move is preparing a little bit better to get through tomorrow without further humiliation....

 

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