Argentina is still in considerable financial crisis, with differential pricing depending on whether you pay in peso, dollars or cards. Oh and the banks limit the amount of cash you can take out of an ATM.
Arrived at airport need c. £50 for the cab. Maximum cash withdrawal from ATM £30 with a transaction fee of £10 on top. Oops, the JCR family budget is going to take a battering at this level of commission. the JCR family assumed it was probably just an airport thing...
At the hotel, after stumping up another £10 commission fee we asked is there a Bank that doesn't limit you to £30 and charging you £10 for the privilege? She looked horrified - ' no-one uses Banks, the rates are fixed and the transaction fees too' 'You must open a Western Union account and send money across and it will be cheaper and a better rate'. Which was fine but we still needed cash and the WU was shut. Okay that's a Monday job, better swallow our pride and get out more cash from the ATM. All necessary because our walking tour to La Boca and Boca Juniors Stadium has to be paid for in cash.
Fun fact Boca Juniors colours used to be the same as Juventus, as the players were teenagers, mainly from Italy, but after a while wanted their own identity not a borrowed one from the homeland. Two players went to the port and made a vow that they'd choose the colours of the first ship they saw in port. It was from Sweden and hence the club now looks as though it is sponsored by IKEA.
The weather is sultry and changeable, as it's coming up to Autumn, earlier on the walk it had been 30 degrees, bright sun and we were searching for shade, as soon as the walk finished it was a tropical thunderstorm. And we were getting cold and wet - no problem catch a cab - oh that means more money oh dear...
To cut a long story short to get £120 cost an extra £40, but we are on holiday so...
Try to set up Western Union account, neither of us have the bank cards we used for the withdrawals. OMG we've been pickpocketed in the La Boca area. No we haven't, we both failed to pick up our cards from the ATM. So we've been stung an absolute fortune in bank fees and have no means of getting cash - this could be the worst birthday present holiday ever...
Then hallelujah, realised our Bank has a virtual card facility so we can send money via WU after all, but still it's not ideal having lost both bank cards.
All of this faffing about doesn't exactly make for a relaxing time, so I had to set the alarm early to do the W4 final run, so that I could cool down and we could visit both banks and try and get our cards back, if indeed both of us had been so daft as to not take the cards.
So onto the run, after the Run 2 loss of kilometres on the dreadmill, I was determined that I could do better on proper roads/parks etc.
Got up somewhat dopey, went to the bathroom (tmi) and for some unknown reason decided that this morning, would be the exact moment I'd use a bidet for the first time. Don't ask why - it seemed like a good idea at the time. Mr JCR still asleep at this point.
Filled said bidet with the water (hot and cold) - cultural sensitivity is a must when travelling, the world is not the same. But I always assumed the world had the rule on taps switching off being righty tighty and opening up being lefty loosey.
In our hotel that is true for the left hand tap, but the exact opposite for the right hand tap, and this is where I am unstuck, I noticed the bidet was almost at the useful level and decided to switch off the taps, except I switched off one and put the other on full force. Being dopey, I hadn't realised the water level was rising, I turned my back and heard a sloshing noise. Because I didn't know which one was on I switched off the torrent tap and re-opened the closed one. The bidet tidal wave had now created a warm paddling pool in the bathroom. Blooming Nora it's getting worse I now use all available towels to act as a mop and try to see which tap is flowing and which isn't ... this farce carried on for what seemed like hours but probably only a couple of minutes. Hence my run warm up exercises and stretches were my mopping up a floor with bath towels and wringing them out in the bath. Mr JCR asks if everything is okay - I give a potted history and tell him I'm going out for a run and will come back later and fix the bathroom issue. Is bathroom mopping up dynamic stretching for C25K purposes???
Turning left out of the hotel, I walk (briskly as Jo Cool tells me) towards the Parque Thays which has a running path all around and an outdoor gym for warm up cool down work, trying to forget the tsunami aftermath in our bathroom...
Well my first run starts and I am aiming towards the topless man running club workout, being videoed by their coach. To all ladies of a certain age there's something very cheerful about seeing topless men running without a care in the world! Unfortunately, they were quite fit, so my spluttering 3 minute run felt quite inconsequential. Then I ran along the park outskirt path to 'fig leaf man' statue and my walk started just there. I'd decide to make sure I ran every single bit of the pathway and there were several figure of eight loops I could do, but as I was on the walk interval ‘fig leaf man statue' seemed to get a lot of my attention.
It was about 24 degrees and very sticky and I almost came unstuck on Run 2 deciding to up the pace a bit, but the humidity levels soon put paid to that idea and I went back to snail minus one speed, towards the dog park, which was just a poop place and I'd had enough bathroom drama without watching dogs do their business, so I ran onto the children's play area, where already a mum and her child were making sandcastles.
Then I spotted the parks' version of my Slope of Hope and I thought it would be a good thing to run up it on my last interval and 5 minuter. Gosh it was hard and then Jo said I was done, and I was, but the topless running club were still going.
Today's lessons:-
You can get your bank cards back in Argentina
Western Union is indeed cheaper, the same amount of commission got us hundreds of £ in pesos ...
Topless runners give you a smile
Bidets are dangerous and never to be considered for use
Righty isn't always tighty
Mr JCR was a star, as the bathroom floor was dry when I got back
Oh and I found that for me running on the road gave me a distance of 3km today one better than ‘dread mill’ day.
Evidently I'm a cold weather runner I can go further when it's cold and funnily enough I always thought I was a lizard.
Week 5 Run 3 - A Leap Too Far
Week 4 run 3
Week 5 Run 3 done! And tips . . .
