How to Travel Cheaply in Argentina

Though my opinion of Argentina remains pretty high, I have noticed some more cracks in the facade. Despite Argentina's European tendencies, there is still one Latin American tradition that holds strongly here: the midday siesta. Of all the Latin Americans, Argentinans are by far the most militant siesteros. I have been in cities of half a million people where almost all the businesses, save the gas stations, close for the four hour period from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. I am all for slacking off but it is pretty frustrating when I arrive in a new town at 1:05 p.m. and I can't buy fruit, or anything for that matter, for the next four hours. If you want to buy something other than food or medicine, those stores don't even open until 5 p.m. I am somewhat skeptical that businesses can effectively turn a profit with such limited business hours. I also don't like how it is impossible to run any errands without being forced to wait in long lines as everyone runs their errands at the same time. As someone who has worked mostly nights for the past several years I would also be annoyed by having to run errands on my days off, which for me are sacred.
Another annoyance for me is that, despite the high traffic volume between cities, Argentinan highways almost never deviate from the two-lane highway with no shoulder. This isn't just dangerous for cyclists but for the many moped drivers and drivers in general as people generally execute dangerous maneuvers to get around the many semis that clog the highways. It is pretty clear to me that the government already has the rights to the land in order to expand some of these highways as the property lines are consistently offset at least 20 meters from the road. The other day the police tried to stop me when I was on one of these overburdened highways. As I knew that I did not have an alternate route to follow and I generally don't respect law enforcement officers, I just ignored them and continued on anyway. They would have told me that I couldn't be on the highway even though there are no signs indicating this and I would have told them that I was already there and I needed to continue on. For this reason, I didn't see any reason in stopping for them. Let them chase me.
The difference in the prices for lodging between Bolivia and Argentina is at least five-fold but there are ways to cut costs. Most of the large cities have municipal camping sites that charge anywhere between $1 and $3 for pitching your tent. These camping sites also almost always have hot water and barbeque grills which for me is luxurious. The other day, I spent $5 for a bag of charcoal, two T-bones, and morcilla, the Argentinan blood sausauge which I have become obsessed with. This is a lot cheaper than the same meal would have worked out to at a restuarant.
Between the cities, the camping options are fewer and far between. This isn't like the Bolivian and Peruvian altiplano where the highway traverses miles and miles of unfenced, open land. Almost all of the land is fenced off here in Argentina. I have resorted to full on homeless camping as a result. I haven't even been constructing my tent as doing so saves me a lot of time in the morning when I am repacking my bicycle. People here are always telling me that it gets cold at night but I always chuckle at this suggestion since it hasn't even been freezing at night. I have slept in abandoned houses and behind Catholic shrines to Gauchito Gil who I suppose is the Argentinan version of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Last night, I was awoken by police when they discovered my campsite. After explaining that the nearby campsite was closed, which it was, and that there was little time left before the sunset to choose a campsite, the cops let me be. This happened after a carpenter who thought I was the thief who was stealing his wood approached me when I was putting down my bed. At first I was like, "Robar madera? Excuse me but I am not sure what you are talking about." After showing the carpenter my bicycle he was satisfied that I couldn't steal his wood even if I wanted to and let me be. The other times that I have been discovered while setting up my campsite, I have had to turn down the families trying to offer me everything from food to letting me sleep in their house as I carry my own food and don't want to be a burden. I just wanted to be clear that not all of my experiences being discovered are unpleasant.
I wanted to make a quick observation that, of all the female politicians in the world, President Christina Fernandez Kirchner is by far the most feminine leader I have ever seen. While Hillary Clinton rocks the pant-suits and tries to appear as manly as possible in a male dominated world, the Argentinan president makes no pretensions whatsoever to try to conceal her femininity. The other day, I saw her on television at a church service commemorating Argentinan independence (July 9th). While all of the other congregants were dressed conservatively with dark colors, she stood out in her lavender outfit which looked like it was designed by Gucci. I don't have any opinion on this, I just thought it was an interesting observation.