sat.may.09.2009

the past week, leading up to saturday may 9th, i was withdrawing the maximum amount of money allowed each day at the atm. a bank close to me allowed me to take out a maximum of 1400 pesos a day ($378). i was withdrawing the max allowed to pay for my may rent and to pay for the apartment my family would stay in. looking back, i should have asked my family to pay in cash. (more cost effective)

i arranged an apartment for my family through bytargentina. the problem with the money was, i was withdrawing pasos at a 3.6 exchange rate and they calculated the amount with a 3.75 exchange rate since the price for the apartment, per week, was in dollars.

over all we didn't have any problems with the company or apartment. the heater in the apartment didn't work, neither the microwave, but we managed. the apartment had a great location, it was spacious and it suited us fine.

saturday may 09, 2009
i woke up around 7am after only going to bed at 2am. my neighbors offered dinner with no effort on my part so i couldn't say no. after so much fun at their apartment i couldn't say good-bye either.

at 7:45 in the morning, i stuffed my money belt with $1200 U.S. dollars and took a morning stroll to the apartment that i arranged for my family. ($500 of it was a security deposit). too nervous to walk the whole way, i hopped on the subte to expedite my travel time. i arrived safely, money and all. the apartment was in order, i signed papers and received the keys. i only stayed long enough to arrange a fruit basket and then i left.
as i was walking back to my apartment, i saw my taxi driver sitting outside my apartment waiting to take me to the airport. (he's the same taxi driver who drove me to the airport to say good bye to nicholas). he is super punctual, which is a rarity down here, and he speaks slow enough for me to understand. i adore him and his kindness.

he got me to the airport on time and a short while later i was hugging my family and family friends.

i called my taxi driver, who was waiting for us, to drive my sister and her friend back to the apartment. i called another taxi, that a friend of mine uses, to take my mom, friend and me back to the apartment. (there aren't any minivan taxi's here. just cars so it gets complicated when you have more than 3 people and bags...and many taxis can't be trusted (more on that topic later))

after chatting and a change of clothes we headed out of the apartment around 1:30pm. we took our time, walked to my apartment, through a park, and then went to the polo field to see a game.
after the polo match we took a collectivo back to the apartment. everyone one was tired, includeing me (since i didn't sleep much the previous night). during our bus ride i told everyone their mission of the week was to collect coins. i had enough for all of us to ride the bus, but not more than 2 times (1.10 in coins x 5 people each bus ride = sheesh).

in the early evening we went to dinner. we arrived at las cholas in las canitas at 7:30pm. it's a really popular place, but no one was there; just us...on american dining time. nevertheless, the food was very very good.

on our walk back to catch the collectivo home we spotted a huge wheel of meringue in a bakery. 4 pesos (little more than a dollar) later, we headed home to call it an early night.