The wheels on the bus....

I am no longer a slave to the Subte.  I have discovered the world of buses.  Here, they're called colectivos.

The day started with a trip across the city to San Telmo to watch Chelsea vs Liverpool match at the Gibraltar Bar.  This is an honest-to-god English pub plunked down the middle of Buenos Aires.  It even smelled like an  English pub-- a combination of curry and leather polish.  I loved it.  Sadly, Chelsea lost 0-1.

The last time I went to San Telmo, I took the Subte and then walked.  This time, I rode the infamous #29 from Avenida Luis Campos (2 blocks from my house) to the very corner where I found the bar.  There are 200 different bus lines in the city.  Many have more than one route.  There's apparently a guide you can buy to find out which bus to take.  I saw the guide on my second day in Buenos Aires and did not buy it...bad idea.  I found a great website which tells you which colectivo to take, but this does not allow for fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of travel.  I can figure out how to get some place, but I can't always figure out how to get home.

[Waiting for the #29 to San Telmo]

You're supposed to board the bus and either announce your fare or ask the driver how much it costs to get to X place.  You put your coins in the fare box and it spits out your change and a little printed ticket.  Bills are not accepted on the buses.  There is apparently a coin shortage in Argentina.  The rumor is that the metals from which the coins are made are worth more than the monetary value of the coins themselves and that big companies are hoarding the coins and melting them down (which, like in the US, is a federal offense).  I'm not sure I buy this explanation.  But I do know that most businesses would rather lose a sale than give you coins ("monedas").  Today, I had a guy refuse to sell me a bottle of water because he was going to owe me a peso.

[Peso notes-- including the dreaded 2 peso bill.  With nearly 30% inflation this year, this bill is becoming kind of irrelevant.  AR$2=US 50 cents]

[5 and 10 centavo coins-- all I have left in monedas after today's travels.]

So, I usually board the bus and tell the driver where I'm going-- this is also a way to confirm that I'm on the right bus since it's not always clear from the signs.  Inevitably, the driver tells me the fare is AR$1.20 or AR$1.25.  I pay and take my ticket.  But I've noticed that everyone else boards the bus, announces their fare, and it's never more than 90 centavos.  In fact, 90% of the time, they announce either 90 centavos or 80 centavos.  On a rare occasion, they might pay a full peso.  I asked the barkeep at Gibraltar about this.  He says everyone cheats the system.  I think I'm going to keep paying my AR$1.25.

After the soccer match, I raced home on the #29.... which, of course, boards at the #24 stop on Sundays since Avenida Independencia is closed... duh!

[Here comes the #29]

I had tennis lesson #5 with Anna (the American) in Nunez at 5 pm.  I planned to take a bus through my neighborhood, through Barrio Chino, and into Nunez on Avenida Libertador.  Many of the streets in Barrio Chino were closed for the Chinese New Year celebration, so the #15 had to take a detour.  The driver pulled over before this variance in the route and explained the situation to all of the passengers.  The old ladies were all a twitter.  Why couldn't he just drive his usual route?  Who cared about the celebration?  Why should they be disrupted for other people to have fun?  It was highly amusing.  Most of the 75+ crowd got off the bus-- I couldn't tell if they were leaving in protest or because they were confused.

The tennis lesson was a mixed bag.  My ground strokes are getting noticeably better.  I still can't serve or hit an overhead for the life of me.  Anna is infinitely amused when I tell her stories about Daniel but she agrees that homework is good for me and encouraged me to hit against the wall too.  On the other hand, Anna doesn't think I need to switch to the one handed backhand.  I don't think Anna knows how scary Daniel is.

I waited 20 minutes for the bus home before I gave up and started walking.  Of course, no sooner had I abandoned my wait than a string of #15s rolled by.

As I walked, I witnessed some excitement!!  Critical mass had a bike rally (perhaps in honor of the Chinese New Year??) and clogged up the already confused traffic on Avenida Libertador.  There were a few dicey moments when a disgruntled motorist who tried to drive through the rally was removed from his truck.  Off duty police officers intervened before he was harmed.

[The offending silver truck]

Now where will I take the bus tomorrow?