ToledoGuy
07-07-05, 02:33
My overall experience in Buenos Aires was positive, very positive. The chicas were hot (see my travel report and a few reviews on individuals if you wish) People were generally friendly. Many expressed concerns with George Bush and United States foreign policy, but they did so in a dignified and polite way. Many are politely furious at the World Bank and IMF. But they understand that the average tourist is not a government representative, and, overall, they were kind, interested in me, and thoughtful. Still, I did have a few problems in the town, so I made the following list that might be helpful to fellow newbies. On reflection, I know for a fact that I would have had a lot more problems if I had not benefited from the great advice on this website by people like Moondog, D. Rulz, and Dickhead.
Rip-offs:
1. The fare was 5 pesos, so I gave the driver a 10 and asked for 4 pesos in return. He had been a friendly driver. He asked for un peso while waving a rubber-banded stash of 5-peso notes. I gave him the coin, and he gave me a 5-peso-note. I was immediately suspicious of the clean note and looked at it. He said "Gracias" enthusiastically. I stuffed it in my wallet. Later I tried to buy a drink at New Port, and it was embarrassing to hear that I was trying to pass falso money. OK, it's just a couple of bucks, or less. Still. COUNTERFEIT.
2. Restaurante el Verde, at Reconquista 878 (this place looks like a pub, near Jaz Boliche): They charged me 25 pesos for ½ bottle of wine, that was not spectacular. I asked for the list of prices after I got the bill. There was no list. Clearly I should have been charged from 9 to 15 pesos. OK, it's not a lot of money, but I hate the sense of being cheated. The chica at the cash register was cold as ice: "vino muy bueno" and back to her cell phone. The moral is to get the price list in advance.
3. The waitress (not the nice one who actually served me) at New Port gives me the bill and says "diez why ocho". The bill clearly says 16. I point that out. Everyone laughs, except me. I had to put my glasses on. Why would someone try to cheat someone out of 2 pesos?
4. Near the end of Florida where the park starts, there are always 3 or 4 girls who are unusually pushy in getting you to go into a lower-level bar. They promised that the drink would be 10 pesos and that interesting things would happen. I tried it once. Three girls and I sit down in a little semi-circle, otherwise alone in a gaudily decorated bar. They insist that I had agreed to buy them drinks at 30 pesos each. I refuse to order, get up to leave, and get yelled at in apparent obscenities. Later in the week I am approached by two other girls in succession, working the same gig in the same place. After saying no politely twice, I say no with emphasis. Out of nowhere, some big chico starts to spit at the girl: huge torrents of saliva. She screams and tries to protect her face from more spit. Maybe the guy has a mouthful of 7-up all set to release. I don't know what is going on, but my best guess is that he was hired to keep the chicas away from potential customers in the legitimate stores. It is only the guess of a newbie.
5. I personally hate it when someone insists on a tip for opening a cab door. The guys at Boliche Jaz kept the cab door open against my wishes and practically insisted on a tip. Finally I had to say no (one time I said mañana)
6. Did the bartender at Club Jaz (a place I otherwise like) cheat me or not? I just do not know. Do you ever have that feeling? I give him a 100-peso bill to pay the 30-peso fee for pulling chica #1. My best recollection is that he gives me a 50 and a 20 for change. A little later, after much negotiation with chicas, I give the bartender what I think is a 50 to pull chica #2. There is a delay. Then the bartender returns with a 20 and asks for 10 more. I say "cinquenta, cinquenta". I look in my wallet and there are no 50s. But, maybe he did not give me a 50 in change for pulling the first chica. I give in, and I give him the extra 10. Did I get cheated? I just do not know. The moral is to treat every transaction in chica-land as a possible opportunity to get cheated. I sincerely hope that I am not unjustly accusing anyone. Next time: I will be vigilant.
7. The whole cell phone system is a rip-off. Both the caller and the called pay high rates per minute. I didn't use the phone much, but I went through 50 pesos of phone card minutes. For twenty minutes of talking to someone on a cell phone from a regular phone, you could have bought a steak dinner. A consequence of this is that three different chicas tried to use my apartment phone for calls, as opposed to using their own phones. They were annoyed to learn that my apartment phone could not ring cell phones unless a phone card was used.
Anti-Americanism / Rudeness.
1. At a currency conversion place on Florida, a young chico took my dollars and gave them to another young chico, who made a nice little pile of pesos. They were slow as can be in doing so, but there was no problem so far. My pesos sat there on the counter while I looked at them through the bars in front of me. Other customers were served. They offered currency, and received currency in return. I stood and waited. No one made eye contact with me. I went to another window and asked for help. The young chico refused eye contact and ignored me. After quite a long wait, I blocked other customers' access. People in line looked at me like a crazy person. Trying to keep some semblance of cool, I pointed to my pesos sitting on the counter, just out of reach. Finally, with the hint of a smile, but no eye contact, the original chico gave me my pesos. I swear I did nothing to elicit this kind of treatment.
2. One night, the McDonald's at Corrientes and Pelligrini (at the Obelisk) was taken over by about 50 leather-jacketed, bearded young men who made a mess of the place, beat on drums, gave interviews to television reporters, restricted access to the door, and waved anti-American and anti-imperialism flags. I stood and watched impassively, but one particularly creepy little guy approached me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. He circled me, like I was one of the statues out there on Avenida de Julio. Hey, I hate McDonald's too. But I found myself being a little angry at these self-righteous little punks (and me a liberal, and proud of it)
The little incidents above did not come close to spoiling my good times in Buenos Aires. Generally, the restaurants and bars bent over backwards to be accurate and fair. So many receipts! Small tips for good service were clearly appreciated. People were interested in America despite their hard times economically. So the above comments have to be taken in context. Things could have been much worse. I had no trouble with pickpockets, and chicas clearly could have stolen my watch or loose pesos but did not. However, I thought the incidents above were worth noting for the newbie. The above constitute a small addition to all the great advice given on the site.
Rip-offs:
1. The fare was 5 pesos, so I gave the driver a 10 and asked for 4 pesos in return. He had been a friendly driver. He asked for un peso while waving a rubber-banded stash of 5-peso notes. I gave him the coin, and he gave me a 5-peso-note. I was immediately suspicious of the clean note and looked at it. He said "Gracias" enthusiastically. I stuffed it in my wallet. Later I tried to buy a drink at New Port, and it was embarrassing to hear that I was trying to pass falso money. OK, it's just a couple of bucks, or less. Still. COUNTERFEIT.
2. Restaurante el Verde, at Reconquista 878 (this place looks like a pub, near Jaz Boliche): They charged me 25 pesos for ½ bottle of wine, that was not spectacular. I asked for the list of prices after I got the bill. There was no list. Clearly I should have been charged from 9 to 15 pesos. OK, it's not a lot of money, but I hate the sense of being cheated. The chica at the cash register was cold as ice: "vino muy bueno" and back to her cell phone. The moral is to get the price list in advance.
3. The waitress (not the nice one who actually served me) at New Port gives me the bill and says "diez why ocho". The bill clearly says 16. I point that out. Everyone laughs, except me. I had to put my glasses on. Why would someone try to cheat someone out of 2 pesos?
4. Near the end of Florida where the park starts, there are always 3 or 4 girls who are unusually pushy in getting you to go into a lower-level bar. They promised that the drink would be 10 pesos and that interesting things would happen. I tried it once. Three girls and I sit down in a little semi-circle, otherwise alone in a gaudily decorated bar. They insist that I had agreed to buy them drinks at 30 pesos each. I refuse to order, get up to leave, and get yelled at in apparent obscenities. Later in the week I am approached by two other girls in succession, working the same gig in the same place. After saying no politely twice, I say no with emphasis. Out of nowhere, some big chico starts to spit at the girl: huge torrents of saliva. She screams and tries to protect her face from more spit. Maybe the guy has a mouthful of 7-up all set to release. I don't know what is going on, but my best guess is that he was hired to keep the chicas away from potential customers in the legitimate stores. It is only the guess of a newbie.
5. I personally hate it when someone insists on a tip for opening a cab door. The guys at Boliche Jaz kept the cab door open against my wishes and practically insisted on a tip. Finally I had to say no (one time I said mañana)
6. Did the bartender at Club Jaz (a place I otherwise like) cheat me or not? I just do not know. Do you ever have that feeling? I give him a 100-peso bill to pay the 30-peso fee for pulling chica #1. My best recollection is that he gives me a 50 and a 20 for change. A little later, after much negotiation with chicas, I give the bartender what I think is a 50 to pull chica #2. There is a delay. Then the bartender returns with a 20 and asks for 10 more. I say "cinquenta, cinquenta". I look in my wallet and there are no 50s. But, maybe he did not give me a 50 in change for pulling the first chica. I give in, and I give him the extra 10. Did I get cheated? I just do not know. The moral is to treat every transaction in chica-land as a possible opportunity to get cheated. I sincerely hope that I am not unjustly accusing anyone. Next time: I will be vigilant.
7. The whole cell phone system is a rip-off. Both the caller and the called pay high rates per minute. I didn't use the phone much, but I went through 50 pesos of phone card minutes. For twenty minutes of talking to someone on a cell phone from a regular phone, you could have bought a steak dinner. A consequence of this is that three different chicas tried to use my apartment phone for calls, as opposed to using their own phones. They were annoyed to learn that my apartment phone could not ring cell phones unless a phone card was used.
Anti-Americanism / Rudeness.
1. At a currency conversion place on Florida, a young chico took my dollars and gave them to another young chico, who made a nice little pile of pesos. They were slow as can be in doing so, but there was no problem so far. My pesos sat there on the counter while I looked at them through the bars in front of me. Other customers were served. They offered currency, and received currency in return. I stood and waited. No one made eye contact with me. I went to another window and asked for help. The young chico refused eye contact and ignored me. After quite a long wait, I blocked other customers' access. People in line looked at me like a crazy person. Trying to keep some semblance of cool, I pointed to my pesos sitting on the counter, just out of reach. Finally, with the hint of a smile, but no eye contact, the original chico gave me my pesos. I swear I did nothing to elicit this kind of treatment.
2. One night, the McDonald's at Corrientes and Pelligrini (at the Obelisk) was taken over by about 50 leather-jacketed, bearded young men who made a mess of the place, beat on drums, gave interviews to television reporters, restricted access to the door, and waved anti-American and anti-imperialism flags. I stood and watched impassively, but one particularly creepy little guy approached me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. He circled me, like I was one of the statues out there on Avenida de Julio. Hey, I hate McDonald's too. But I found myself being a little angry at these self-righteous little punks (and me a liberal, and proud of it)
The little incidents above did not come close to spoiling my good times in Buenos Aires. Generally, the restaurants and bars bent over backwards to be accurate and fair. So many receipts! Small tips for good service were clearly appreciated. People were interested in America despite their hard times economically. So the above comments have to be taken in context. Things could have been much worse. I had no trouble with pickpockets, and chicas clearly could have stolen my watch or loose pesos but did not. However, I thought the incidents above were worth noting for the newbie. The above constitute a small addition to all the great advice given on the site.