Walking along the streets of Buenos Aires has similar vibes
to walking around New York. The avenues seem straight and streets stem off them
in a normal fashion, akin to the simple and easy-to-manage grid of NYC. But
these ground floor views are a form of trickery: the bird’s eye view of a map
is when one finally realizes this city isn’t a grid at all. So when you think
you’re walking straight on Avenida Santa Fe, soon enough you’ll slightly change
cardinal directions without feeling any change within your step. Looking at a
map I know this, but being the speck traveling the route I am completely
unaware.
Thus far the process of wayfinding has been incredibly slow
and always frustrating. Today marks the one-week anniversary of my arrival here
in Argentina. I have yet to take the colectivo
(bus system) or subte (subway)
alone; I’ve always been accompanied by a friend or porteño (local Argentine) who knows their way. Today was the first
day of classes, and I have the walk from my homestay to the Academic Center
down. It’s incredibly easy, but takes about 30 minutes, therefore I see myself
converting to the colectivo as my
means of transport once I have more confidence in how the system works (which I
hope is soon!). Beyond these two sole locations that I truly know, all other
travels must be planned; there is an Argentine version of HopStop that hs been
of use, along with the detailed colectivo
guidebook NYU gave us, called Guia “T”
(which has a setup similar to Battleship when finding a route, which is pretty
fun).
In my seven days here, however (and holy cow, does it feel
infinitely longer than that) using my own two feet has been my preferred form
of navigation. Even walking (no matter how long or short of a trip it is) can
be stressful, because if you’re not on a major avenue, there are no street
signs (and even when there are, they’re often cracked in half and thus
illegible), and due to the pseudo-grid format, there is no way of pointing out
major landmarks, because they cannot be easily seen like the Empire State Building,
looking down Fifth Avenue.
I’ve never been that great with having any sort of sense of
cardinal direction, and I feel I need it now more than ever. I hope that once
familiarity with my surroundings increases, using more public transportation
and finally discovering an inner-compass will follow. I’ve been lucky to not be
totally and completely lost yet, but I don’t doubt future attempts at taking
the buses and going to new places will lead to this – I just hope I’m ready!
Meg
ReplyDeleteI enjoy following your adventure on this site. I would prefer to be a silent reader but the awful train wreck in your adopted city prompts me to make sure you were not involved. A heads up to that end would be great. I am aware your mom is traveling today.
Gracias
Randy in Richmond
Randy - thanks so much for voicing concern and checking in on me. You are one among many who did the same. My most recent post about my experience of the news goes out to folk like you.
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