I wonder...what strange - or not so strange things - did you bring with you that you are so glad you did?...or what would you/did you bring back with you now that you have lived here a while?...
I'm curious because I am sure everyone's "essentials" list will be funny, entertaining, and informative.
In my three checked bags, I am glad I brought....
I'm curious because I am sure everyone's "essentials" list will be funny, entertaining, and informative.
In my three checked bags, I am glad I brought....
- A collection of those little plastic covered wire ties snipped off the top of bags of coffee because most food (including coffee) comes in bags with no convenient method of keeping them closed, and a clothespin is not always the best solution.
- Nylon Pan Scraper (Pampered Chef makes them!) I use this all the time, for example when my tea light candle that only comes with ONE metal holder PER bag spills all over
- My grandma's muffin tin - while the Argentine facturas o pastries are out of this world, I was homesick last time I was here for a homemade muffins.
- A bundle of old lightweight, wire hangers (think dry cleaner style). It's worth it to bring less clothes, more hangers (especially if you are a small women's size-if you are over a size 10, I might reconsider, because most all of the inexpensive clothes here are small, small, small) because the variety and price of clothes here is excellent. And while I could justify spending money on the beautiful clothes here, I could not for the outrageous cost of hangers, in most cases nearly a dollar per hanger! I just could not justify spending forty or fifty bucks in HANGERS!
- a lighter from the US because the ones here seem to break on me constantly...and they are necessary for almost every oven in the country unless you can afford upscale electronics (check TSA regs on lighters because they have changed over the years - I was told ONE in carry-on only, believe it or not, most recently I think). The spark works to light the gas ovens even when the fluid is gone.
- My almost dripless to-go coffee mug; the ones I have seen here are the terribly cheap kind that leave you with coffee drips on the front of your shirt
- a stock of fruit snacks (those little jelly things you eat as a kid)
- Personal Electronic Items (one per person USED - or at least USED looking - or you will be taxed like crazy on entry!) No joke...the 2008 "iPod Index" (based on the Big Mac Index you may have heard about in Macro 101 used to test the Law of One Price) ranked Argentina the most expensive place in the world to buy an iPod!! http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2008/11/the_ipod_index.html
- One of those heavy gray, wool blankets. While it doesn't get very cold here, the nights can get chilly because most of the buildings are way more drafty than we are accustomed to and the heating has been unreliable in the cheap apartments I lived in. A heavy wool blanket kept the heat in under the covers on the colder nights.
- A big tin of cinnamon! I have had a hard time finding "real" ground cinnamon, just ground with no additives, though I did once in a verduraria in CÓRDOBA. The Alicante brand of canela is this terrible light brown powder that tastes like semi-sweet Red Hots candies - yuck! Great on medialunas but not to fill your cinnamon craving.
- Licorice!!!
- My old U-lock from home (though I wish I also brought a good cable one for larger posts) as well as a bright bright tail light - I use one from Planet Bike that's amazing...and a front and rear mini LED (I'm a bike rider in the city). Even though my U-lock is beat up and thirteen years old, they are uncommon enough as bike locks to deter thieves. I bought a cheap used 50 bike off Mercado Libre we fixed up (nice...no what many might call DECENT bikes here are worthless as transportation because you can't park them anywhere), but I didn't want to invest double in a good lock, which is very very very important because bike thieves are very skilled here!
