In Buenos Aires, if you want to get from here to there, a tourist has got no fewer than six options: walk, drive, take a taxi, board a train, ride the bus, or venture to the Subté (the subway - the first one built in South America, incidentally). Each one is adventurous in its own right. The taxis are cheap, the buses, trains and subway even cheaper, and each of those moving choices are efficient and frequent.
Walking obviously gets you the best views, but taking a taxi is kind of a thrill. Often, there are no stop signs or lights at intersections; it appeared to me that right of way is just a guessing game. And lane markers? Forget about it - the painted lines on the roadways mean absolutely nothing to drivers.
During rush hour, the subway is a sight to behold. I have never in my life seen more crammed buses and subway trains. People are sardined so tightly, there are times I swear your feet wouldn't even touch the ground - you'd simply get lifted and jostled with the crowd. It was in one of these overly-crowded Subté cars that two members of our group were pickpocketed. "Strangely," their wallets - sans cash but with credit cards and ID intact - were returned by a good Samaritan to our hotel for a ridiculously nominal reward (20 pesos - or 5 bucks). Fact is, the pickpocketers work in groups, and the dude designated to return the wallets gets to be the hero and peel off even a little more graft. Not enough to look like extortion, but all those 20 peso good deeds could add up on a good day. Industrious, no?
In Buenos Aires, if you want to get from here to there, a tourist has got no fewer than six options: walk, drive, take a taxi, board a train, ride the bus, or venture to the Subté (the subway - the first one built in South America, incidentally). Each one is adventurous in its own right. The taxis are cheap, the buses, trains and subway even cheaper, and each of those moving choices are efficient and frequent.
Walking obviously gets you the best views, but taking a taxi is kind of a thrill. Often, there are no stop signs or lights at intersections; it appeared to me that right of way is just a guessing game. And lane markers? Forget about it - the painted lines on the roadways mean absolutely nothing to drivers.
During rush hour, the subway is a sight to behold. I have never in my life seen more crammed buses and subway trains. People are sardined so tightly, there are times I swear your feet wouldn't even touch the ground - you'd simply get lifted and jostled with the crowd. It was in one of these overly-crowded Subté cars that two members of our group were pickpocketed. "Strangely," their wallets - sans cash but with credit cards and ID intact - were returned by a good Samaritan to our hotel for a ridiculously nominal reward (20 pesos - or 5 bucks). Fact is, the pickpocketers work in groups, and the dude designated to return the wallets gets to be the hero and peel off even a little more graft. Not enough to look like extortion, but all those 20 peso good deeds could add up on a good day. Industrious, no?
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