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It’s perhaps a tad surprising that the Argentines don’t seem to drink a lot of alcohol, particularly as compared with the Spanish.

We’ve been a bit goggle-eyed lately wandering around the supermarket to find.

1L of beer for AU$0.96

1L of gin or vodka for AU$3.41

Really good red wine for AU$4.00 / bottle.

Obviously AU dollar prices are largely irrelevant, but I’ve no doubt that on a purchasing power parity basis, the stuff is still rather a lot cheaper here.

I’ve never visited another country and not though “why is booze so expensive in Australia?”. Mind you, I’ve never been to Scandinavia. I hear they’re doing even better/worse.

We’ve caught a few, and have generally been only mildly concerned for our physical wellbeing.

However, strict attention must be paid to ensure that you don’t get fake bank notes back when you pay the bill. Thus far we’ve been fine, but have met numerous travelers that have fallen victim to the ol’ switch-er-roo scam. Be warned.

The seat belts are a wonderful – albeit purely aesthetic – accessory. What really amuses me is that the driver, once seated, actually bothers to grab the seatbelt, drape it over him, and leaves it dangling slightly above where you would expect to see the latch. The latch, of course, no está.

The same applies for passengers, naturally.

Describing the driving habits of BsAs residents (taxi drviers included) is not necessary. Needless to say, any infraction you can imagine is par for the course.

But could we complain for 10 pesos? I think not.

We have a home. Moving in tomorrow. We tried to arm ourselves with US dollars (dolares estadounidenses which I think sounds much cooler) but failed, likely due to some MasterCard policies. Odd that so many items are denominated in the US currency, particularly as it’s generally getting weaker, and the peso argentino is pretty stable right now.

Not a major problem, though, our new housemate Simone can deal with pesos. She’s a classic Northern England girl whose been here for 4 years. Lots of local connections might prove very useful.

We’ve made a few trips into food markets eyeing off the food and drooling, but leaving empty handed what with having no kitchen in which to stow/cook/chill it. That changes tomorrow and we’re awfully pleased.

As is commonly expressed, people in Buenos Aires (hereafter BsAs) eat far too much meat.

Well, perhaps it’s just the foolhardy tourists, of which we are most likely two. But it’s decidedly difficult to eat out and find a meal that consists mostly of green. And thus far we’ve found only sub-par salads.

Imagine, though, meat so rich that it needs no seasoning other than coal fired flames. Eating too much of this stuff gives you a strange, electric buzz.

Which is handy, because dinner is generally around 10pm.

That’s quite a word, so I’ll stick with i18n from now on.

Check it out, Countries of The World, Flags & Population in English y en español.

Anyone care to help with some more translations? The country names are all taken care of thanks to the nice Unicode people, which leaves just 10 or so phrases in the localisation file. Email me on jules!jules@com@au.