Posts by serafina

Radiant heat is the go-to choice in modern building in Italy. It is lovely to walk barefoot on it! A friend of mine complains that it shuffles dust constantly, which is true as hot air goes upward. Unfortunately, it is something that should be planned during construction and cannot be retrofitted unless you lift the floor entirely.
I have seen it rarely in Argentina.

We did have out gas heaters professionally checked when we moved in. I think the biggest heater was misused by previous tenants, hence its malfunctioning. During that first professional check, the gas man instructed my husband on how to clean the heaters regularly. A task he happily kept carrying on over the years.
Installing the gas heater is rather simple, as you only have to connect the gas pipe and hang the heater on the wall. In Italy, flexible gas pipes should be replaced every ten years to ensure tight sealing. I don’t know if this applies also in Argentina.

Our apartment is gas heated by two gas heaters, one in the living room and one in the bedroom, which were pre-installed when we bought the place. After 7 years living here, we found out that the heater downstairs had the flame not working properly, which is why it has always been not enough to heat the large living room (9 meters by 3) - our neighbor had the same model, and his flame was three times as much! Blimey!

Thinking we were smart, we decided to address this during summer. A licensed gasman (gasista matriculado) asked for $70,000 (about 60 USD) just to have a look at it. So we decided to take the offer of the handyman who was installing our new window to have a look at it. He had to take the heater with him, disassemble it, and find out what was wrong. Six months later, he still had the heater with him and no solution was found. His diagnosis was that there were no spare available (hard to believe). We asked to return it and it was still working the same. Honestly, I think he did nothing but sat on it, because it working the exact same way as before.

Fall came and we are (were - ? keeping our fingers crossed) still in need of a new heater - having abandoned the idea of switching to electrical heating after the electricity increases of the last months, despite the gain in aesthetic -- gas heaters are a sore eye.

We found out that the same old and ugly heaters are still sold since they installed ours over a decade ago. Same design, same models, same 3 brands.. after more than 10 years! It is still unbelievable to me to see such static markets/products coming from a country where we have a new line of products with a slightly different design or mayor technical improvements every year or more often.

Anyway, after a thorough research, this is what I found out:

Gas heater (estufa/calefactor) are divided according to the following characteristics:

- tiro balanceado (there is an exhaust pipe) - mandatory for bedroom and bathrooms, safer

- sin salida (no exhaust pipe)

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- gas envasado (gas tank)

- gas natural (gas is supplied through the network)

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- con visor (there is a glass to check the flame)

- sin visor (no such glass)

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- con chispa manual (the spark is created by pushing a mechanic button)

- con encendedor chispero a pilas (the spark is created by a battery) - one more thing that could break, but apparently easier or faster to light the heater since more expensive models have it

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Finally, the size (as in heating capacity) is the ultimate and most important criteria.

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Since we are in Argentina, you don't have the luxury to pick from a variety of models and brands. Especially if you have size limits (the wall space available was just 67 cm), you already have an exhaust pipe hole in your wall, and you want to be able to check the flame visually. Needless to say, that's the most expensive choice on the market.

The same model that we had, a (5000 kcal/h tiro balanceado by LongVie con visor) is now north of 500k pesos (about 416 USD). Ironically, my 'smart' idea to buy it directly from the manufacturer lead to a quote of over 880k pesos (link) - discounted from over 1m pesos... WTF?!...and anyway out of stock!!! IT IS A JOKE (it is not, I wish it was *my* joke, but it is Longvie's).

The cheapest price we found yesterday was $524,999.00 at Rodo. Now, being today a semi-holiday, it worked nice for us as Rodo is one of the few places that accepts USD bills at slight less than the blue rate.

The main line didn't want to reveal the exchange rate for today, they suggested to call the only store in the city that had that model in stock. We called, and we were told $1200 over the phone. We headed there, and once we were about to finalize the purchase, they changed their quote to $1150, which is below the official rate, even!

We left, and while still in the car, fiddling with my phone, I re-checked Mercadolibre and one big seller had it on offer for $504,000 today! It was a brand new listing as we had saved among the favorite the cheapest ads, already. Since the seller is a famous name, I wanted to double check on their website to see if there was a even better price... and there was! $439,999. However, they only have one store in the Province of Buenos Aires, in San Justo, and my husband refused to go. Therefore, we found a cueva taking our worn out USD at 1190 (after bargaining), deposites the money at the bank, transfered the money to MercadoPago), ordered it with home delivery (extra 19.800 ARS) and it should arrive one week from now.

I still think that it is ugly as fuck even if it is 90k cheaper than at Rodo. And I can't stop thinking about smart homes of my peers in Italy, where you can regulate the temperature with an app and come home to a warm house, or keep the heating on during the night without being afraid to die due to carbon monoxide poisoning in this time and age.

The 'deal' when going straight to the source.

Look like the rocks are already there, you just need a whisky!

I have been using Andreani to receive domestic mail (documents). I usually ask to deliver the envelope at the nearest Andreani office, which is just 5 blocks from here. This way, I am not house-bound waiting for the mailman to arrive. Also, I can go pick it up right when the office opens, at 9 AM. Sometimes I have received mail overnight from Córdoba. Impressive!

When ordering on ML, I favor pick up in a given location (usually, a kiosko or other local business) for the same reason. However, it must be noted that this option is usually more expensive than home delivery, and that sometimes the whole process to show the QR code for pick up requires a certain level of fiddling in the app from the store/kiosko. Not very time effective, but still better than sitting quiet at home all day waiting for the doorbell to ring.

I am wearing a US flag pin (a gift from Rice ) on my jeans jacket but I am always afraid that it could get me in trouble. Please do not gift me any UK flag pin, Splinter 😂

Well, it says travelers FROM EU COUNTRIES, so maybe if you fly in directly from Argentina, it doesn’t apply? Would not make much sense, but still… it is what it says.

Last night I made beer risotto. The recipe called for red beer, I used Andes, but I think it would have been better a bitter blonde.
As I am out of saffron, I am afraid there won’t be another try soon.

typically, one uses white or red whine to make risotto, depending on the rest of the ingredients.

I have seen plenty of stickers and signs on Malvinas here, but these two have caught my eye recently:

Bumper sticker (a bit of a stretch, if you ask me):

A T-shirt worn by a man in Féria de Mataderos that read: “Inglaterra la concha de tu madre” and an image of the islands.

A participant in an English online course whose avatar was Margaret Tatcher was asked about his image choice and then he started babbling something that was hard to hear due to audio quality. I think he eventually left the meeting… and maybe the course entirely

Information for travellers entering GB

From Saturday 12 April, it will be illegal for travellers from all EU countries entering Great Britain to bring items like sandwiches, cheese, cured meats, raw meats or milk into the country. This is regardless of whether it is packed or packaged or whether it has been bought at duty free.

Detailed information is available for the public which sets out a limited set of exemptions from these rules. For example, a limited amount of infant milk, medical foods and certain composite products like chocolate, confectionery, bread, cakes, biscuits and pasta continue to be allowed.

Those found with these items will need to either surrender them at the border or will have them seized and destroyed. In serious cases, those found with these items run the risk of incurring fines of up to £5,000 in England.

Full text here: https://www.gov.uk/government/new…-foot-and-mouth

They actually announced that the dollar will be free to move *within the 1000 to 1400* range. Which is not 100% free. They further stated that it may reach the top limit (1400) in given scenarios.
There is a crawling peg of 1%.

Este esquema permite que el tipo de cambio oficial mayorista fluctúe libremente dentro de una franja que va de $1.000 a $1.400 por dólar, con una actualización mensual del 1% en cada extremo.

Out of curiosity, I checked what does Italy do. They require 10 years of contributions for the minimum pension, and it is given only if your income is below a very low threshold. The amount is approx €614 per month.

There is another sort of pension, called subsidy for the indigents, if you don't meet the contribution years threshold, but it is very low, less than half of the minimum pension.

My dad, who was a freelancer all his life, gets a pension from Italy which is the same amount as the minimum pension (he told me so, I didn't check personally). He has worked a number of years in Switzerland and he gets a small pension also for that, paid in Switzerland. Then he has some passive income from a rental (small stuff, and I am not even sure if he takes those money or my brother does). He is still working, although being almost housebound due to mobility issues is limiting him quite enough. He is 74. He said he couldn't live on his pension alone, even now that he is a homeowner.

My mother, on the contrary, was a public servant for over 40 years and her pension is about the same as her salary, if not a tad more. She retired with the maximum years of contribution and seniority (age requirement). Speaking with a friend of mine, whose mother was a teacher in high school (State school), she also has a generous pension. To be frank, our mothers' pensions are more than our salaries (of when I was working in Italy and hers is her current salary as an office clerk for a courier company). We are talking about around €2000/month in pension for public servants. My mother can live comfortably on that kind of money and can save a bit. City taxes and real estate taxes have gone up quite a bit, so there are months on which she can't save at all and has to use her savings from past months.

The amount of pensions in Argentina is ridiculously low, especially considering the increase in the cost of living and that there is also a cap to pensions here. The cap for this month ( April 2025) is $1.923.114,11.

At the same time:

Quote

Un hogar tipo conformado por dos adultos económicamente activos y dos hijos menores de edad necesitó al menos $1.713.065,96 en febrero de 2025 para ser considerado de clase media en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (CABA), según datos del Instituto de Estadística y Censos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (IDECBA).

[source: https://www.infobae.com/economia/2025/…e-media-en-caba]

Of course, retired people do not usually have a household consisting of 2 adults and 2 children, but some retirees live alone and rent, so putting a cap on a retirement pension seems absurd, considering there is no cap to contributions, on the other hand!

There are many nice apartments for sale in Palermo and Recoleta, but the building expenses are around 200k pesos per month or more. I don't see it doable for a pensioner, especially if they are renting. On the same note, a friend of mine has a large office in Vicente López, in front of the big Carrefour just across the city limit. It was an investment his family did over a decade ago, to put up fully furnished office space for rent. The monthly building fee is around 350k ARS. It is not a fancy building and quite old (at least 40 years old). They have put it up for sale because they are just losing money every month (the 350k do not include utility bills!).

Quote from Splinter

Did you know that if you have lived as a foreigner in Argentina for 20+ years you should be eligible for a PUAM state pension over the age of 65? It's 80% of the minimum.

I didn't know. According to InfoBAE, for March 2025 the amount is:

Prestación Universal para el Adulto Mayor (PUAM): $223.297,36, más el bono de $70.000, resultando en $293.297,36.

I have no idea since I never order from abroad, except documents which are sent over by FedEx

It seems the booking system is still in place: https://www.argentina.gob.ar/sites/default/…rnos_retiro.pdf

I had received the instructions with the telegram from Correo Argentino. There was a small fee to pay for the telegram. I don't recall how I paid that, whether before my appointment or at Aduana directly. I recall there was a counter with manned booths, and I believe they were of Correo Argentino. The actual Aduana is behind steel doors and there was a private guard (like from Prosegur et similar) who was keeping an eye on who was going it. We were called by last name and there were plenty of seats to wait.

He did really rehearse a lot, but it seems it is as far as he can get. He was perfectly understandable and sweet.

Last time I was there was right after the pandemics. Since it is by appointment, only, I was in and out in 30’.

When I visit home, I buy stashes of alfajores and conitos. They are lightweight and make for a very Argentinian gift. Pay attention to the expiration date, as sometimes I have found that they expire 1-2 weeks after purchase. I just buy the cheapest ones on offer in the supermarket. The best available at the supermarket are Cachafaz, but they are quite expensive, nowadays.
also, put them in a cardboard box or they will get crushed in travel.

Second choice are palitos. But finding a decent size bag is impossible in supermarkets, they may be available in dieteticas and moms and pops stores. Always buy the industrial ones which are in a sealed and branded bag. Those repackaged in stores can be soggy or may have sat for too long in an unsealed bag.
Also light to carry!

Third, but only for those with a sweet tooth, is dulce de membrillo. It is a solid block of fruit and sugar. Those are heavier (250 g, 500 g, 1 kg) but preserve well and don’t need special care during travel.

Honey is also an option, but it is a regulated food in some countries, so check if it is allowed in the UK.

If you are in for something fancier, I have seen mentioned steak knives but, to be honest, nothing you can’t find for less in Europe as far as quality goes.
If you want something from the countryside, anything made of wood and silver (platería criolla) is also a classic, but it may not be anyone’s cup. Keychains in this style are a small gift that can be easily put to use. Also mate with silver details is a common gift, provided it will be never out to use by someone who doesn’t drink or understand mate.

Something that is also lightweight but bulky, are alpaca and lama’s wool blankets and ponchos. Could be a suitable option for those living in a colder weather, although in modern times most people prefer technical gears and blankets that can be easily washed in a washing machine and do not require the extra care of wool.

Something quite unique and nice to put on display are penguin jars. If not used as jars, they can be used as decoration.

If you are in for something more practical, cheeses from the countryside should be widely available where you live. Again, make sure they are sealed and labeled, as there may be regulations on traveling with cheese at your destination.

It must be a national trait, then. I am quite annoyed by all the shouting, tbh.

Good job, young Scots!

I am with UK Man on this one. I have a local DL and i drive, but never with my husband as a passenger. Too much complaining on how I drive, where I put my hands etc.

he is very aggressive when he drives and often shouts at other drivers. It is not a pleasant ride, but it gets us from point A to point B.

Quote from UK Man

I got half a dozen last week from Carrefour. Price was around 1800 IIRC with the discounts. Closest to a pint of heavy I've had here. 6% alc so it's got a bit of a kick. Which I need as the missus is dragging me off to church later.

I'd bet you'd be singing, too, if the mass was in English!