CouchSurfing and a Shopping List

CouchSurfing is a social networking site for travelers (i.e. Facebook or MySpace for travelers). Members can connect with people traveling to or living in the places they plan to visit.

The main focus of the project is to help die-hard travelers cuts costs by finding a place to stay and avoiding high hotel prices or not-so-pleasant hostels. Whether or not you think you’d like the couchsurfing idea (staying with others or having others stay with you), the site is a great place to make connections with interesting travelers.  I’ve had a couple of couchsurfers stay with me in my loft. It’s a legitimate site with plenty of opportunities to verify who’s asking to surf your couch before you open your door or to verify whose couch you’ll be surfing before you drop off your bags. One guy has been traveling around the world for a year and a half and has almost always stayed with a fellow couchsurfer. Oh, how the stories make me want to hit the road again. But for now, I’ll stay put.

When you join CouchSurfing, you can find groups that interest you and interact with people in the forums. I joined the Buenos Aires group, the BA Cultural Events group, and a Photography group. Posts on CouchSurfing are generally friendly and funny. Travel lovers have a good sense of humor and are typically interested in meeting and helping out other travelers.

Here’s one from the Buenos Aires group in response to a question about how much money one would need while traveling here in Buenos Aires. Some of the prices, which are all in pesos, are a bit low, but it’s pretty accurate and funny, too.

***********

OK first of all if you have a place to live. You will be needing like 30 pesos a day to eat if you buy your stuff in a supermarket, maybe less. Depends on how much meat you are use to eat.

If you go out to eat, you will spend like 30 pesos a head for a proper meal in a Restaurant, and maybe 15 if you do a sandwich or something simple in a Bar.

Some prices that can make your life easy and give you an idea :

Tuna Can : from 3 to 5 pesos

2 Ltrs Coke : 5

Ravioli : 5 ( one serving )

4 Hamburgers : 7

Bread : 3 /kilo ( Depends on the kind )

Grapes : 1/2 Kilo : 2 to 3

Cokies : 2

Dulce De LEche : 1 kg 4 pesos

Mozzarella : 300 gm , 5 pesos.

Ticket to la Bomba : 10

Mint ( Disco a go go ) : 30 +

Sahara ( Disco a Go ) : 20 +

Movie : 16

Pop Corn + Soda : 8

Beer in a pub : 5 pesos

Latte in a pub : 5 pesos

Medialuna : 1 to 1.5

Condoms : 3 units , 3 pesos if you wanna be safe.

My mother : probably priceless, or very expensive

Sisters : I don’t have

Fede’s Sister : Your Life 😛

Rent a Movie : 5

Melon : 7

Not So Cheap Wine : 8

Very Cheap Wine : 2

Antibiotics : 10

Psychologist : 50 to 100 for a good one.

Dress Shirt : 70 to 140

Denim Trousers : 70 to 120

Leather Jacket : 550 to 750

Decent Computer : 2500

Mac ( Not so decent ): 3500

Broadband conection : 24 to 80 /month