When is a peso worth more than 1 peso? About halfway through last summer, in Salta, suddenly no one had change (coin money) or wanted to part with it. So, when you went to the bakery, to corner stores or to other mom and pop shops, they'd almost always ask you for correct change. I remember this one time (... when Rosana and I were in band camp), a store in the center of town refused to sell Rosana approximately 20 pesos ($6) worth of school supplies because she didn't have exact change. I was wondering how much money they'd lost over the course of the day in order to save 25 cents here and there. I'm not exactly sure what the problem is, and why the treasury doesn't just print more coins. But it ends up having a big impact on your daily life in unexpected ways. Case in point - there is a pretty good subway system in Buenos Aires, but it doesn't cover all the city. Most people take 'colectivos' (the local term for buses) everywhere. The good news is that there are something like 200 different bus lines covering the entire city of about 15 million people, it only costs 1 peso (30 cents) to ride them to the end of the line and you rarely have to wait more than 5 minutes unless it's really late in the evening. A taxi, by comparison, can run 20 or 30 pesos ($6 - 9) even for relatively short rides within the center of the city, so they are out of reach of most people for everyday use. The bad news with the buses is that those 200 bus lines are operated by about 200 different companies, they don't sell bus cards, they don't give change, there are no transfers and there's no 1 peso note (the paper notes start at 2 pesos). So, you have to constantly hoard your change. If you've got a buck in change coming to you, never ever give the vendor another 1 peso coin so that he can give you a 2 peso note back. That's a rookie manuever. He will always ask you politely if you happen to have 1 peso, and you have to always politely respond in turn that, oopps, sorry, no you don't. Or else you may find yourself a peso coin short of a bus trip home. I actually get excited when someone gives me a small handfull of change. There's a rumor that some bus companies have started a side business selling change - since they have it all - for a 2% or 3% comission. Which makes me wonder whether the government wouldn't do better nationalizing the buses instead of the airlines (the government nationalized Aerolineas Argentina recently). At least then it would make a little profit. The fun may not last much longer though. Supposedly, some bus lines have begun to sell bus cards.