Getting from Here to There

Monday, 12/21/2009

Readers who ever plan to go to Buenos Aires must know about the buses. Buses run everywhere, and so often that, as we stood at a bus stop the other day, we saw four #67 buses (the line we needed to take) behind each other in the distance, no more than a minute apart. The drivers jockey their vehicles around the cars and motorcycles and even pass each other on the street to get to their stops.

When you arrive in Bs As, you MUST purchase a “Guia T” – pocket size. This guide to the bus lines of the city is remarkable. The guide is laid out like a street atlas. Every map is divided into squares of about 5 blocks by 5 blocks. On the facing page, in a corresponding grid, the bus lines are shown that service the respective squares. Thus, you find the square where you plan to originate and the square on another page where you plan to end up, and match the bus lines to find which buses traverse both squares on the grid. By doing so, you know which bus to catch.

In addition, the routes of all lines are detailed in the back of the book. You can find out that such and such route follows this street and that avenue. In the front of the book is the key that shows which map contains the street you might be searching for. By the way, there is also a subway, but it's not as useful nor is it as much fun.

But don't ride public transport during rush hours. We have passed bus stops at 8:00 PM with lines of nearly 100 people waiting to board. We passed a subway entrance that had nearly 100 people waiting outside simply to enter the stairway down to the turnstiles.

Today we went to breakfast late. Even though a $7.00 (US$1.80 + or -) breakfast is a bargain, we had a craving for our usual breakfast at home of bread and cheese. So today we went to the equivalent of a delicatessen, bought some bread and cheese, and then went across to buy some cafe con leche (at the McDonald's – where else, at their price). It also occurred to us that we need to plan for breakfast on the morning of the 25th, since nothing should be open that morning. We're invited to Leandro's parents' home the evening of the 24th.

Today was a lesson in what to expect in Argentina – and probably most other places that aren't the USA. As I mentioned elsewhere, the tourist magazines all have listings for theaters this week. In addition, the newspapers show available theater shows this week. No theater we went to was still presenting performances for this season. All that we visited have closed for the summer break. Did nobody tell the newspapers? The schedule, in current publications, for guided tours of the tunnels under the old city included 3:00 tours Monday through Friday. When we showed up at the entrance to the tunnels, the posted schedule showed that Mondays and Thursdays have been canceled for the rest of the summer.

The guidebook cited a monument in the Place Lavalle to the people murdered in the attacks on the Jewish community center 15 years ago and on the Israeli Embassy 17 years ago. We couldn't find it. By the way, if you end up being an Argentine hero or dignitary honored with a statue or a bust in a public park, make sure your will indicates that your family decline the honor. You will have graffiti, moustaches, and other disfigurements added to your honor over the course of time in the park.

Another lesson was how inept I sometimes can be. I ended up entering the subway on the southbound side, when I meant to enter on the northbound side. They allowed me to exit, to cross the street and re-enter in the right direction. You have to allow me some lenience, though, since the subways keep to the left, not to the right. It's discombobulating waiting in the tube and expecting the subway to come from the left and exit to the right; it comes from the right and exits to the left.

We ate lunch today at the famous Cafe Tortoni (Avenida de Mayo 829), where all the Tango greats have hung out at one time or another. It's a turn of the (20th) century cafe with dark woodwork, stained glass, and marble-topped tables. Very European; very porteño. We made reservations for tomorrow's Tango show, while we were there. The place was crawling with tourists! Oh, yeah; that includes us.

Finally during this outing we made our way back to the Libreria El Ateneo (Santa Fe near Callao). This bookstore is in an old theater, which still has its lobby, orchestra, balconies, boxes, and stage intact – and probably in better shape than when the theater went out of business. It's a gorgeous setting.

When we got back to our apartment, there was a note on the door that Marcos had dropped by. He arrived this morning and had apparently not been able to take any kind of meaningful nap. He wrote that he would do some window shopping in the Patio Bullrich mall next door and come back later. He knocked on the door only a few minutes later. We caught up with his adventures, almost being bumped from his flight.

We went to the Pizzeria Babieca (Santa Fe 1898) for dinner. We all ordered from the prix fix menu. Gloria and Marcos had a huge Chicken “Milenese” while I had a squash ravioli. Dinner came with a huge variety bread basket, wine, and dessert and was not only delicious but copious. We sat outside and plied our favorite pastime: people-watching.

Home tonight again at an American bedtime.