The Argentina Travel Cheat Sheet

So I'm just back from the glorious country of Argentina. Yes Argentina, the home of tango, Malbec, football and steak, but also a land that is at it's heart so much more- a nation with a fierce identity and a tragic political history that reveals itself as a bittersweet triumph of the human virtues of greed, exploration and freedom.

As immortalized in his The Motorcycle Diaries, Che', Argentina's biggest gift to its neighbours, famously found his raison d'etre of helping others during his travel through the country. So here follows my little inspired attempt to help future travellers get the best out of this incredibly beautiful country. For if there's one destination that rewards travellers for rigorous pre-planning and having comprehensive updated knowledge, then this is it. So here are some tips, based on our experience, that are not readily available in guidebooks or online forums, but those that will greatly enhance your trip.

1. Plan ahead. Seriously I cannot emphasise this enough. A few reasons why: a lot of experiences are only available on certain days of the week (such as Domingo markets); the most reliable tour operators get booked out quickly; and its imp to book domestic flights for the right times so as not to waste days, especially in Patagonia.
2. Argentina is expensive. Very expensive in fact, especially if you do not follow the money tips below. Years of very high inflation have led to businesses increasing prices rapidly even in dollar terms, so take the guidebook prices with a heavy dose of chimichurri and do your own research directly via websites or your hotel. This will help avoid nasty surprises and you can choose the best places to eat accordingly.
3. Carry lots of USD cash. Argentina is one country where the traditional money wisdom needs to be thrown out of the door. So leave the credit cards at home and carry USD enough for ALL your expenses, including hotel bills. This is because Argentina has two exchange rates, one the official rate (1 US$ = 8.75 AR$ (pesos)) and the other the unofficial rate, called the blue rate which can range anything from (1 US$ = 10 to 14 pesos). Businesses usually quote 3 rates: a) credit card rate, which is the amount in pesos you will pay if you elect credit card- this is the least economical as you will effectively be converting at the official rate. b) dollar efectivo: the rate you pay if you have USD cash, which will be a discount of 10-25% on the quoted price, and c) the cash rate in pesos, which will be the USD cash rate but converted into pesos at mostly the official rate, but sometimes even at the blue rate! So if you have dollars and convert it to pesos from time to time,  when shopping you can choose to pay either in dollars or pesos depending on the rate offered and get a lot of bargain savings. The country is generally safe, and every hotel has a safe box, so this is the best strategy. If you are too paranoid to do so, or have forgotten to get dollars, despair not. Use Azimo, a brilliant service that allows you to pay pounds/dollars from your UK bank account, and collect an equivalent amount of pesos (at a very good rate of 11.5) from an Argenper branch in town. I have used them and fully recommend their reliability, but with some warnings: a) its only in their fine print that they say that they don't work on weekends b) the Argenper branch near Recoleta is a bit out of the way; c) the branches are only open 11 am-1pm in some cases, d) there is no branch in Palermo, the most popular barrio for tourists and e) you need a passport with you, so don't combine that with a visit to risky La Boca! Hence I advise doing big sums at a time.
4. Convert your USD cash into pesos NOT at unofficial cambio shops but at restaurants. This was a tip we learnt from experience. Some restaurants quote a rate of 14, so if your bill is AR14 they will ask you to pay AR14 or 1 USD. You can then give them a big, lets say 100USD, note and ask them for the change in pesos, which means they will effectively convert the balance into pesos at the high rate. And given they are reliable, you dont expose yourself to getting fake money, which is a problem at the unofficial shops. 
5. Master a bit of Spanish. As with any country, it will enhance your experience, but especially in Patagonia it will be a life skill! Will also help to know the numbers when exchanging money- once (11), doce (12), trece (13), catorse (14). 
6. But wait, Argentines have their own confusing version of Spanish. Hell, they even call it different, Castellano, which is the old formal name the Spanish used for Espanyol. So if you know a bit of the language, be prepared to not understand a word on your first day! It is simple to get around that though- they pronounce the ll as j and not as y (so a street, calle, is pronounced caje) and use vos instead of tu. And they say aqa instead of aqui to mean "here".
7. Do not leave your shopping to the Ezeiza duty free shops. Like their money, Argentines have parallel official and unofficial economies. So whether it be limited edition Malbecs or their much beloved sweet treats, Dulce de leche or Alfajores, they are best bought locally based on street recommendations. The airport shops are super expensive. For wines find a local chino: shops so called because they are run by Chinese immigrants. 
8. You can carry as much wine in your hand luggage as you want. Argentina does not have any liquid restrictions when leaving the country! Remember to check your country's allowance though- for the UK it is 4 litres per person (so that's about 5 bottles).
9. It's a tipping culture. As every waiter will undoubtedly remind you! Standard is 10% so factor that into your budget.
10. You can redeem the 21% VAT at the airport. When shopping locally, if there is a Global Blue sign and VAT is charged, ask for a receipt. Then arrive early at the airport and get the refund. Worth it only for big purchases.
11. You can order half portions at restaurants, and you can share. Both are very common practices with locals (as is watering your wine to make it last longer!) so don't feel ashamed to do so- portions are generally generous.
12. Argentines don't believe in breakfasts. The country likes to eat breakfast like a pauper and dinner like a king, so it is not common for hotels to provide hot substantial breakfasts. If your hotel doesn't provide one, the options outside will be very limited, as cafes open only at 11 am. So choose your hotel carefully if this is important to you!
13. Don't assume the worst when it comes to food. Argentines are going through a massive vegan revolution, and not only in BsAs (Buenos Aires Verde is probably the best vegan restaurant we have been to in the world) but also in the other tourist regions, there are veg restaurants available.
14. Keep yourself updated! This info is valid as of 3 March 2015, and things can change quite quickly, so please check that all of the above is still valid during your trip.

Buen suerte & un abrazo!

Is Gravity based on Homer's Odyssey?

I have a feeling the plot of the film Gravity is loosely based on Homer's Odyssey Chapters 5-8. (Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD) 

See here for a quick summary & analysis of The Odyssey.

Like the protagonist of the Greek poem, Sandra Bullock's character Dr. Ryan Stone is weak, full of self-doubts and wrought from past suffering, but is carried by the prowess of her mind, her intellect. George Clooney's character is very obviously God-like and resembles Athene, the goddess that helps Odyssey along the way (genders reversed!). Most of Odyssey's troubles happen on the dark sea, and the visual imagery of space in Gravity is as dark. Then there are the minor details- Odyssey's raft also broke down and to survive he had to first reach Skheria (cue: Chinese station) from where he took a bigger ship above.

But above all, the end scene is very symbolically similar to Odyssey's salvation as he finally swims ashore and collapses.

Ofcourse I could be totally wrong! In any case, beautiful movie.

Shilpa Saket Jain (14 Sep’78 to 28 Jul’11): A Tribute

“I’m veryyyy fine. How are you doing, Doctor?”

A week after my beloved sister Shilpa passed away, her strong words uttered haltingly but defiantly still proudly echo in our thoughts.

It was only two weeks ago, though it now seems ages. She was bed-ridden, and was in extreme pain and deep discomfort. But the final blow had been dealt to her only a few days back- she had lost her vision completely. The development had crushed my cowardly spirit - I couldn’t even imagine what it had done to her. A world without colour seems no world at all. So when asked the routine inquiry of how-you-doing by her doctor, we expected a sigh, a loss for words, or at best an “Ok” to save us the pain. We also braced ourselves for her tears, just in case. But yet another time in these last few months, she proved us wrong, reaching into her inner well of spirit and pulling out bucketfuls, just when we thought it had finally run dry.

It was a side of Shilpa didi that we had never really fully grasped. A post-mature entry into the world, she was a physically weak baby who took her own time to start growing. Her heels were to always remain her Achilles heels - her legs ached frequently. She also suffered often from medically unfathomable migraines. Her soft temperament reinforced the picture - she never raised her voice, never said much and always sacrificed her ego for peace. In a superficial age of visual impressions, she hardly seemed an icon of strength.

But beneath that exterior was a steely nerve determined to fight her frailties and rise above them. She was the glue that bound the family together with her understanding and her humour. She possessed an innate ability to handle everyone and to diffuse stress with her characteristic spare-none wit. I still fondly remember her first payslip - she gave the entire amount home, save a nice sum for me as pocket money. It was the same after marriage and into motherhood - she coolly picked up the added responsibilities and fulfilled them stoically.

When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, we as a family wondered: how would Shilpa didi deal with it? With immense courage, she answered in her own silent way, as she flew from Singapore to India on her own for treatment, despite her weakness. It was a difficult, long surgery the next day but she sailed through it without an emotional scar; Mummy and Maasi described her as amazingly peaceful and smiling afterwards. We were relieved - the worst was seemingly behind us and Shilpa didi had navigated it with the best of her resolve on display.

But God (does he exist? I’m not sure anymore) had other plans; worse was to follow. The aggressive cancer would continue to run amok, and despite ongoing treatment, within weeks it had evaded its persecutors and found refuge in the spinal fluid, its safe haven. Her death warrant had effectively been issued.

The terminal nature of her illness didn’t unfaze didi however, and over the next four months, as her condition stabilized and her mobility improved, she fought hard to resume normal life. We had been dreading about how to break the news of the terminal nature of her illness to her, but she found out on her own, and in a few days had picked herself up from the shock. She wanted to live, and she wanted to be that miracle that would be talked about for years later. Despite weakness, backbreaking injections and toxic drugs, she went alone to evaluate schools for her 2-year old son Ruhaan, prepared yummy food from cookbooks for her family and made plans for moving back to Singapore. Even during such a time of personal agony, she cared deeply for us and asked us all not to stress.

The end came peacefully and painlessly (Him at play?), albeit too fast for our liking. But we mercifully got enough time to spend by our didi’s side, engaging with her in merry conversation. She usually took care of the “merry” bit. When her friends visited, she ribbed them with jokes from college days and demanded a head massage from each of them. She interrogated the nurses about their love lives. And she spun stories out of thin air for Ruhaan.

Dear didi, you left us very early, but with tons of love, respect, admiration and inspiration. You blessed our lives with your caring, selflessness, loving and humour. Your indomitable spirit will always shine brightly in our hearts. Above all, you have taught us life’s two most important lessons - how to live, and how to die. We will always love you. And we promise that we will make Ruhaan a great man, just as you asked.

Our world is dictated by a symmetry of dichotomies- the good versus the bad, white vs black, right pitted against the wrong. For every winner, there has to be a loser, for every pro a con- isn't this how we make sense of our being?- and, for every head a tail, for every long a short. Yes, coming to think of it, nowhere is this searing dichotomy more evident than in financial markets, driving their behaviour, their popularity and their fortunes.

My personal experience of working in financial markets has embued in me this very black-and-white perspective- it has taught me to choose, to take sides. But with the additional dimension of odds- to make money, it doesn't just matter whether you get it right or wrong, but also, what was the market consensus at that time. And thus, it has made me glorify the underdog, respect the counter-view and has turned me into a devil's advocate, constantly waging tiny battles against the powerful forces of numbers, and perenially trying to sniff out opportunities to go against the herd.

And to cut a long story short, it is this nonconformist attitude that drives me to write an article on this esteemed online council of DIY-professionals. After all, I have no place to be here- I'm one who followed the rat race (nonconformist? you ask, I am a man of contradictions!). Unlike others, neither am I going to whine about the corporate life- I chose it for specific reasons and they've ensured that I'm very happy with what I do ( actually I don't do anything!). Nor do I feel wasted, unrewarded or trapped in my claustrophobic cubicle (hell, I don't even have that privelege, I just have a small desk!) In short, I've got nothing to say which will rationalize your brave decision to go solo, nothing which will uplift your spirits. (I can hear your mouse sprinting to the Close Window button.)

But what I can offer is a honest straight-from-the-heart counter-view to what is usually written and said about entrepreneurship, not with a view to provocate, discourage or insult, but simply to share my unique perspectives to it: I happen to be the son of an entrepreneur; I hence was part of a family that weathered the vicissitudes of business cycles; and I'm bearer of a childhood often marred by reflections of luck, what-if and the virtue of money.

Starting a company had always been the dream of my energetic father- a bright chemical engineering graduate from BITS, restless but penniless, passionate but obstinate. A few years of imprisonment in the corporate world was enough to frustate his free spirit, and soon ready to take the leap of faith, he bought a plot of land with money borrowed from the government and started his venture.

As kids, the factory was a sort of picnic spot for us, a (very ugly) getaway home. Our visits were mainly fuelled by intrigue at my father's dedication to it, matched in its enormity only by the hugeness of the Venturi scrubbers that adorned its vast space. It was also only in the factory that he personified life, scurrying around shouting orders to his workers, answering loud phone calls- he cringed with stress every moment, but there was no taking away that sense of pride and ownership from his demeanour. This was his baby, and nothing could ever take that away from him.

But it also meant that his business was synonymous with his life, and soon had encompassed ours. We could never be sure about any evening plans because he wouldn't know when he'd leave for home until he actually did, and his mood always depended on the daily events in his business- sometimes the loss of key workers, some days the frustations of un-progress, but always the constancy of stress. And not to mention family holidays- the concept was peculiar to us, Dad never being quite secure to leave his company unmanned for a long period of time.

But where it affected us most was the volatility of our fortunes. The highs were exhilarating, but the lows were excruciating. Worse, the business always seemed like an abyss- we seemed to forever pump money in it. Some days he'd have secured a big order and we celebrated with an evening out, making grand plans for the coming Diwali, only for a major theft on the factory a week before the festive season to steal away our hopes. There was always a faint regret in us, when we compared his life to neighbours fathers' or batchmates, and wondered what if he had gone the corporate route.

Almost all articles touting entrepreneuship as the "only way to live" are a hackneyed song, the lyrics of which often always include "break the shackles of corporate fiefdom and work for yourself", "unparalleled sense of achievement", "don't let your talent be wasted", etc, crooned by seemingly successful young entrepreneurs to the bestselling tune of wealth.

I partially disagree with this misleading representation. Not everyone is successful, and though we all know that, our vision is clouded by all the media emphasis on the successful ones, a familiar adverse selection. The ones that don't make it big struggle for years and years on end, and not always by choice, because after a certain age you become too old to do anything else. The ownership has its own pitfalls, not only for you but also your loved ones- unlike a corporate career, you bleed when your firm bleeds and die when it dies, and not a single moment goes by when you aren't worrying or stressed. Finally, I wonder if it is really the panacea for a wasted talent- you could be incredibly bright but easily end up in a vicious circle of struggle and miss out on the incredible opportunities offered by MNCs in today's globalized world. I speak all of the above from personal experience.

As I grew older and started thinking what to do with my life- the only thing that was beginning to matter to me was a secure job and income. I went to MBA school and was surprised to see everyone declaring entrepreneurial ambitions in their CVs! - it surely seemed like the "in" thing- but somehow I didn't relate to the fuss about challenge and initative. My drivers were simple, disgusting though they may seem- I didn't want to get my hands dirty, and I wanted a comforting, luxurious lifestyle. And I've got all that and more. I don't rule out starting something in the future, but I'll do it only with a healthy bank balance in tow. I've heard many pundits say that you should start out young or you never get down to it- I'll take that risk, because I want to ensure that my kids dont suffer because of my search for initiative.

Last year, my father celebrated his 60th birthday by staying up all night at his factory to supervise over a order deadline. When I heard that, I was overcome with a strange concoction of frustated anger and deep pride- "Is he out of his mind??!! Oh yeah, he is, when it comes to his work!" And then I remembered how excited his youthful eyes seemed when he last explained to me his 5-year plan for the international expansion of his firm. At 25, a full 35 years behind, I can't match up to that :)

Idiosyncrazy Me

In response to Ariel's its-your-turn-now nudge, here is a compilation of my quirkiest bits: