Once we were parked we pretty much stayed parked. The subway system and colectivos -busses - would get you just about anywhere you wanted or needed to go. The city was very safe for tourists. There was no problem in walking anywhere even at night.
Driving was very different from what I was used to. The streets had no lane markings, so you just made your own lane. (I remember Bill saying that if you wanted to cut down on the population in California take away the lines on the street. I now understood what he meant. ) At intersections without lights the person who honked or flicked his lights first entered first. Pedestrians did not care if the traffic light was red or green; they crossed when they wanted to. They went from side to side or right across the middle catty corner.
Parking was even worse. There would be a line of cars parked at the curb. Between two cars would be a space almost big enough for another car. A car would come cruising by see the space, back in until his rear bumper touched the front of the car behind. Then he would push the parked car backwards. When that car touched the one behind it it would start moving backward too. Soon there might be two or three cars being pushed backwards. If there still wasn’t enough space the car with the driver would nudge up to the car in front of him and push it. When he had enough space for his car he would park and walk away. Of course now all the cars in front and behind him were wedged in. So when one of those drivers came to his car the pushing would start all over again. It was funny to watch. In fact one time we watched a mid sized car try to push the motorhome. No luck with that. Bill says everyone leaves their car in neutral so they can be pushed.
Speaking of cars. The public transportation was so good one really didn’t need a car. In fact Bill’s brother had a car and it spent most of its time garaged. There was one car in particular that was very different from the monsters we were used to in the US. It was a tiny Citroen. If you leaned against or poked it with your finger the metal would dent. It could be picked up and moved by two or three men. Once when we had taken the motorhome out for the day when we got back to our dead end street there was a little Citroen parked where we usually parked. How dare he! Any way - Bill, John Mc and Randy got out picked it up and moved it so we could pull in.
The subway system was great. It had been built in the early 1900s so it were a little worn and noisy but very efficient. In the subway stations were little restaurants that served milanese sandwiches made of breaded meat fried, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on a hard crust roll. Bill, Randy and John Mc could have lived on them.
On the corner of Rojas and Rivadavia was a great pizza restaurant. About the restaurants - when you go into a sit down restaurant - the kind with tablecloths - you are charged for the place settings i.e. place mat, napkin, and silverware. If there are four place settings, you are charged for four even if there are only three people. Bill would ask them to remove the extra ones before we were served and no problem they would. I figured that if we paid for the silver ware we should be able to take it - Bill didn’t think that was funny. All my life I had wanted to have a romantic meal in an outdoor café. Well one day when just he and I were downtown dealing with the Aduanas (customs) I talked him into having lunch in just such a café. Sometimes dreams are better than reality. Between the vehicle exhaust and the horns it lost its romance. I was sure disappointed.
Another thing very different from the US were the soldiers. They were every where - standing guard, riding around in trucks and walking the streets. No matter what they were doing they had their guns at the ready. All the government buildings were surrounded by sentries. Next to the sidewalks were signs saying, “Do Not Stop, Sentries Will Shoot.” Once as we were walking past one of these buildings I slowed down to admire its architecture and take a picture of it. It couldn’t have been two seconds and we heard the distinctive sound of a rifle being readied to shoot. We moved on very quickly. Another time we were in the motorhome driving back to our parking area and as we passed in front of the Escuela de Suboficials del Ejercito (military academy) Bill slowed way down to point it out to us. Right away there was a jeep there to tell us to keep moving. If a truck loaded with soldiers sitting in the back drove by and you waved at them they would not wave back. For July 9th Argentine Independence Day we all went downtown to watch the parade. It wasn’t the Rose Parade. It was a couple of hours of military men, trucks, tanks and weapons being paraded. Not even any bands. Sure different.
Driving was very different from what I was used to. The streets had no lane markings, so you just made your own lane. (I remember Bill saying that if you wanted to cut down on the population in California take away the lines on the street. I now understood what he meant. ) At intersections without lights the person who honked or flicked his lights first entered first. Pedestrians did not care if the traffic light was red or green; they crossed when they wanted to. They went from side to side or right across the middle catty corner.
Parking was even worse. There would be a line of cars parked at the curb. Between two cars would be a space almost big enough for another car. A car would come cruising by see the space, back in until his rear bumper touched the front of the car behind. Then he would push the parked car backwards. When that car touched the one behind it it would start moving backward too. Soon there might be two or three cars being pushed backwards. If there still wasn’t enough space the car with the driver would nudge up to the car in front of him and push it. When he had enough space for his car he would park and walk away. Of course now all the cars in front and behind him were wedged in. So when one of those drivers came to his car the pushing would start all over again. It was funny to watch. In fact one time we watched a mid sized car try to push the motorhome. No luck with that. Bill says everyone leaves their car in neutral so they can be pushed.
Speaking of cars. The public transportation was so good one really didn’t need a car. In fact Bill’s brother had a car and it spent most of its time garaged. There was one car in particular that was very different from the monsters we were used to in the US. It was a tiny Citroen. If you leaned against or poked it with your finger the metal would dent. It could be picked up and moved by two or three men. Once when we had taken the motorhome out for the day when we got back to our dead end street there was a little Citroen parked where we usually parked. How dare he! Any way - Bill, John Mc and Randy got out picked it up and moved it so we could pull in.
The subway system was great. It had been built in the early 1900s so it were a little worn and noisy but very efficient. In the subway stations were little restaurants that served milanese sandwiches made of breaded meat fried, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on a hard crust roll. Bill, Randy and John Mc could have lived on them.
On the corner of Rojas and Rivadavia was a great pizza restaurant. About the restaurants - when you go into a sit down restaurant - the kind with tablecloths - you are charged for the place settings i.e. place mat, napkin, and silverware. If there are four place settings, you are charged for four even if there are only three people. Bill would ask them to remove the extra ones before we were served and no problem they would. I figured that if we paid for the silver ware we should be able to take it - Bill didn’t think that was funny. All my life I had wanted to have a romantic meal in an outdoor café. Well one day when just he and I were downtown dealing with the Aduanas (customs) I talked him into having lunch in just such a café. Sometimes dreams are better than reality. Between the vehicle exhaust and the horns it lost its romance. I was sure disappointed.
Another thing very different from the US were the soldiers. They were every where - standing guard, riding around in trucks and walking the streets. No matter what they were doing they had their guns at the ready. All the government buildings were surrounded by sentries. Next to the sidewalks were signs saying, “Do Not Stop, Sentries Will Shoot.” Once as we were walking past one of these buildings I slowed down to admire its architecture and take a picture of it. It couldn’t have been two seconds and we heard the distinctive sound of a rifle being readied to shoot. We moved on very quickly. Another time we were in the motorhome driving back to our parking area and as we passed in front of the Escuela de Suboficials del Ejercito (military academy) Bill slowed way down to point it out to us. Right away there was a jeep there to tell us to keep moving. If a truck loaded with soldiers sitting in the back drove by and you waved at them they would not wave back. For July 9th Argentine Independence Day we all went downtown to watch the parade. It wasn’t the Rose Parade. It was a couple of hours of military men, trucks, tanks and weapons being paraded. Not even any bands. Sure different.
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Observations of Buenos Aires, Argentina - Living in a Motorhome on the Street
