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Once Again, Argentines Feeling on Edge
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"When this started, if you had asked me how long this situation would last, I would have said a maximum of two weeks, because it's such an irrational discussion," Kiperszmid said.
Last week, he unfolded the La Nación newspaper and read a front-page article lamenting how customers have stopped dining out in the restaurants in Puerto Madero, the high-end neighborhood where his office is located, and how taxi drivers are hurting for customers.
"It's such a crazy situation, which is why I keep thinking it simply can't continue for much longer," he said. "There are simple solutions -- it just requires a change in attitude."
Betting on the Dollar
A woman working at a currency exchange shop in the city's financial district left her teller booth Thursday to run outside. From the street corner, she could see the electronic signs outside nine neighboring exchange shops.
She was a blur of motion as she checked the signs to make sure there hadn't been any recent fluctuations.
"Of course, we're busier than normal," she said.
As recently as February, the government had been buying up vast quantities of dollars to keep the peso's value artificially low -- a strategy designed to boost exports and domestic investment. But after the farm conflict began, Argentines traded millions of pesos for dollars and forced the government to flip its strategy: It's now dipping into its $50 billion reserve fund to prop up the value of the peso.
Alejandro Marino was among those who took a number in the lobby of an exchange shop to wait to change pesos into dollars last week.
"The government right now is fighting the people who bring the dollars into this country, namely the farmers," said Marino, 49, a lawyer in Buenos Aires. "Despite what the government is saying, there are clear signs that there will be a shortage of dollars here one day."
Having faith in the peso burned a lot of people in 2001, and Carlos Benítez, 47, said the memory drove him to the exchange shop last week.
"People here don't like to put their trust in the peso," he said. "The dollar seems safer."
Power and Pessimism
After a warm South American autumn, temperatures finally dropped to wintry levels this week. Argentines instantly braced for an energy shortage.
