Buenos Aires is a HUGE city. The population of the metro area brinks on 13,000,000 people, most of whom will happily tell you some of the things they love about their city, the dulce de leche, the café culture, the European architecture, the tango, the colorful barrios, and the constant chaos that strings it all together. I experienced a generous dose of Buenos Aires bedlam as soon as I arrived, smack-dab in the middle of a Subte worker’s strike, the cause of which nobody could really explain (the Subte is the BA equivalent to DC’s Metro). I even heard a local joke about being furious, but not even knowing whom to blame anymore. It had something to do with the city’s government not getting along with the regional government and deciding who would set the wage.
The strike clogged up the streets, making journeys downtown, like one to apply for a student’s visa, a total nightmare. The cross-town trip took an hour and a half of being sardine-d into a bus. The colectivos (busses) and congestion on the road mirrored a similar sidewalk situation during the strike.
People everywhere.
One of the few positive outcomes is that it gave everyone an excuse for being late (which is a fun Argentine pastime that takes some getting used to). After about 10 days the strike came to a close, and the 1.7 million daily riders returned to the underground. The Subte is actually very beautiful and useful, and is the oldest underground train line in the Southern Hemisphere (constructed in 1913 when the streets just got too crowded with the 6,000 horse drawn carriages and 7,000 cars). You can actually still ride the vintage cars on the “Linea A” and you have to close the doors manually. Fares are super low, at about $0.50 USD.
Unlike the trains, all the bus lines in the city are privately owned and maintained by different private companies, allowing for a little bit of flare and fun on the busses. For example, here is a photo I took yesterday of an unexplained majestic unicorn decoration at the front of a bus. Some are also lit up at night. They are also a really great way to get around, and a fun way to see the city as well.
There is a small pocket guide to the bus system called “La Guia T” that the locals also use to sift through the chaos. It is filled with grids and numbers and all sorts of information that may as well be written in hieroglyphics in my opinion. I generally walk to a main street to find a bus going in the right direction, and tell the bus driver where I need to go. If he seems to know what I’m talking about I pay my fare (never more than $0.50 cents) and stay on. It’s all about going in the right direction. I don’t mind having to walk a few blocks, and getting lost in a city is my favorite way of getting to know it. The addresses on buildings actually match up to the addresses on parallel streets, which makes life a little easier. Buses are also a great way to meet young people returning home from a night out between the hours of about 5 AM to 8 AM.
There are no lines dividing lanes in the road, and if there are they are mostly ignored in favor of driving all over the road however gets you to where you need to go the quickest. There are virtually no road rules in this free-for -all, and I have yet to see anyone get pulled over in my 2 months here, and surprisingly I’ve only seen only one accident. Buenos Aires also has a above ground commuter rail system that connects the city center with surrounding neighborhoods much further out. I have taken it to get from the northern edge of the city to the train station downtown, but this was before I was informed about the 49 people who died in a crash on one of the trains this past February. Both the trains and Subte cars run on the left side of the road because they were originally built by a Belgian contractor over a century ago.
Walking is also a great way to get to know the city and find some hidden gems, like the bakery on a corner on the way to school through Chinatown. The people here walk down the street with tons of purpose in a sort of guarded New York-y way, but in reality they are all sweethearts if you get to know them or ask for directions.
Chau,
Giordano