Dónde están las monedas??

How to travel around BA Public transportation around Buenos Aires is a really overwhelming expeirence even for those who are able to comfortaably work their way around cities like New York, Madrid or Paris. Buenos Aires is massive, their public transportation system? not so much. Here, everyone relies on what are called collectivos. Collectivos are buses here in Buenos Aires that are much more extensive than say, the subway system which only has five lines and . The thing with collectivos are that since there is so many of them, it's difficult to know which one you should take, which side of the street you should be on to catch said collectivo or which stop you need to get off of to get to your destination. There's a guide to the collectivo system called "the Guia-T" which is supposed to help you figure out the collectivos with ease, but all they do is confuse me so much more. I always walk around with my guia t with the intent of that day being the day that I will master the collectivo. But this day has never come. After getting hopelessly lost several times, once which forced me to arrive 45 minutes late to class and numerously getting off at the wrong stops, I've developed insecurities when it comes to riding the busses here. I'm seriously intimidated by them. Instead, I get around using my two feet, cabs and the subte to school. I have it set in my mind that I won't keep this up next week because I feel as if I'm missing out on a more authentic experience of city life here by opting out of riding the collectivos. I love the whistling sound that the collectivos make when riding down the street. I remember the first time I heard it, I thought someone was cat-calling me or something. They sounded very out of place to me, but I've grown to love it. If you do want to ride the collectivo here, you have to pay for your trip in coins which are called "monedas" as the buses don't allow you to pay in bills. Sounds simple enough, but there are apparently no monedas here. The country is experiencing a severe shortage in monedas and no one is trying to give up their precious coins. Let's say you take a taxi, the fare comes out to be 9.35 pesos, the driver will charge you 10 and look you dead in your eyes and say "no tengo cambio." And that's that. There's signs after signs on the windows of the stores that ask you to pay in exact change. There are tricks in getting monedas though, you simply have to lie and tell the store keeper that you don't have change or buy a lighter or a stick of gum where they would have to give you change back. Or, you can ride the subte like I've been doing, pay 2 or 5pesos for a 1,25 viaje, and accumulate change that way. Now, I kid you not, I have 14 pesos in monedas. Too bad I don't know how to ride the collectivos.