El Queso
05-20-09, 01:39
Ok, many of you have probably read some of my rants before about life in Argentina. In fact, when I moved out into the suburbs of BA, the lengthy, unnecessarily complicated process and movement among the darker shades of life in Argentina (the distrust and racism / elitism) generated such a large amount of rants that people thought I hated Argentina.
I don't hate Argentina. But sometimes the way things are done amaze me and I find I just want to share it as an anthropologist (of modern cultures) would want to share his experiences to his peers.
Even many of you who live in BA don't often see the difference in life out here that I experience, with the possible exeption of some of my friends who have visited me out here often, gone to the local stores, experienced the local traffic, and so on. Much less those of you who visit BA on a regular or occasional basis and may never leave the Recoleta / Micro Center area.
Take a simple task like buying something (anything) that you may need, between the hours of 13:00 and 17:00 (well, maybe 16:30 depending on what it is you're looking for) There is a panaderia, kiosko and carniceria just outside the neighborhood. Down the road about 500 meters (in a nice little "open" [I. E. Not a closed barrio or "country"] neighborhood) is a local "commercial cluster" of fruitstands, meat shops, kiokos, a little grocery store, a clinic, etc. Quite a choice of locations, one would think.
Well, no. The Argentinos out here are big believers in the siesta. It is a very real thing here. Everything shuts down. Everything local. The big chains like Jumbo and Easy are open. They're about 12 kms down the road. There's a small Disco about 8 kms away. But there is nothing else open during this period.
Not really a big deal. At first it's frustrating because you just simply forget about the siesta. You're used to living in a place where things are generally available from mid-morning to late at night at least. So you learn to wait and generally your reflexes as to when to run errands change to suit the situation.
But let's say that whatever it is you need, is something that you need now, so the car is the only option. On leaving the neighborhood, you have to drive up to the guard shack and wait for them to raise the arm blocking the exit (and the entrance of course) Pass general pleasantries with the guard, no matter what kind of mood you're in (of course many apartment dwellers deal with this too) It would be nice to just drive the hell out of the neighborhood sometimes, without any interaction until you get to where you're going, get your business done and get out and back. But that's the trade-off of living in a protected community. A small thing that is not usually a problem anyway. Easly dealt with when necessary.
Now we get to the problem. Driving around. Understand - I am a very good driver. I am one with the car. I may get lost (shut up Jackson! But that's navigation we're talking about. I could stand a car on two wheels and still drive straight:) But I'm also used to a little order.
I have really come to appreciate traffic lights. They used to be pesky things that held me up from getting to where I was going. But around here there are no stop lights. Well, they're rare anyway. I have come to understand that sometimes one must wait for others for the sake of order.
Imagine a fairly busy four-lane highway, and a busy two lane road that crosses it underneath. Imagine an exit ramp that leads off gently to the right from the highway, rising slightly in a hump, then dropping fast and in about 70 meters turning 90 degrees to the right to spill into the collectora (the feeder road, which out here often is dirt, or a paved intersection with dirt roads leading away) about 20 meters from the intersection of the busy two lane road. You better be prepared to slow down fast when exiting.
But having come down that exit, there's no light at the intersection. There's no space to coast down off the highway and cruise up to a stoplight anyway. Instead, there is a crazed, chaotic dance of cars exiting, crossing the intersection, going up the likewise-corkscrewed entrance ramp. Add to the mix busses dropping people off and picking them up (always) on the corners. It's insane. That's the inersection that leads to where I live.
There is a place I go to just about every day, about an exit away down the highway from where I live. That is one of the few exits that actually has a stop light. But of course, due to the way the on- and off-ramp system is designed, it's a bottled-up nightmare. There is room for maybe 15 (at the most) cars on the off-ramp before it starts backing up onto the highway (not uncommon - never drive in the right lane, or even middle if you can help it! That's if the cars were in a single line going down the ramp. Well no, that's not quite the way it works.
You have busses and trucks and cars, all packed in at least two wide down the ramp. Down toward the bottom it spreads out a bit so you might start getting three wide. Of course, you've always got someone who hasn't gotten far enough over to the right or left and is "blocking" someone from being beside him. So now you get some joker jumping the curb with one set of wheels to edge up and try to get past or get up in line, what have you.
The light turns green. Seven, maybe eight cars get through. The juggling process starts all over again. You finally get up to the light and you stop when it turns red because you respect that light and hail it as a long-lost friend, embracing the rule of order. Of course, you get honked at by those behind you. But screw them, you think.
Today I did that. I had edged off to the right to let the other one or two cars pull up next to me. The light had turned red before I could have easily even gotten into the intersection. The guy that came up to my left edged up like he thought about stopping but then hit the accelerator, having decided he didn't need to obey that particular instruction to stop at this particular time. He hit the brakes just quick enough to keep from running over the old man who had stepped into the intersection to cross the street.
The old man was pissed, needless to say. He shook his cane at the driver, and started hollering at him, calling him an idiot, questioning his upbringing and ancestry and raining upon the driver all manner of personal insults. The driver sat there for a minute and just took it; then as the old man turned and began hobbling across the street the driver found enough balls to open his window and tell the old man that he was an asshole and should know not to walk right out into an intersection without looking first. I was laughing at this point and the driver looked over at me. I just smiled, shaking my head at him. He closed the window.
Now the light turns green. I move into the intersection and have to look in about four directions at once. Keep in mind that the exit ramp is still about 20 meters from the actual road I'm turning on to. That makes entering the inersection a bit awkward. The cars coming from the left, for example, from under the bridge, can't see the exit point I'm coming from. I can't see them until I pull out a bit. They are supposed to be stopped - but traffic lights here are often treated as a suggestion here, as you could see from the "old man" incident. Not like it's that much better in the city at times, I know.
Then you've got the busses here like any other inersection, and they think they own the road. The problem is, they can enforce that ownership if they feel like it, and they sure drive like they are willing to enforce it.
At this particular intersection, you have a lot of pedestrian traffic because there's a small bus terminal on the other side of the highway. So you have others dragging their kids by the hand sometimes ignoring the traffic lights. Clusters of school kids not paying attention to what they're doing, or just walking across in front of traffic daring someone to hit them.
Phew. You finally get past and then you get on the road you're trying to get on, heading to where you need to be going. But you have to watch every meter of the road because it's in real bad repair. Some places there are cracks in the road that are as wide as a quarter meter. Running with your tires or running perpendicular. Half-assed speed bumps that you can hardly feel because they've been worn down so far, but someone has to come to a near stop to cross it. Busses making a stop every 500 meters and too much traffic to pass. Or some guy in a beater driving 30 k an hour and blowing smoke in your face.
And so on. Living in the burbs and such things.
I don't hate Argentina. But sometimes the way things are done amaze me and I find I just want to share it as an anthropologist (of modern cultures) would want to share his experiences to his peers.
Even many of you who live in BA don't often see the difference in life out here that I experience, with the possible exeption of some of my friends who have visited me out here often, gone to the local stores, experienced the local traffic, and so on. Much less those of you who visit BA on a regular or occasional basis and may never leave the Recoleta / Micro Center area.
Take a simple task like buying something (anything) that you may need, between the hours of 13:00 and 17:00 (well, maybe 16:30 depending on what it is you're looking for) There is a panaderia, kiosko and carniceria just outside the neighborhood. Down the road about 500 meters (in a nice little "open" [I. E. Not a closed barrio or "country"] neighborhood) is a local "commercial cluster" of fruitstands, meat shops, kiokos, a little grocery store, a clinic, etc. Quite a choice of locations, one would think.
Well, no. The Argentinos out here are big believers in the siesta. It is a very real thing here. Everything shuts down. Everything local. The big chains like Jumbo and Easy are open. They're about 12 kms down the road. There's a small Disco about 8 kms away. But there is nothing else open during this period.
Not really a big deal. At first it's frustrating because you just simply forget about the siesta. You're used to living in a place where things are generally available from mid-morning to late at night at least. So you learn to wait and generally your reflexes as to when to run errands change to suit the situation.
But let's say that whatever it is you need, is something that you need now, so the car is the only option. On leaving the neighborhood, you have to drive up to the guard shack and wait for them to raise the arm blocking the exit (and the entrance of course) Pass general pleasantries with the guard, no matter what kind of mood you're in (of course many apartment dwellers deal with this too) It would be nice to just drive the hell out of the neighborhood sometimes, without any interaction until you get to where you're going, get your business done and get out and back. But that's the trade-off of living in a protected community. A small thing that is not usually a problem anyway. Easly dealt with when necessary.
Now we get to the problem. Driving around. Understand - I am a very good driver. I am one with the car. I may get lost (shut up Jackson! But that's navigation we're talking about. I could stand a car on two wheels and still drive straight:) But I'm also used to a little order.
I have really come to appreciate traffic lights. They used to be pesky things that held me up from getting to where I was going. But around here there are no stop lights. Well, they're rare anyway. I have come to understand that sometimes one must wait for others for the sake of order.
Imagine a fairly busy four-lane highway, and a busy two lane road that crosses it underneath. Imagine an exit ramp that leads off gently to the right from the highway, rising slightly in a hump, then dropping fast and in about 70 meters turning 90 degrees to the right to spill into the collectora (the feeder road, which out here often is dirt, or a paved intersection with dirt roads leading away) about 20 meters from the intersection of the busy two lane road. You better be prepared to slow down fast when exiting.
But having come down that exit, there's no light at the intersection. There's no space to coast down off the highway and cruise up to a stoplight anyway. Instead, there is a crazed, chaotic dance of cars exiting, crossing the intersection, going up the likewise-corkscrewed entrance ramp. Add to the mix busses dropping people off and picking them up (always) on the corners. It's insane. That's the inersection that leads to where I live.
There is a place I go to just about every day, about an exit away down the highway from where I live. That is one of the few exits that actually has a stop light. But of course, due to the way the on- and off-ramp system is designed, it's a bottled-up nightmare. There is room for maybe 15 (at the most) cars on the off-ramp before it starts backing up onto the highway (not uncommon - never drive in the right lane, or even middle if you can help it! That's if the cars were in a single line going down the ramp. Well no, that's not quite the way it works.
You have busses and trucks and cars, all packed in at least two wide down the ramp. Down toward the bottom it spreads out a bit so you might start getting three wide. Of course, you've always got someone who hasn't gotten far enough over to the right or left and is "blocking" someone from being beside him. So now you get some joker jumping the curb with one set of wheels to edge up and try to get past or get up in line, what have you.
The light turns green. Seven, maybe eight cars get through. The juggling process starts all over again. You finally get up to the light and you stop when it turns red because you respect that light and hail it as a long-lost friend, embracing the rule of order. Of course, you get honked at by those behind you. But screw them, you think.
Today I did that. I had edged off to the right to let the other one or two cars pull up next to me. The light had turned red before I could have easily even gotten into the intersection. The guy that came up to my left edged up like he thought about stopping but then hit the accelerator, having decided he didn't need to obey that particular instruction to stop at this particular time. He hit the brakes just quick enough to keep from running over the old man who had stepped into the intersection to cross the street.
The old man was pissed, needless to say. He shook his cane at the driver, and started hollering at him, calling him an idiot, questioning his upbringing and ancestry and raining upon the driver all manner of personal insults. The driver sat there for a minute and just took it; then as the old man turned and began hobbling across the street the driver found enough balls to open his window and tell the old man that he was an asshole and should know not to walk right out into an intersection without looking first. I was laughing at this point and the driver looked over at me. I just smiled, shaking my head at him. He closed the window.
Now the light turns green. I move into the intersection and have to look in about four directions at once. Keep in mind that the exit ramp is still about 20 meters from the actual road I'm turning on to. That makes entering the inersection a bit awkward. The cars coming from the left, for example, from under the bridge, can't see the exit point I'm coming from. I can't see them until I pull out a bit. They are supposed to be stopped - but traffic lights here are often treated as a suggestion here, as you could see from the "old man" incident. Not like it's that much better in the city at times, I know.
Then you've got the busses here like any other inersection, and they think they own the road. The problem is, they can enforce that ownership if they feel like it, and they sure drive like they are willing to enforce it.
At this particular intersection, you have a lot of pedestrian traffic because there's a small bus terminal on the other side of the highway. So you have others dragging their kids by the hand sometimes ignoring the traffic lights. Clusters of school kids not paying attention to what they're doing, or just walking across in front of traffic daring someone to hit them.
Phew. You finally get past and then you get on the road you're trying to get on, heading to where you need to be going. But you have to watch every meter of the road because it's in real bad repair. Some places there are cracks in the road that are as wide as a quarter meter. Running with your tires or running perpendicular. Half-assed speed bumps that you can hardly feel because they've been worn down so far, but someone has to come to a near stop to cross it. Busses making a stop every 500 meters and too much traffic to pass. Or some guy in a beater driving 30 k an hour and blowing smoke in your face.
And so on. Living in the burbs and such things.