Why
is everything so difficult here?
Woe #1 - The sardine-effect
on the subte. Whereas in London I would at least get a seat after a
couple of stops of being squashed in a hot, sweaty, human sandwich, here I have
to stand for my entire 10-stop journey, while I get jolted from left to right,
hitting my fellow passengers with my enormous bag as I go.
Woe #2 - The oven in my
flat is from about 1853. There is no button to light the stove or the oven.
After two days of vain attempts, my neighbour finally came around last
night and showed me how to light it manually with a super-long match. I have a
massive fear of fire. This is not good.
Woe #3 - The supermarkets don't take cards. What is all that about?!
Yesterday, on my way home from the Palermo Soho experience, I decided to stop at one of the small local supermarkets in Palermo Hollywood to pick up a few bits and pieces.
I fill my shopping
basket with a ton of essentials - shampoo, conditioner, bread, toilet
roll. I am shocked to find a loaf of bread that's 16 pesos. That's about
£2! A small bottle of non-main-branded ketchup is also about £3 and
practically everything is more expensive than it would be in England. I
can barely believe it. No wonder the restaurants are so full here - it's
cheaper to eat out than in!
Finally I get to
the counter and the Chinese dude behind the till puts all my items
through. I go to pay with my credit card and he shakes his head at me.
"No credit cards," he says in heavily accented Spanish.
"Why?" I say, thinking the machine is simply broken.
"No credit cards in supermarket," he says. This is a permanent thing, it's not just for today.
I have racked up
more than 100 pesos of goods and I only have 60 pesos in change, so I
have to put most of it back. The shop assistant looks at me as if I am
stupid.
Bear in mind this is a decent-sized supermarket, larger than, say, a Tesco Metro or Sainsburys Local in the UK. And they don't take credit or debit cards. Unbelievable!
Showing posts with label inflation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inflation. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Monday, 10 October 2011
Exploring Palermo Soho
Thank God today is a bank holiday. I can barely walk, for all the post-marathon stiffness, so getting to work might be a bit problematic.
After a long and well-deserved lie-in, I decide a walk around the area to ease a bit of that lactic acid would be a good idea, while getting to know my neighbourhood, so I set off for a wander.
I head towards Palermo Soho, which is on the other side of the train tracks. It turns out the area sometimes known as Palermo Viejo is divided into two zones - Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood. Palermo Soho is the bit south (hence Soho) of the tracks, and Hollywood is north of the tracks, where I live. Hollywood has a huge concentration of incredible restaurants and lots of tiny supermarkets, while Soho is home to all the trendy, expensive clothes shops, cute little cafés and chic bars and nightclubs.
A few years ago, when I first visited Buenos Aires, I found a great little roundabout surrounded by market stalls, restaurants and bars, but I don't remember exactly where it is or what it's called, so I set off walking, map in hand. It turns out you can cut across the train tracks on Honduras, which is just a couple of blocks from my flat - meaning I could have saved myself a bit of a walk when I was lost in the rain the other day. Doh!
It takes me about fifteen minutes walking along Honduras before I hit Plaza Serrano (also known as Plaza Cortázar) - the roundabout with all the cool restaurants and bars. The stalls are all still there and I spend the afternoon perusing and doing a little shopping. This place is a shopping paradise. The only bad thing is it is so expensive compared with four years ago when I first came. Brazil isn't the only place that's been hit with inflation!
I go for lunch at a place called Maleva, where I went with my friend Michelle in early 2008, almost four years ago. I seem to recall we popped in on the off chance and ended up paying £5 each for an amazing three-course meal complete with wine. So when I walk in today, I'm expecting similar. I'm dying for my first steak after four days in Argentina and I order the Ojo de Bife Maleva - a rib eye steak in barbecue sauce. Barbecue sauce is by no means my favourite way to enjoy steak, but after wandering past better-looking restaurants and feeling reluctant to sit in a posh place all by myself, I settle on Maleva, where I think I'll feel more comfortable.
Sadly, the Maleva experience just doesn't compare with what I had in 2008. The steak is average and is smothered in thick, gloopy, sickly barbecue sauce. And it sets me back much more than it would've done four years ago. I walk out feeling greasy, over-full, yet still unsatisfied. I won't be going back there.
I head home via the supermarket and settle down to rest my legs for the rest of the day. Bank holidays rock!
After a long and well-deserved lie-in, I decide a walk around the area to ease a bit of that lactic acid would be a good idea, while getting to know my neighbourhood, so I set off for a wander.
I head towards Palermo Soho, which is on the other side of the train tracks. It turns out the area sometimes known as Palermo Viejo is divided into two zones - Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood. Palermo Soho is the bit south (hence Soho) of the tracks, and Hollywood is north of the tracks, where I live. Hollywood has a huge concentration of incredible restaurants and lots of tiny supermarkets, while Soho is home to all the trendy, expensive clothes shops, cute little cafés and chic bars and nightclubs.
A few years ago, when I first visited Buenos Aires, I found a great little roundabout surrounded by market stalls, restaurants and bars, but I don't remember exactly where it is or what it's called, so I set off walking, map in hand. It turns out you can cut across the train tracks on Honduras, which is just a couple of blocks from my flat - meaning I could have saved myself a bit of a walk when I was lost in the rain the other day. Doh!
It takes me about fifteen minutes walking along Honduras before I hit Plaza Serrano (also known as Plaza Cortázar) - the roundabout with all the cool restaurants and bars. The stalls are all still there and I spend the afternoon perusing and doing a little shopping. This place is a shopping paradise. The only bad thing is it is so expensive compared with four years ago when I first came. Brazil isn't the only place that's been hit with inflation!
I go for lunch at a place called Maleva, where I went with my friend Michelle in early 2008, almost four years ago. I seem to recall we popped in on the off chance and ended up paying £5 each for an amazing three-course meal complete with wine. So when I walk in today, I'm expecting similar. I'm dying for my first steak after four days in Argentina and I order the Ojo de Bife Maleva - a rib eye steak in barbecue sauce. Barbecue sauce is by no means my favourite way to enjoy steak, but after wandering past better-looking restaurants and feeling reluctant to sit in a posh place all by myself, I settle on Maleva, where I think I'll feel more comfortable.
Sadly, the Maleva experience just doesn't compare with what I had in 2008. The steak is average and is smothered in thick, gloopy, sickly barbecue sauce. And it sets me back much more than it would've done four years ago. I walk out feeling greasy, over-full, yet still unsatisfied. I won't be going back there.
I head home via the supermarket and settle down to rest my legs for the rest of the day. Bank holidays rock!
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
São Paulo Pitstop
Almost there!
After the 11-hour flight from London to São Paulo, there's only a four-hour wait til my connecting flight to Buenos Aires. It's weird being back in Guarulhos airport. I left Brazil from this very airport almost three years ago and everything is so familiar - the accents, the clothes people wear, the way they say "Do you want sugar or sweetener with that?" - as if there's no option to have neither.
I always hated this airport for its utter lack of anything to do. There is literally one tiny food kiosk with a paltry selection of food, and a couple of extortionate duty free shops. There isn't even a magazine stand. How can a major international airport get away with it?!
Anyway, the thing I just can't believe is how expensive everything is here. I've spent four years covering Brazilian finance so I know all about inflation and the rising Real, but it's not until you experience it as a consumer that you really realise how crazy expensive this city (and country) is.
I just paid 45 reais for two pães de queijo (cheese bread balls, amazing!), two small bottles of water, a small latté (in a polystyrene cup - we're not talking Starbucks here) and a small plastic cup full of fresh orange juice. 45 reais. That's about 20 British pounds!!!! Are you kidding me?!
After the 11-hour flight from London to São Paulo, there's only a four-hour wait til my connecting flight to Buenos Aires. It's weird being back in Guarulhos airport. I left Brazil from this very airport almost three years ago and everything is so familiar - the accents, the clothes people wear, the way they say "Do you want sugar or sweetener with that?" - as if there's no option to have neither.
I always hated this airport for its utter lack of anything to do. There is literally one tiny food kiosk with a paltry selection of food, and a couple of extortionate duty free shops. There isn't even a magazine stand. How can a major international airport get away with it?!
Anyway, the thing I just can't believe is how expensive everything is here. I've spent four years covering Brazilian finance so I know all about inflation and the rising Real, but it's not until you experience it as a consumer that you really realise how crazy expensive this city (and country) is.
I just paid 45 reais for two pães de queijo (cheese bread balls, amazing!), two small bottles of water, a small latté (in a polystyrene cup - we're not talking Starbucks here) and a small plastic cup full of fresh orange juice. 45 reais. That's about 20 British pounds!!!! Are you kidding me?!
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