Cordoba, Sunday

Mon 0037 Pretty quiet day, about to go to bed. Feel am perhaps not making most of my time here but it is what it is.

Got up maybe middayish, had mild hangover but not really. What with one thing and another (including longish Mother's Day Skype call home) didn't leave flat til about 1630, had no real plan but just went for a walk (down Maipu and back up Independencia). A handful of people on street (quite a lot of cars) but not remotely lively. Came back via supermarket, where I queued for 20 mins (would have bought more yday or Fri had I realised to avoid another visit to supermarket during weekend, but by time realised yday was already in queues from hell) and then caused 5-10 mins more delay by paying on ccard.

Here we see the ripple effects of the Argentinian banks charging swingeing withdrawal fees for foreigners and the banks and/or government making this worse by imposing a max withdrawal of 4k. If not for this I'd have paid cash, but since cash effectively incurs a 5%ish surcharge for me I am going to pay by credit card whenever I can.

I do wonder if part of the issue is chip and PIN cards are not common here. I think this is what requires fetching a special card terminal at that supermarket. Also at train station other day, while they *had* a PIN-capable reader there was no slot in window glass big enough for cashier to slide the terminal through to me to enter my PIN - I ended up having him hold terminal up (and "move it down a bit please" directions from me depending which number I needed to press next) to the tiny grille-protected hole so I could poke my little finger through to touch pad to enter my PIN.

Oh, despite being at a non-green checkout I got charged for my two carrier bags - annoying as I had two in my pocket, but I thought since they were free I should stock up. Hate this shit.

Cooked (hot dogs, didn't buy any shitty vinegary mustard but experimented semi-successfully with sprinkling chilli flakes on the sausages) and spent evening on YT while phone gradually charges.

Plan for tomorrow is to get up earlyish (10?), check when/if is any language exchange here and then perhaps go check out some interestingish museum; I have a vague suspicion museums may be shut Mondays but if I go and try I have at least tried and I will see a bit more of city in the course of my walk.

Rained a bit tonight which makes me more confident I didn't miss an opportunity to see even a quiet Sun-eve nightlife by trogging out at say 8-10pm for a later dinner and a beer. Obviously doesn't help that I'd feel slightly worried walking home late and reluctant to get taxi, but this isn't a huge factor - I am being lazy and/or not in mood and/or it doesn't feel like it would be very lively/fun.

I think that's about it anyway. Let's send this and try to go to sleep.