Comida o Tango

Comida o tango..food or tango.  Has it come down to this?  I think so. Yesterday I was walking home when I realized I might have a headache because I had not eaten. I thought of what was in my refrigerator, nothing exciting.  I decided to stop at the bakery on the corner and get a couple of miga sandwiches.  Something still half way cheap.  This bakery still makes migas fairly large and they are only $2.50 each.  I decided on the primaveras.  They are filled with lots of stuff.  I feel like I get more for my money.

When the chica comes to take my order she asks me where I have been.  I give her some excuse.  She looks me up and down and comments on how thin I am.  I am really not that skinny, it is just a contrast to how I was before. 8 kilos is a lot of weight to lose. "Algo mas?" she asks. I hesitate.  The tartas on the counter look really good.  I know if I don't buy them I won't eat.  "Una porcion de calabaza."  I tell her. When she tells me 12 pesos I don't even think.  It sounds so cheap.  A year ago the same thing would have cost $8.50, and 2 years ago probably around $6.50.

I am feeling decadent.  I decide I want to buy a couple of liters of diet Grapefruit soda.  I can't carry them home from the Chinese market so I will get it next door at the Kiosco.  Jose is usually only a couple of centavos mas than El Chino's.  I walk into his Kiosco. "Hola Jose, como estas?"  I greet him. He greets me back with a myriad of his problems.  I put a bottle down on the counter.  "Cuanto sale?"  I ask him.  "5.80"  he tells me.  I figure he is kidding me.  He likes to tease me.  So I ask him again. "5.80" he says to me again. "Jose, no me digas!"  I say to him.  Then he tells me everything went way up this last week.  I tell him I am sorry, but I just can't, I will have to drink water.  I remember when this soda cost $1.95 not too long ago.

I take my food upstairs and go down to the Chinese market closer to my house.  Sure enough all the sodas are now 4.50 - 6.00 pesos.  It is madness.  Christina is becoming the new Marie Antoinette only cake is way to expensive to eat.  You have to wonder if it even bothers her that people are having a difficult time affording food.  I am beginning to notice restaurants going out of business.  If you think that grocery stores cost a lot of money, try the restaurants.

I used to be able to get a chicken breast and salad for 7 pesos.  OK that was 3 years ago.  Now it costs 15 pesos at the place on the corner.  On Saturday Jen and I went out to dinner to a nothing special place. I had a brochette of chicken and a salad. We split a penguin of wine.  I paid 39 pesos.  EEKKK!! That about killed me.  That same place a year ago, the same dinner would have been almost half the price.  At least I could take one of the brochettes home with me...God I sound like Grandma Brown.

Some tourists asked me if I ever go to the Faena or Casa Cruz.  Are they out of their mind?  I live in Buenos Aires.  I am not on vacation.  I am not going back to a job.  I live on the peso. Not on 3.40 to the dollar.  The real Buenos Aires, the one they always talk about.

Dancing tango. I go in the afternoons.  I can take the subte or the colectivo. Now only 90 centavos. They say they are going to raise it to 1.10.  We can't get change now.  Talk about the fun it is going to be to find that extra 10 centavos. At least on the subte I can have a subte card. Charge it up with 20 pesos.  Yesterday the machines were down. They had no change. Everyone was in a bad mood.  Just think of what bad moods they are going to be in when the price goes up to 1.10. 

Evening milongas mean a taxi. At least in one direction sometimes in both.  I can't do it. Taxis are at least 17 pesos in one direction anywhere.  Not unless I have someone or two or three to split it with.  So I don't dance much at night unless it is on the weekend.  Friends with cars.

The entrances have stayed at 15 pesos for most of our milongas.  The tourist milongas are 18 to 25 pesos. I don't go much to them.  I don't enjoy them.  I have entrances to several milongas which helps. During the crisis milongas stayed 6 pesos. People still came to dance.  Now they stay home. A night or even a day of dancing tango costs at least 22 pesos with something to drink. If you add the taxi you are looking at maybe 50 pesos. Most of us cannot spend 50 pesos a night to go dance tango.

So there you have it, comida or tango..a hard decision when you love to dance.  When your passion is tango.  When you feel something so deeply. Should you eat, or should you dance. Today I eat, tomorrow I dance.

Comments

[JAvier]

Hey!, its great to find people with this passion for our things....and living the way many people lives in argentina, The real Argentina. And what amazes me, is that you are comming from a position (outside ARG) where a person typically lives here with a great life!, so they usually don´t get completely the way we live our lives in Argentina. Also, I must say, many people in Argentina doesn´t live with so much passion our things the way you do. Hope you find some more pesos to get to Milonga frecuently!.

[Katie]

It's nice to read a post from someone who's "keeping it real" in Argentina. Potential expats should realize that not everyone who moves to Argentina is living the high life. You're living like a local, and there's something to be said for that. I hope finances never keep you from your true passion.

Besos,
Katie

[Mario Oliveto]

Wow, I just got your URL today to explore/read.
And I am impressed by both your candidness and the real world of BsAs...I just watched a YouTube
of someone saying that they are getting over 6 to 1 exchange rate..certainly, that would help..is it true? who knows?
Anyway, this taste of honest reality will have me reading all of your archives...all of them!
Mil gracias for your reporting and I am intent on
joining you at a Milonga soon...2 yrs for sure..and where would I look in order to be able to walk (I can do 4 kilometers) to a milonga 4 times a week??? Mil Gracias, m.