Shopping at downtown
Buenos Aires/ Carlos Pueblo
I went on
shopping at downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina for leather belts,
Leather shoes,
leather jackets. It is very difficult to believe that my main
Function to
visit the city is shopping and walking to the streets of downtown.
I was a
little bit of concern for the stack of 100 peso bill which I exchanged
from a
foreign currency service. I didn’t feel fair to use my credit to buy anything
due to the
official rate was 60% less than my exchange rate, yet carrying out those
pesos
worried me very much. I felt more secure if I converted to purchase items
and stored
in my luggage inside my hostel room.
First visit
to Recoleta Cemetery was on Saturday, there was open air market inside
the park. I
was looking for any of the items listed above and I found 4 leather belts.
I have had
bad experience to purchase leather belt on a cruise trip which took me
a lot of
anxiety because of a fake leather product. I tried to look at some stores in
Taipei,
Taiwan and got leather sandals instead. This time was my lucky try, I had
had 4 with a
10% discount with total 720 pesos, about U.S. $14 each. I replaced my
34 years old
belt immediately so the risk of losing all four becoming three.
My roommate
David took me to take the subway, Subte, to Mayo Square, la Plaza
de Mayo, to
find another open air market on the next day, Sunday. We did find it
and I
believed the street name was Peru on the other side of Florida. The entire
street side
was full of stores. I did find a leather jacket stand and purchased 2 man’s
jackets with
David’s Spanish language help. That was 3000 pesos and the lady owner
said if I
kept on negotiating down the price, she would go back to Houston with me.
It was about
25 years ago, I bought a leather jacket made in China for U.S. $100 and
was not as
good as these two in quality and style fashion. When I returned home, I
give one to
my son Arthur and found out he has already had a sheep skin leather jacket
as a gift
from his aunt 10 years before and never wears it due to Houston weather.
At an advice
from a young Chinese grocer on Avenida Rivadavia near the Congress Square,
I walked 18
blocks on Avenida Venezuela tried to find San Jose to search shoes store.
He said that
I might get a better deal outside of tourist area. I didn’t find Av. San Jose
yet I did
find a good shoes store on the corner of Peru and Venezuela, actually it was
not
too far from
the tourists center. The sale lady Graceta, speaking good English, helped me
to negotiate
the price in two different days, so I bought a pair of short boots and a pair
of
dress shoes
for 2600 pesos.
Finally, I
was wondering on Av. Florida and a soliciting sale inviting me to a fashion store.
The sale
lady claimed that the store would accept U.S. credit card for an exchange rate
of
1:15 called
on line purchase. I bought a lady jacket for U.S. $150 for a gift to Amy. It
fits
very well for
her.
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