Argentinean Tidsbits

While on vacation in Argentina, I kept track of a couple of tidbits. Did you know?

• Buenos Aires counts over 58,000 taxis, all colored black with a yellow top? (I recently observed City Taxi in San Jose, with the same color scheme.)
  
• It hadn't snowed in Buenos Aires since 1918. People were going nuts for the little white things coming from the sky. It might get cold in winter, but snow is extremely rare. Traffic stopped. The long distance buses did not leave a day or two. Especially not in the direction we were heading.
  
• Soccer wunderkind Lionel Messi plays with number 18 in the Argentinean selection. Official kid-size t-shirts go for about 150 pesos or $50. I could however buy a black market shirt for about 40 pesos. The only gotcha, it has the name Messi on the back and number 19.
  
• Es lo que hay - That's what it is. Although inflation is under control for many years now, one can still run into shortages occasionally. On our trip, we ran into laundromats closed because of a shortage in water, a shortage of milk and closed gas stations. Because of speculation with natural gas, drivers switched from running the engine on natural gas to gasoline causing a temporary shortage. One could only gas up 20 pesos worth of gasoline.