A few notes about Argentina...

Argentina has been really fun and it's been great having Susan here to explain the ins and outs of whats going on here to me...

1. The Moneda shortage.
It's not uncommon to have trouble getting change in Latin American countries, but the extreme of the situation in Argentina is more than I've seen anywhere else. Moneda is Spanish for coin and here, the metal is worth more than the value of the coin. Because of that, people take them, melt them, and sell their metal and the result is that hardly anyone has monedas and the people who do have them hold on to them like hoarders. You have to pay for things in a strategic way so to maximize your modeda return and some places even have signs saying "We don't have monedas. Please pay in exact change." Unfortunately, busses ONLY accept monedas, so having them really is a must.

2. Mate
This note also applies to Uruguay. People here don't eat dinner until around 10pm, so that's a pretty long day. How do they keep themselves fueled? Mate. It's a super strong green tea that you sip out of a gourd from a filtered straw and people suck it back like nothing else I have ever seen. All over, people are walking around with a gourd in hand and the straw in there mouth. The situation in Uruguay was even more hilarious as it seemed like the favorite pass time of EVERYONE was to park your car near the water and sip on mate. All ages, all places, all slurping up that mate.

3. Toilets
There is no standard for how to flush toilets here. Some are a button on the top or side of the toilet, not to strange. Some are a button or lever on the wall behind the toilet. And my personal favorite is the chain or string that hangs from the ceiling above the toilet.