Miniature Disasters...

is the name of a song by KT Tunstall and also sort of a perfect way to describe the day I had today. Obviously this blog is usually filled with lots of Argentina and Buenos Aires love, but today... Well, there are some times I don't love EVERYTHING about living here. Like for example when I have to pay a $300 peso (that's $100 USD) customs tax on a package of Christmas presents that someone sent to me from the states. Or when everything in the apartment is broken or in the process of breaking and the landlady won't do anything about it. Yeah, tenant's rights? Not so much here. Not when you're living illegally on a tourist visa and can't get a garantía to save your life.
Or when you try to pay for something that costs, say, $8.50 pesos with a $10 peso note and the guy at the Kiosco/ Chinese supermarket STILL doesn't have the correct change for you, so he gives you a piece of candy instead. Not that I blame him on that one - we're all hoarding our monedas like crazy.
I know, annoying little things happen no matter where you live, it's just easier to resolve them in your own language and culture.
But, I usually try to be optimistic and look on the bright side of things, and in that spirit, there is one thing we have here in Argentina that makes up for some of these ridiculously annoying situations, and that is the best word ever to describe them - quilombo.
Originally it meant brothel but now it just means "a mess" and can be used to describe almost any ridiculous, annoying, complicated, or frustrating situation. ¡Qué quilombo! I got a lot of use out of that word today.
Anyway, the moral of the story is, DON'T ask your friends or relatives to send you things in Argentina. In fact, don't let them, because you will have to pay whatever obscenely high customs tax the Argentine officials deem is appropriate for your country of origin. I can just imagine them sitting around, Che, this girl is from the United States, should we charge $500 pesos? No no, the dollar's falling, there's no way she can pay that much. Better make it $300.

What a quilombo.