Lowering the Shoulder, Exploring BA, and Accepting Defeat

The heat is stifling; it’s tough to take in deep gulps of air. Whatever, you don’t want to take in this air anyway. A hot breeze does nothing to help the droplets of sweat running down the back of your shirt and your forehead. You hope silently, fervently… futilely that there aren’t going to be too many people there. You’re almost always wrong.

You walk down the steps and toward the trains, just another little ant among the masses scurrying off to destination X, Y, or Z. The train comes within a couple minutes because it’s peak traffic time. You, along with everyone around you, move toward the opening doors swiftly. People, more of them, practically fall out of the train. Those that don’t fall out of the doors seem to run.

You see the interior of the train and think to yourself that there is no possible way for all of these bodies to fit into that little space. Once again, you’re wrong. You lower your shoulder instinctively, like you’re an NFL running back, steeling yourself for the impact. You ram yourself into that 70 year old lady in front of you like she’s the opposing team’s middle linebacker. Just kidding.

But – you push hard against the person in front of you to squeeze into the compartment. The people behind you push you into the compartment. Everyone is pushing. You think you’re going to be the last one to fit. Wrong again. At least 5 more people elbow and shove their way in. You lose your personal space bubble. Or better said, your personal space becomes public space. You are just one of many people crammed into a Buenos Aires Subte train.

Is this what a ride on the Subte is actually like? At peak traffic time? Yeah, pretty close to it. Not generally the most pleasurable of experiences. It is undeniably efficient, however, when you are traveling to certain parts of the city.

The B line, empirically the most crowded of all lines in the city – also the line that I use most – spans all the way from Puerto Madero to Parque de Los Incas. What is interesting about the Subte lines is that they seem to create the city of Buenos Aires, at least for its loyal users. The city itself is massive, way too huge to be traversed on foot. Thus, the Subte and buses (colectivos) try to tackle this problem. The Subte, unfortunately, is not sufficiently large to cover the city and thus limits its users to certain parts of the city, creating a grid of sorts.

During my first few weeks here, the colectivo system in Bs. As. was one of the most esoteric transit systems that I had ever encountered. Buses numbered from 1-200 stopping at random poles in the city? Needing to know in which direction the bus had to be going to get to my destination? Then needing to know exactly what stop to get off so as not to over or undershoot my journey? Whoa… to me, this process was analogous to trying to read O.J. Simpson’s If I did It. Burdensome, ire-provoking, and wholly distasteful.

Or so it seemed. It’s actually not too difficult to manage nowadays. However, the drawback with the buses is that they are far less reliable than the subway. Getting to extremely far places generally requires some walking (so burdensome, right?) or a transfer from bus to bus.

Cabs are another option as well. They are the cheapest in all of South America, actually. They start at about 6 pesos (a little under $1.50) for the initial fare with .59 pesos for each 200 meters or 1 minute of waiting time. Decent bang for your buck.

All in all, Buenos Aires is just a monstrosity. Diverse beyond belief and sprawled across the map to an incredible extent. Each part of the city is its own little neighborhood with its own idiosyncrasies. One day, I went to “La Feria de Los Mataderos” (Fair of the Matadors) further down south and felt like I was in the countryside as I watched this guacho festival which is held every Sunday.

Then there is Palermo SoHo, home to lavish bars, opulent clubs, and pricey shops. Or Recoleta, which likewise boasts a nice shopping area but also has its own artisan’s fair every weekend.  What about Almagro though? My neighborhood? It’s a haven for tango music, dancing, and the site of the enormous ode to capitalism, the Abasto shopping mall, whose prices would rival that of any posh American mall. What of San Cristobal? Or Puerto Madero? And Villa Crespo? Or the Boca?

Buenos Aires is enormous. I’ll repeat. Absolutely e-nor-mous. As much as I want to leave Argentina saying that I have conquered Buenos Aires, I just don’t think I can. The city has so much to offer that it would be downright presumptuous to claim to have taken advantage of it all. To make the most out of the BA experience is to submit to its immense size and diversity. To recognize that you will find many things you will love and many that you will hate. Basically, you create your own confines based upon your interests. You lay down your own tracks. Much like a certain Subte system.