Unwelcome Buenos Aires

[A bit behind & playing catch-up again...]

Bus from El Chalten to El Calafate airport, then on to Buenos Aires.  We had heard so many good things!

At the airport, you can take a cab (expensive) or shuttle (expensive) or city bus (direct and $0.50 each).  Bus it is.

We went to the government-run information/tourist desk to ask about buses.  A surly young woman "assisted" us.

"Can you buy tickets to the bus here in the airport terminal?"
"No, you need to pay on the bus, exact change in coins only."
"What if we do not have coins?"
"Then you cannot get on the bus."  <Blank stare>
<Stunned silence>
"OK, um, well... we have Argentine money, just not coins.  Where can we get coins to use on the bus?"
"I do not know.  Maybe buy something."

We needed only one more coin, worth less than $0.15.  So we went to a kiosk, looking for change.  The kiosk employee said no change for the bus, you have to buy something.  OK... uh... TicTacs then (for $1.50 [Sarah: much to my delight, TicTacs in Argentina are usually less than 50 cents!]).  We give him a 10 peso bill.  He gives us a 5 peso bill in change.  Um no - we just told you we needed coins!  No, no coins.  Ugh, just give us our money back then.

Walking up and down the concourse we didn't see any better opportunities for change - everything was horribly expensive and not change-friendly.  The guidebook was correct that people in BA horde their almost value-less change like it's bullion.  Then Sarah had a good idea - we went back to the kiosk and handed the employee three 2-peso bills for the 5-peso TicTacs; the only possible change was a 1-peso coin, which we needed.  The young employee gave a subtle, wry smirk as he handed over the coin.  It was all I could do not to flip him off for being such a dick, but my "good ambassador" behaviour held on.

Off to the bus, which was quick and cheap and took us within a few blocks of our hostel - people on the bus even advised us which stop to take.  Ahh, like many cities, BA the city appeared to be better than the airport would suggest.

We got off the bus and put on our packs with rain covers.  There was no possibility of rain, but our guidebook said that a common scam was for someone to throw crap on your pack, then another person to point it out and offer to help clean it off, while pickpocketing you.  This seemed far-fetched - until we ran into a British couple earlier in our travels whom this had happened to, and they had then bought rain covers to protect their packs.  It was a Sunday and quiet, so it didn't seem like there was much risk of this happening.

About a block from our hostel, I was keeping an occasional lookout at a young guy behind us - then as we turned a corner, Sarah said, "you have a bunch of stuff on your pack."  Sure enough, I had a bunch of yellow-brown smelly crap all over my rain cover.  I looked at Sarah, and she had even more, which had dripped onto her jeans as well.  Clearly the dude following us had chucked some fluid at us then peeled off. Just then, a young woman said - in English - "hey, you have all this stuff on your packs."  We stared her off as we kept walking.  All this in full view of the guards at national government installation directly across the street.

Chad's pack cover

Sarah's pack cover

The sour-smelling crap washed off the covers easily enough.  But after a long travel day, we were wholly unimpressed with BA at this point.  Our hostel owner was very nice, but barely even recognized we had been the targets of garbage throwing - clearly it's a common occurrence for people heading to her hostel, and is "just one of those Latin American things."  Right.

Then she cheerily pointed out that from our San Telmo location, we were not to walk either SW or NW, because those were terrible areas even during the day and we would likely be robbed.

Why do people like this city?  So far it seemed like Paris 40 years after a zombie flu outbreak, but with none of the charm.

Fair warning: all the locals shopping at the grocery store, heading to school, etc. either carry their backpacks facing forward on their chests, or have rain covers for them.  As far as I can see, if you carry any sort of baggage more than a couple of blocks in Buenos Aires, it's more likely than not you will have crap thrown on you (or depending what area you're in, they might not waste time and steal from you directly instead).