A bad day for blogging

First of all, I forgot to bring my camera when I walked to Parque Norte to find a fronton (not a frontera) to practice tennis.  Despite Daniel's instructions, I walked around for 45 minutes before breaking down and asking the guy at the hot dog stand for help crossing the 6 lane highway.  He advised me to cross the highway on the automobile bridge... the one that didn't have a sidewalk.  Thankfully, a motorcycle messenger overheard the conversation and rescued me by telling me about the foot bridge just a bit down the road.  Phewf.

Parque Norte is owned by some sort of organized labor group (Sindicatos del Empleados de Comercio) but can be used by the public for a fee.  I paid AR$14 (USD$3.50) for general admission.  The day was cloudy and it seemed like it was going to rain, so the park was fairly empty.  It's a huge space-- nearly 30 acres of space which included many, many tennis courts, squash courts, soccer fields, and a lake.  It's really like a gigantic sports club.  This is where kids go to day camp during the summer months (school does not start until March 1st).

I found the fronton with the help of some friendly employees.  Unfortunately, the wall was right next to the area where day camp groups waited for their turn to swim in the lake.  The 7 and 8 year olds were generous about my poor tennis skills.  They just ignored me.  The 4 and 5 year olds were BRUTAL.  They stood at the side of the concrete court and asked each other loudly "What is she doing?"  "Why can't she hit the ball?"  "What's wrong with her racquet?"  (What IS wrong with my racquet, I wondered.  Maybe that's the problem....)  One sweet little girl actually offered up her father to give me lessons.  Ouch.

It started to rain, so I left before Daniel's prescribed 2 hour time frame.  My walk home is around 3.5 miles.  Life as a pedestrian in Buenos Aires is tenuous.  No one stops for you, even when you're in the cross walk or if you have the right of way.  In fact, the whole concept of right of way does not exist here.  There are very few stop signs and many, many one-way streets.  Quad and I couldn't figure out how cars decided who would stop at a 4 way intersection without stop signs or lights.  I finally learned that, in theory, the car on the right has the right of way.  Nowadays, however, the newest car (the one who has the most to lose in an accident) yields.  Scary.

So there I was, standing on the corner of Jorge Newbery and Soledad de Independencia waiting my turn to cross the street when a small truck drove by and slowed down.  I thought to myself, "here's some nice person who is going to let me cross the street."  I took a step out into the road, but the truck did not slow down any further, so I stayed where I was.  And then the driver leaned his head out the window and SNEEZED right in my face.  No joke.  Sigh.  Life as a pedestrian isn't just tenuous, it's downright dangerous.  I would like to thank my primary care doctor for insisting that I get a flu shot.....