The Monedas Problem

Translation: "Where are the coins?!"

There is a major problem in Buenos Aires today--there aren't enough coins (monedas) to go around. There are a number of theories as to why this is so--some say that people are melting down the coins for their metal value (something similar happened in the United States with copper pennies--they're mostly zinc now for this reason). Others say that it's the colectivos (the busses) who are intentionally hoarding them (the colectivos require coins to ride). Still more claim that it's actually the mafia that's hoarding all the coins.

Regardless of the cause the results are at times inconvenient and other times (for me at least) amusing. Since the colectivos only take monedas you have to hoard up your coins--which are hard to get--in order to take them. As a result, I never go to a restaurant and tip the waiter by way of saying "keep the change" since that 1 peso coin I get back is gold. Once I went to a pharmacy in an attempt to get change to take a colectivo when I didn't have sufficient change--I purchased a bag of chips that were supposed to cost 1.20. I paid for it with a ten peso note and received 9 pesos in change a 5 and two 2's (Argentine currency has two peso notes but one peso comes only in coins). When I looked at my receipt at I saw that it said I had paid 10.20--they had credited me 20 centavos that I had not paid, just to avoid giving me change! Sometimes when you buy something small like candy or cigarettes, rather than give you change they'll ask you if you'll take another, or some other small item, in addition.

Once when my host dad was trying to show me which bus line to take we went to a nearby pastry store to get change.
"No tengo monedas!" I don't have any coins, he told us.
"Es un desastre." It's a disaster, he said
"Totalmente desastre" my host dad agreed.

So it is.