Steak,
Wine, and Bus #93
(July
12 - August 8, 1998)
You can click on "photos" to
get directly to the photo page.
First, a short description
about Buenos Aires from the Fodor's web site:
"Buenos Aires is a sprawling megalopolis that rises from the Río
Plata and stretches more than 194 square kilometers (75 square miles)
to the surrounding pampas, the fertile Argentine plains. Block
after block of tidy, high-rise apartment buildings interspersed with
19th-century houses continue as far as the eye can see. Dozens of
suburban neighborhoods, each with its own particular character and
well groomed parks, surround the downtown area. Unlike most South
American cities, whose architectural styles reveal a strong Spanish
colonial influence, Buenos Aires looks more like Paris, with wide
boulevards lined with palatial mansions. Flowers are sold at colorful
corner kiosks, the smell of freshly baked bread fills the air around
well stocked bakeries, and cafés appear on every block."
We have been here for a little over a week. Our team for this
eight week trip is made up of Merle Stuchell, Pam Pearce, Carol Rogers,
Andrew Beyer, and myself. It is easy to see
that BA is, indeed, a sprawling megalopolis. In most cities that
we have
visited, we were able to walk to where we wanted to go, but it seems
that we need
to take taxi or subway to save some steps and spend more time in the
area we
wish to see. There are many buildings that do have a European
look about
them, especially a Parisian look. I am particularly impressed
with the
amount of 'green' space in this city. On the way in from the
airport, and
everyday on the way to the IBM site in Martinez, we see many
parks. I have
come to love the parks in the cities that I have visited, especially in
the warm
weather months when there are musicians and other types of entertainers
doing
their thing. It is winter here now, albeit not as cold as
northeastern winters.
The temperature range now is about 40-60. The weather was
gorgeous as we arrived
in BA on July 12.
The people are very nice and very friendly except, of course, the
'mustard people' (but I was told that even they were polite and
nice....classy thieves, I guess). The women (Linda and Diane)
find the men to be handsome
and we, Merle and I, find the women to be very pretty (and some just
downright beautiful). Although Argentina is a Spanish speaking
country,
English is prevalent (in varying degrees) and communicating is not a
very big
problem except, of course, on bus #93 (more on that a little
later). Our
contact here,
Eugenio (who worked with our team on an audit in Paris in 1996),
explained that BA is much more cosmopolitan that other South American
countries
because people from many European countries came to Argentina early in
the 20th century to
settle. Eugenio's last name is Piotrowski and his heritage is
both Polish and
Spanish. So it is not uncommon to see many Argentineans who do
not have what
one might consider a distinct Latin look, but a mix of Latin and
European.
I was told that the beef in Argentina is marvelous, and that is
absolutely a true statement. The Argentinean red wine is also
marvelous and we
were told that 80% of the wine produced in Argentina is consumed
here. Our
first experience with a steak house, Las Nazarenas, was excellent from
start
to finish, and the prices didn't seem exorbitant to us. We all
had
great cuts of steak ranging from 8 ounces to a pound, along with salad,
veggies,
wine, and it came to about $32 a person. The exchange rate is 1
for 1 so $1
equals 1 peso and American dollars are accepted at most places.
After that
first dinner, the waiter brought over a liquor and poured a glass for
everyone
(complimentary, and he even gave us a refill). It was something
called Legui, a
licor fino, and it was great and went down easy after such a delicious
meal.
We have eaten three times at this restaurant, including the other
evening when
another member of our team arrived. This time it ended up around
$29 a person
for lots of food and some wine. The waiter opened up a bottle of
champagne for our table (and some of us had the Lugui again).
We don't have cars here and I wondered why not. I learned after
our ride in from the airport, and watching the local drivers, and on
our daily
30 minute taxi ride to Martinez, why we don't have cars here.
It's crazy on
the roads. These drivers are masters at 'give and take'. It
could be
downright scary to be in these taxis, but I noticed that the cars
aren't all dented up and
the drivers seemed to know what they are doing (WE HOPE). It's
even
funny sometimes. The roads are all marked with solid or dotted
white
lines, but the drivers seem to love STRADDLING the lines (maybe to have
an edge to go
either left or right once they decide?). One morning on the way
to work,
we were on a 2 lane stretch of highway and there was a bus in the right
lane next to
us and we were in the left lane. Well, sort of. I guess we
were
half in the right lane and half in the left lane. All of a
sudden, a car passed us
on the left. This 2 lane road became a 3 lane road for a few
seconds. We
looked at each other and could only laugh. Actually, we have
gotten a chuckle
almost every day by some of the moves these drivers make.
Now you may think that the following little tidbit is all fiction, but
trust me, this REALLY did happen to us the other night. The six
of us
went to dinner and took one of the city buses the 10-12 blocks or so to
the area in
which the restaurant was located. There are some 25, or so, bus
companies
in BA, and I don't think there are any two buses alike. One may
appear to be
like a converted school bus, some a bit more modern, and even a few
that could
be called modern. There are hundreds of buses roaming this
city. We were told to take bus 93 and we waited for it to
arrive. One must flag down
the buses here as one does a taxi since there may be 5, or more,
different bus lines
stopping at a stop. The driver has no idea if any of the people
waiting at
the stop want his bus. So if you don't flag down the bus, it just
zips on
past.
So here we are waiting for the bus. It seemed like it was a long
time coming as we saw several #152s, several #67s, etc. We
finally spot #93
on an upcoming bus and it is PACKED with rush hour riders. I
guess we should
have known we were in for an adventure when the bus driver threw open
the doors about
20 feet from the stop as he screeched to a halt. I'm sure, as we
soon
found out, that we were holding him up as the six of us wondered if we
could all fit in
the bus. Turns out we all got in, albeit one of our crew was down
on
the steps. Off he goes and, at each stop, he throws open the door
about 20 feet
before getting to the next stop and he doesn't slow down much. It
was
like 'get on or off while in motion or you're out of luck'. What
a scream.
;-) But that is NOT the real story here. The adventure
actually happened on the
way back to the hotel, a distance of about 8-9 blocks after we had
walked a bit.
We got to a bus stop on the main street, Avenida Libertador, and waited
for a #93 bus to arrive. At about 9:20pm (remember this time),
one of
those old converted school buses pulls up and we get on quickly.
We knew
that we had better tell the bus driver where we wanted to get off or
he'd just
drive past it. So someone said we were going to the Sheraton
Hotel. He
stops on the far corner from the hotel, but seems to indicate, via sign
language (and
Spanish that none of us understood), that we should wait and he would
be
turning around and drop us off on the other side of the street near the
hotel.
NOW the adventure begins.
This was a young driver with long curly hair
(and he kept 'flipping' it up) who was just short of a maniac behind
the
wheel. These buses were standard shifts and he made the engine
scream for mercy with every
acceleration from a bus stop. He kept going and going and going,
further and further from the hotel. Like, when are you going to
turn around
man? It wasn't very crowded on the streets and the driver decides
that racing
other buses up and down the streets and around corners would be sort of
interesting and fun, so he turns the streets into a 'stock bus'
track.
;-) It is now approaching 10pm and we are STILL on the bus going
God knows
where. The streets turn darker and darker and the neighborhood
doesn't exactly
look like one would ever want to get off the bus. All along the
way people
are getting OFF the bus and NOBODY is getting on. Finally, we are
the ONLY
six people on the bus and wondering just what this guy is doing.
Maybe he's
taking us to some deserted place to meet up with his buddies and spritz
us with
mustard? At 10:10pm we arrive at the end of a VERY dark and dirty
street and see
lots of other bus #93s. We have arrived at the 'bus barn' and the
driver
looks at us and says words in Spanish and does some hand gestures like
'why are you
people still on my bus?'.
I know this probably sounds like
fiction, but this is a true story. Merle and I went out to talk
to some of the
other guys in the bus barn to see if anyone could tell us what was
going on. No
luck. We didn't have a clue. It took about 15 minutes to
finally figure out that
this guy will, indeed, turn the bus around and head back, but only
AFTER he has
his break, which turned out to be 35 minutes. We think the deal
is
that the faster these guys finish their route, the longer the break
they have before
having to do it again. So at 10:46pm we start off again (he
showed me his
schedule card that showed when he was to leave the bus barn again to
start his
route). A half hour later, as he approaches the Sheraton, he
points to it and
says 'Sheraton Sheraton', as though WE were the ones that were
lost.
But we think he realized he screwed up because he said to Merle, as he
got off the
bus, something like 'excuse me'.
That evening was going to be an early night, but ended up being one of
the late ones. But what an adventure. I have had more
excitement in
1 1/2 weeks in BA than I ever had in the almost four years I was in
Audit the first time
from 1993-1997. I do have some of the bus trip on video and it
should make
some fun watching sometime in the future. What a night.
This past weekend, the six of us booked a package to Montevideo,
Uruguay via the Buquebus (a fast ferry). It was 2 1/2 hours
across to Uruguay. "Nick-named America's Switzerland, the small,
independent country of
Uruguay is known for the sense of personal and
financial security shared by its people. In fact, Montevideo is ranked
among Latin American capitals with the lowest crime rate."
The trip was ok and we happened to arrive on their Constitution Day
holiday. So we saw part of a parade and then took a city
tour. My
impression was certainly not that positive. Maybe it was a fluke
because of the
holiday, but the city was pretty dirty, almost filthy, with garbage all
over the
place, even on the main drag. Having been born and raised for my
first nine
years in NYC, it reminded me of some parts of NYC. I've been to
Switzerland
several times and whoever nick-named Montevideo as 'America's
Switzerland' had a lot
of nerve or (or else was blind). ;-) No
comparison. We saw a lot
of poverty as we toured the city on the bus. Lots of slum like
areas.
One of the interesting things we saw were lots of people carrying some
type of cup around, and some people had hot water thermoses. In
the cup
was a metal straw type contraption with a spoon like bottom. It
was actually a
filter. We found out that what they were drinking was a type of
tea. They
call it mate (ma-tay) and the stuff they put in the holder is
yerba. I got to
try it on Monday when we got back to work as our contact here does
mate. It
was weird to see so many people walking around with these mate holders
with the
metal straw. If you did that in the states, the cops would
probably
stop you and check out the contents of the cup. :-)
Merle's wife leaves tomorrow night so Diane will be on her own for the
final two weeks here. She and Linda have been doing lots of
walking and
day excursions. No specific plans for the weekend, but we are
doing a
tango show tonight.
Until next time.
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