Libre de impuestos...

On June 20th, 1973, Juan Peron returned to Argentina after nearly twenty years of political exile in Francoist Spain. Two million people came to greet him at Ezeiza, an International Airport located just on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. From the podium where he was to speak, camouflaged gunmen of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA) fired at the crowds, killing 13 people and wounding over 300.

When I arrived at this same airport, exactly 34 years and 4 days later, I was met with a different sort of ambush. Bleary-eyed and slightly disoriented from the long trip, I recovered my luggage and was on my way to customs when I abrubtly experienced the overwhelming dread of having taken a 17-hour flight to the QVC headquarters. A massive duty-free shopping hangar appeared out of nowhere, completely littered with signs of just reduced prices in American dollars on Channel, Dior, Ferragamo, Marlboro, and the other glitterati of the airport-shopping world. Seeing the masses of perfume-spritzing women and ballpoint pen selling men was unsettling, and made my first impression of Buenos Aires akin to something of a giant front lawn on which the world liquidated its empty opulence.

While I knew that this showy display was predominantly for tourists, I couldn't help but wonder what percentage Argentines could actually afford what was sold in these shops. I had been told that the average salary was 1200 pesos a month, or $400 U.S. dollars, which doesn't really allow for the luxury of a London Tie or even a 10-pound bag of skittles...