去布宜诺斯艾利斯 Going to Buenos Aires

2022年11月21日，星期一，南美洲之旅五天

今天要去下一站阿根廷的首都布宜诺斯艾利斯，早上坐Uber大概20分钟到了机场，顺利办理登记，过海关，大约一个半小时的飞行，很快就到了布宜诺斯艾利斯。飞机是787大型飞机，没有坐满人，我俩中间的座位也没有人，我可以躺下来睡一觉，感觉我一觉醒来就到了。到了布宜诺斯艾利斯，过海关要拍照片，登记手印，但是并不给护照盖章！

We are on the way to our next stop, Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. In the morning we took an 20 minute Uber to the airport. Customs went smoothly although it took 30 minutes. The flight to Buenos Aires took about an hour and a half. The plane was a large 787 and the seat between us was empty so I could lie down and sleep. Before I knew it, we had arrived. The customs in Buenos Aires is very thorough: you have to take photos and register your fingerprints and answer many questions, but unfortunately they don’t stamp your passport!

刚到布宜诺斯艾利斯的唯一一个大问题就是现金的问题，由于阿根廷通货膨胀非常严重，当地的人都喜欢要美元，所以产生这个美元（或是欧元）的兑换黑市，我就翻译成蓝色汇率吧，蓝色汇率比银行提供的汇率要多接近一倍，比如今天，银行汇率是1美元对160阿根廷比索，黑市的蓝色汇率是1美元对290-300阿根廷比索，差别很大吧! 这就是说如果走黑市，我俩的任何消费都大概打了5折！但是机场里并没用蓝色汇率换钱的地方，所以我俩花的第一笔坐出租车的钱是用银行汇率换算的，所以等于是花了冤枉钱。从机场到酒店花了大约7千5阿根廷比索，40多分钟到了我俩的Marriot酒店。

The biggest problem in Buenos Aires is the problem of cash. Due to the serious inflation in Argentina, the local people like to ask for dollars, so there is a black market for the exchange of dollars (or euros): it’s called the blue exchange rate. The blue exchange rate is nearly twice as much as the exchange rate provided by the bank. For example, today, the bank exchange rate is 1 US dollar to 160 Argentine pesos, and the blue exchange rate on the black market is 1 US dollar to 290-300 Argentine pesos. The difference is very large. Huge! This means that if we go to the black market, we will get about 50% off any consumption! But there is no place in the airport to exchange money with the blue exchange rate, so the first taxi we took was converted with the bank exchange rate, so it was a waste of money. It took about 7,500 Argentine pesos from the airport to the hotel, and we arrived at our Marriot hotel in more than 40 minutes.

入住酒店后的第一件事就是去换钱！来之前我看了很多Youtube的视频，很多人讲佛罗里达街是用蓝色汇率换钱的地方，那条街上会站着很多人，在那喊“Cambio~ (换钱）”，那些人提供的汇率基本上是一样的，找一个感觉让你舒服的人，先问好汇率，那个人一般会把换钱的人带去胡同里的某个地方去换钱，一开始听着觉得不安全，但是看了几个视频后，觉得没什么不安全的。佛罗里达街正好离我俩的酒店很近，步行5，6分钟，放下行李，就直接去了佛罗里达街，没想到今天是阿根廷的一个节日，好多店铺都关门了，还好佛罗里达街的那些换钱的人还在，到了那里果然看到很多人站在各个角落，在那喊“Cambio~ Cambio~”，我俩问了几个，都是1美元兑换298阿根廷比索，我俩又看到了一个兑换货币的店铺，进那里一看，是1美元兑换270阿根廷比索，虽然比街头的人便宜了一些，但是感觉收到假钱的几率会低一些，我俩最后选择了在这里兑换了100美元，兑换的手续还挺多，需要护照信息，入境信息和住址，终于有现金啦！ 我计划一定要找街边的人至少兑换一次，感受并记录一下这个经历，哈哈。

Our first goal after checking in to the hotel was to change money! Before I came here, I watched a lot of Youtube videos about the process. Many people said that Florida Street is a place where the blue exchange rate is used to exchange money. There would be many people standing on the street, shouting “Cambio~ (exchanging money)”. Basically all of them are the same, find someone who makes you feel comfortable. First ask about the exchange rate, that person will usually take you to a place in an alley to exchange money, sounds unsafe at first, but after being here I feel that there is nothing unsafe about it. Florida Street happened to be very close to our hotel. After we put down our luggage we went directly to Florida Street. I didn’t realize that today, Monday, is a holiday in Argentina, and many shops are closed. Fortunately, those money changers are still there, and when we got there, we saw many people standing in various corners, shouting “Cambio~ Cambio~”, we asked a few of them about the rate and they all exchanged 1 US dollar for 298 Argentine pesos; but also we saw another “normal” currency exchange place. When we asked them we found that 1 US dollar was exchanged for 270 Argentine pesos. Although it was cheaper than the people on the street, we felt that the chance of receiving fake money would be lower. So, we finally chose to exchange 100 US dollars there. There are quite a lot of procedures, passport information, entry information and address are required, and finally we got some cash! I plan to find someone on the street to exchange at least once, to feel and record this experience, haha.

这里的天气似乎比圣地亚哥的要凉快很多，也许是临海，海风比较大，晚上在外面竟然要穿外套，希望一直这么凉快下去。

The weather here is much cooler than in Santiago. Maybe because it is near the sea, and the sea breeze is relatively strong. We had to wear a jacket outside at night – I’m hoping it will stay cool.