Almost got robbed in Buenos Aires, but actually got ribbed in Miami

I traveled in south america without incident until Buenos Aires. Before this, i thought Argentina was safer than Colombia and Peru.

The incident involved distraction theft and then backpack snatching. There were three policemen chatting just 50 meters away.

I first felt the back of my thigh was wet and thought that I stepped onto standing water on the sidewalk. However, I turned back but saw nothing on the ground and some bird shit looking stuff on my pants. I took out tissue paper from my backpack to clean it. A lady stood nearby tried to give me tissue to wipe them off, and another man pointed at the pants of my friend and the sign of a store front as if showing where the source of the white stuff.

My friend was experienced and already noticed that a third person snapped away my backpack crossing the street and shouted at him. He run towards the third person when he dropped my backpack on the street. The whole incident happen in minutes before I saw my backpack shown up across the street. I failed to keep a close eye on my backpack.

The first man spray something on me and my friend like hand cream mustard or the like. The lady pretended to help us, and to distract me from my backpack and, in the chaos, the third person stole it from me.

I should have Ignored their help, and focus on my belongings and extracting myself from the scene ASAP. I read the exact scan info on wiki travel but simply did not recognize it until after the incident.

Fortunately, my friend reacted timely, and the third person dropped my backpack to avoid confrontation. I am grateful that I got to keep the gifts I bought at San Telmo Sunday street fair and flea market. The incident happened after the market and our Chinese buffet. My palm was snapped by a restroom door and cut open. I did not expect such causality in the big city and right before I go home. The restaurant receptionist looked terrified by the little cut gushing out with blood and gave me bandages as soon as she could. My attack to the food was a little impaired by the cut but not much. They had BBQ and other typical buffet items.

I was told that the Argentina government control exchange AR pesos into US dollars, so I would have to change unused pesos in US. I budgeted 300 pesos to pay for one extra day in Argentina beyond my 30-day visa. However, the AR customs officer did not charge me the fine.

I tried to change pesos within the terminal of BA airport, but the exchange denied me since I had only ATM receipt but not bank retail receipt. To spare my time to find a bank in DC to change the money, I exchanged my pesos with an exchange within Miami airport which charged almost 25% as profit. I did it in a hurry without thinking. I was literally robbed 25 USD.