Perdón and Permiso-Riding the Subway in Buenos Aires

I haven’t done a The Good, The Bad, The Ugly post yet, and I think the subway here in Buenos Aires fits the cliché quite well, so here goes:

The Good

-Thanks to a hefty government subsidy you can get anywhere in the city for a little less than $0.30 US!!!

-Entertainment. The subway, even more so than street corners, is the main venue for the city’s musicians that play for spare change. Today, I had a regae band board the same subway car that I was riding in. Three young guys with dreads wheeled in two bongo drums, chairs, an amp, guitar and microphone and set up shop right in the middle of the car. They were pretty good, and what’s great about the musicians is that, if you like them, you can follw them from car to car to hear some more music. I’ve also heard quite a few good guitarists on the subway throughout the semester, one of my favorites being a guy who was going nuts on both his harmonica and guitar.

The Bad

-Entertainment gone wrong. Once when riding the subway in that semi-conscious state that tends to alway seep in before you reach your stop, I was jolted back to reality by the blare of a siren and the amplified shouting of “That’s the sound of the POLICE!!”. Trying to grasp what was happening I jerked my head to the open space by the center doors of the car where the noise sounded like it was coming from-and to my surprise I saw a big muscular man, jumping around the car, cloaked with what looked strikingly similar to the clown masks used by the Joker and his gang in the opening bank heist scene in the Dark Knight! Scared out of my wits, it took me about 10 seconds to realize that our subway car wasn’t getting hijaked but rather treated to an interpretive dance to the rap beats and “That’s the sound of the POLICE!” that blared from the nearby portable speaker. Shaken, but still alive I opted not to tip the performer as I got off at my stop.

-Almost all of the subway lines run west to east and the only lines that run north and south to connect them are all the way on the eastern side of the city-therefore if you need to go north or south from where you are, you’re better off just taking a bus.

-Constantly being prodded to buy odds and ends from traveling salesmen-scissors, gum, book lights, socks, CD cases, books, pens, and flashdrives to name a few.

-The following would better be qualified as sad or sobering, but for lack of a better place I’ll put it here. The subway can really open your eyes to some of the tragedies in the world, as blind and disabled individuals will occassionally make their way from car to car asking for spare change to survive on. Again to clarify, I don’t want to label it as bad or burdensome that these individuals ask for change on the subway-but rather I think its safe to say that it’s clearly bad that these people are forced to do so to support themselves.

The Ugly

-Riding the subway during rush hour. When I signed up for a majority of 9am morning classes I didn’t take into account that I’d have to fight tooth and claw to get there. I live a few blocks away from Linea B, the subway line that runs right down the middle of the city and is naturally the best way to get to all of my classes. Having studied and worked in DC for almost three years now, I thought my experience with the Metro would help me easily conquere the traffic of the Subte system here.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Showing up to the Subway station a little after 8:30 nearly everday, you never know what awaits, but more often than not its 30+ minutes of frustration to travel maybe three miles. Some days you’ll get lucky and walk right onto a subway car as it pulls up, and you’ll even have room to move your arms-but thats a rarity. More than likely you’ll find a crowd of people spread all along the platform, strategically picking their places like gamblers at the craps table, hoping that the next train comes to a stop with it’s doors lined right in front of them.  Usually one or two people will get off and then a hoard of people will crowd around the double doors trying to squeeze or force their way onto the car. If you aren’t in one of those lucky spots, or aren’t incredibly forceful, you’re probably not getting on the train, due to the fact that each car is already jammed to the brim.

Sometimes it can get bad-not only do you miss on the first train, but also the second, and the third, and (my personal record) even the fourth. Upon boarding the train things only get worse. The cars, lacking any sort of real ventilation are sticky hot, and it doesnt help that you’re sandwhiched in on all sides, hardly being able to move. The crunch will reach a maximum as the horn sounds and the doors are about to close, with the people closest to the door arching their body further into the car to escape their crashing together. When the doors do finally somehow close, everybody will get about 4 millimeters of extra space as those same people closest to the entrance can take back the little space they overcompensated for and lean against the doors. It might not sound like much, but you’ll take all the space you can get. Then, as the train jerks forward and leaves the station the whole crowd collectively looses their balance and sways like one of those inflatable punching bags with the weighted bottom; teetering, but never quite falling over.

As the train reaches a constant speed people regain their balance until the same thing happens again when the train comes to a halt at the next station. Regardless of whether people get off or not, without fail people will hurl themselves into the car, hoping their forward momentum will put a dent in the crowd and help them squeeze in. Sometimes its successful, other times, like water crashing against the rocks, they bounce off and are forced to wait for the next train.

When your station finally approaches you have two options to get yourself off the train. The first, and more strategic of the two is to ask everyone around you “¿Bajas?” which means “Are you getting off?” If they say no, you try to trade places with them and shuffle your way closer to the door until you finally find somebody who is getting off in front of you and then you just follow them. The second option is just to let out a hefty “¡PERMISO!” or “excuse me!” and make your way through the crowd, saying “perdón” or “sorry” when you accidently hit somebody rather hard. I opt for the perdón and permiso strategy. When you finally swim your way through the crowd and stumble out the door, you’ve conquered the Ugly, at least for today.