I am your host, Vallazza-Raptor.
As I was saying in my last post about Argentina, it is a country I hold dear to my heart. I love that country. I think it's amazing. I've been trying to figure out different ways to see about living there temporarily, just for the fun of it. I'm all about new experiences, even if they turn out to be not what I was expecting, etc.
I could go around the country, much like I do here in the United States, and explore! I'm out to discover!
One staple of "discovering" that you must do while in Argentina is to go shopping or go to the shopping.
3) El "Shopping"
Argentines LOVE to shop. At least, all the ones I have met love to go shopping. They all want to take you shopping, too.
The first year I went to Argentina, my friend, Ale, who is an English teacher, invited me to visit her classes. She lied to her students and told them all that I spoke no Spanish whatsoever. I had to pretend I was really dumb and play along. It was a lot of fun.
The little girls that were in her class were all tittering with excitement as they asked me different questions in the little English that they had learned thus far in their little lives.
A.S.'s students were about middle school aged and of course, into boys and shopping and talking on the phones, much like the kids here in the U.S..
One little girl with cupcakes printed on her shirt asked me, "Do you like muffins?"
"Yes," I replied.
Another girl piped up, "Do you like frogs?"
I thought to myself, "Well, no." But I knew these kids were trying very hard to impress me, so I said "Yes. They are cool!" nodding my head.
The third question from an older girl was, "Do you like the shopping?"
I was puzzled as she had put a definite article in that sentence before the activity.
"You mean, do I like to shop? Yes, I like to shop," I said.
All the girls in the class, who outnumbered the boys by 2/3, were elated! The girls were squealing as if I had given them a million dollars. One of the girls, Lucrecia, gave me her number. She said to me in English, "You must call me so that we can go to the shopping."
I ended up not calling, only because they found out their teacher's home phone number where I was staying. The girls called Ale, asking to take me to go shopping at the mall, which is literally down the street from Ale's house in Bahía Blanca.
An adult with a bunch of squealing little 11-12 year old girls who are showing her the mall is hilarious.
"Renata, do you like the shopping here?" One little girl asked.
"Yeah, it's okay. They don't have very many clothes," I mentioned.
Another little girl told me that they call the malls "The Shopping" in English or in Spanish "El Shopping". It seems to be a very Argentine and Brasilian thing, as in Brasil, they say, "Eu vou no shopping".
This entire time, these kids had been asking me if I liked going to the mall, and here I thought they were asking me I merely enjoyed shopping.
Truth be told, in comparison with American shopping malls, there is none. This one was tiny, but it had a lot of nice stores and unique items that were outrageously priced for Argentines.
Now while the "shopping" in Bahía is smaller than what I am used to in the U.S., there is one in Buenos Aires called "Galerias Pacificos" which is ABSOLUTELY beautiful! There are four stories of all kinds of shops, all Argentine, except for maybe your random "Zara" or "Levi's" store, but it's amazing!
Take a look at the video for Galerías Pácificos here.
There are also some cafés on the bottom floor which are really nice, have decently priced food and good seating location when it's not overrun by masses of people.
4) El Estación Del Omnibus - RETIRO
The first time I landed in my hopefully soon-to-be-adopted homeland, I was intrigued by the announcers in the bus station. The main bus terminal is in an area of Buenos Aires called "Retiro". I assume that once upon a time (think back to the early 1900s), it was a lovely place, but it is now plagued with some shady people.
Bre (the student I took) and I found a place to sit down after having walked all over the place in Buenos Aires and we were immediately bombarded by homeless people. Also what greeted us was a cacophony of noises that were (of course) foreign to us.
We took it all in stride!
We both sat at the bus station for a good 6 hours before our bus came. A friend of mine booked our bus tickets to leave at midnight, so we had spent a good deal of the day wandering around Buenos Aires on foot. By the time we got to the bus station, we were exhausted. Another friend had lent me a guide book that had crappy maps with horrible cardinal directions. I am a Map Snob. I know my Cardinal directions and I also know where the sun lies in the sky, where it rises and sets...that map in the book was CRAP!
Anyhow...we finally tired of walking and decided to get to the main bus terminal and wait there for our bus to leave for Bahía Blanca.
Bre and I sat for six hours in the bus terminal with our luggage. One thing about Argentines is that they love to shop, as I mentioned above. One of my many best friends, who lives in Argentina, buys stuff online and sends it to my house. It is my job to bring it to her as I'm an American, I won't get asked questions in customs. I don't think I've ever been to Argentina and taken less than two suitcases. They also weigh almost the maximum of 50 lbs. That's a lot of weight for your arms to pull on each arm, in addition to wearing a backpack.
You're probably wondering what I am talking about. Why would I need to take so much stuff down there? Don't they have it there...etc?
No.
Imagine paying for a pair of Levi's in the U.S. for, let's say $60 USD. In Argentina, they cost $300 USD. Insane, isn't it? Not to mention, if you're an Argentine, you have to pay an exhorbitant tax on everything upon your return should you buy overseas if you do go abroad.
It's crazy.
Imagine two women, with four to six suitcases. We're tired. We're hungry. We cannot leave our suitcases. We have to pee. When you go to the restroom, you have to pay for toilet paper. The line for the toilets stretches around the corner about 30 feet. No joke. There's only ONE ladies bathroom. You must take turns if you're traveling in pairs. If you're by yourself, as I was one year, you pray to the Lord that you don't have any kind of mishap with your bowels or bladder. Thankfully, I was lucky that year. Other years have not been so fortunate. :s
When you're hungry, if you don't speak Spanish, your teacher (me) has to go translate for you. You take all of your luggage with you. The best thing is to honestly just take a bunch of snacks. Buy sandwiches and take snacks and drinks. That's what I'll do the next time I go.
After ordering your food, it arrives and you devour it. Then you buy a soda or a bottle of water. Plain tap water is not free at restaurants in Argentina. In fact, if Argentines order water, they normally order "Agua Con Gas" or in English, Sparkling Water. If you want still water, you order "Agua sin Gas". Drinking sodas are interesting, too. They will give you an old fashioned bottle with a straw. NEVER drink your sodas straight from the bottle. In fact, never drink any beverage straight from the bottle in Argentina. You will have no idea where that bottle has been or know who nor what has trodden all over it. Safety first! No sense in getting communicable diseases because you put your lips over a soda bottle.
You finish your meal, and you look for somewhere to sit with all of your luggage. You find the first available seats to discover that you've just camped out on top of the the Resident Homeless' abode. There are more than enough transients in the bus station that really do make the Retiro Bus Station their home.
You move yourself and your students to another location. You are surrounded by some interesting people. I once met a former nun, a blonde haired and blue eyed Bolivian woman, a Brasilian man and a few Policemen. (Check the link for "43 Hours" for that story.) The Blonde Bolivian lady was quite an anomaly. I have an aunt from Bolivia who is the typical indigenous featured Bolivian. The Blonde lady was born and raised in Bolivia. She moved to Argentina for a better life and a better, but found nothing but racism and poor jobs. I thought about the irony as I couldn't have figured out if she were Bolivian by her features. The only thing that gave her away as being Bolivian was her accent.
The Brasilian guy was on his way to San Miguel de Tucumán, which is near the border with Bolivia. His bus ride was going to last 36 hours. Holy cow!
The only person I worried about was the nun. She was all by herself, had no phone and no way of knowing whether or not her niece was going to pick her up from the Bus Station. I remember giving her a kiss and hug as I was about to depart and asked her to please take care of herself while alone at midnight in a sketchy bus station. I often wonder if she ever met up with relatives.
For those of you that have seen "Office Space" and can remember the bubbly red head in the background who had a sing songish voice talking on the phone, Retiro Bus Station has one of those, too. Actually, several sing songish announcers.
Inside the bus station, there are time tables of the most recent departures and arrivals to the bus stations. Also, the announcers will announce these locations of arrival and departure over loudspeakers to the entire station.
"Un colectivo a Mar de Plata sale a las veinte horas y treinta minutos (20:30=8:30 p.m.)"
(A bus to Mar de Plata will leave at 8:30 p.m.)
The announcers do this for quite a while. In fact, they never stop. The become less frequent in the evenings, but during the day...it's incredible. They NEVER STOP ANNOUNCING. I feel like it's a song or like a Bollywood musical when they announce.
You finally hear them announce your bus. "En la plataforma 8, un colectivo a Bahía Blanca sale a las 23 horas y 45 minutos." (On Platform 8, a bus will leave for Bahía Blanca at 11:45 p.m.)
This brings me to the bus...
5) The Bus
My students all thought the buses were going to be something like the ones people see in movies about Mexico -- full of chickens, covered in tarpaulin, and full of drug lords. When I explained to them that Argentina is not like that, at least the parts I have been to, that puts them at ease a bit. I explained to them that they were going to be enjoying themselves immensely.
The buses are actually double decker busses. They look like this:
You drag yourself, your luggage and your exhausted student(s) with their luggage to the binary and wait for the bus driver to load your luggage into the bottom of the bus. You give him a tip, since that 's a nice thing to do. He gives you a little ticket so that when you arrive at your destination, you can retrieve your luggage.
They check your tickets, tell you where to sit and you find your seat.
Your seat has several options. First of all, you can recline or otherwise, recline the seat completely flat if you wish to sleep. You get a pillow, a blanket, a little food tray with a bottle of water and a "privacy" curtain if you want to draw it between you and your fellow seat mate. A movie with Russian subtitles from Thailand or who knows where plays on the T.V. screen and is dubbed in Spanish. It is one of the coolest things ever.
You then have the option of falling asleep or staying awake. I typically sleep on my way to Bahía Blanca. On my way back from Bahía, I stay awake and cry as I have just left my fellow friends and compatriots. Such wonderful people!
One year, my seat was at the front of the bus on the second level. What a view! It was nice being able to see the sunrise that morning upon my arrival into Bahía Blanca.
Stay tuned for the next installment of "I Heart Argentina, Parte Tres". I will be discussing the nightlife and the jewelry in that blog.
Thanks for reading!
Bre and I sat for six hours in the bus terminal with our luggage. One thing about Argentines is that they love to shop, as I mentioned above. One of my many best friends, who lives in Argentina, buys stuff online and sends it to my house. It is my job to bring it to her as I'm an American, I won't get asked questions in customs. I don't think I've ever been to Argentina and taken less than two suitcases. They also weigh almost the maximum of 50 lbs. That's a lot of weight for your arms to pull on each arm, in addition to wearing a backpack.
You're probably wondering what I am talking about. Why would I need to take so much stuff down there? Don't they have it there...etc?
No.
Imagine paying for a pair of Levi's in the U.S. for, let's say $60 USD. In Argentina, they cost $300 USD. Insane, isn't it? Not to mention, if you're an Argentine, you have to pay an exhorbitant tax on everything upon your return should you buy overseas if you do go abroad.
It's crazy.
Imagine two women, with four to six suitcases. We're tired. We're hungry. We cannot leave our suitcases. We have to pee. When you go to the restroom, you have to pay for toilet paper. The line for the toilets stretches around the corner about 30 feet. No joke. There's only ONE ladies bathroom. You must take turns if you're traveling in pairs. If you're by yourself, as I was one year, you pray to the Lord that you don't have any kind of mishap with your bowels or bladder. Thankfully, I was lucky that year. Other years have not been so fortunate. :s
When you're hungry, if you don't speak Spanish, your teacher (me) has to go translate for you. You take all of your luggage with you. The best thing is to honestly just take a bunch of snacks. Buy sandwiches and take snacks and drinks. That's what I'll do the next time I go.
After ordering your food, it arrives and you devour it. Then you buy a soda or a bottle of water. Plain tap water is not free at restaurants in Argentina. In fact, if Argentines order water, they normally order "Agua Con Gas" or in English, Sparkling Water. If you want still water, you order "Agua sin Gas". Drinking sodas are interesting, too. They will give you an old fashioned bottle with a straw. NEVER drink your sodas straight from the bottle. In fact, never drink any beverage straight from the bottle in Argentina. You will have no idea where that bottle has been or know who nor what has trodden all over it. Safety first! No sense in getting communicable diseases because you put your lips over a soda bottle.
You finish your meal, and you look for somewhere to sit with all of your luggage. You find the first available seats to discover that you've just camped out on top of the the Resident Homeless' abode. There are more than enough transients in the bus station that really do make the Retiro Bus Station their home.
You move yourself and your students to another location. You are surrounded by some interesting people. I once met a former nun, a blonde haired and blue eyed Bolivian woman, a Brasilian man and a few Policemen. (Check the link for "43 Hours" for that story.) The Blonde Bolivian lady was quite an anomaly. I have an aunt from Bolivia who is the typical indigenous featured Bolivian. The Blonde lady was born and raised in Bolivia. She moved to Argentina for a better life and a better, but found nothing but racism and poor jobs. I thought about the irony as I couldn't have figured out if she were Bolivian by her features. The only thing that gave her away as being Bolivian was her accent.
The Brasilian guy was on his way to San Miguel de Tucumán, which is near the border with Bolivia. His bus ride was going to last 36 hours. Holy cow!
The only person I worried about was the nun. She was all by herself, had no phone and no way of knowing whether or not her niece was going to pick her up from the Bus Station. I remember giving her a kiss and hug as I was about to depart and asked her to please take care of herself while alone at midnight in a sketchy bus station. I often wonder if she ever met up with relatives.
For those of you that have seen "Office Space" and can remember the bubbly red head in the background who had a sing songish voice talking on the phone, Retiro Bus Station has one of those, too. Actually, several sing songish announcers.
Inside the bus station, there are time tables of the most recent departures and arrivals to the bus stations. Also, the announcers will announce these locations of arrival and departure over loudspeakers to the entire station.
"Un colectivo a Mar de Plata sale a las veinte horas y treinta minutos (20:30=8:30 p.m.)"
(A bus to Mar de Plata will leave at 8:30 p.m.)
The announcers do this for quite a while. In fact, they never stop. The become less frequent in the evenings, but during the day...it's incredible. They NEVER STOP ANNOUNCING. I feel like it's a song or like a Bollywood musical when they announce.
You finally hear them announce your bus. "En la plataforma 8, un colectivo a Bahía Blanca sale a las 23 horas y 45 minutos." (On Platform 8, a bus will leave for Bahía Blanca at 11:45 p.m.)
This brings me to the bus...
5) The Bus
My students all thought the buses were going to be something like the ones people see in movies about Mexico -- full of chickens, covered in tarpaulin, and full of drug lords. When I explained to them that Argentina is not like that, at least the parts I have been to, that puts them at ease a bit. I explained to them that they were going to be enjoying themselves immensely.
The buses are actually double decker busses. They look like this:
You drag yourself, your luggage and your exhausted student(s) with their luggage to the binary and wait for the bus driver to load your luggage into the bottom of the bus. You give him a tip, since that 's a nice thing to do. He gives you a little ticket so that when you arrive at your destination, you can retrieve your luggage.
They check your tickets, tell you where to sit and you find your seat.
Your seat has several options. First of all, you can recline or otherwise, recline the seat completely flat if you wish to sleep. You get a pillow, a blanket, a little food tray with a bottle of water and a "privacy" curtain if you want to draw it between you and your fellow seat mate. A movie with Russian subtitles from Thailand or who knows where plays on the T.V. screen and is dubbed in Spanish. It is one of the coolest things ever.
You then have the option of falling asleep or staying awake. I typically sleep on my way to Bahía Blanca. On my way back from Bahía, I stay awake and cry as I have just left my fellow friends and compatriots. Such wonderful people!
One year, my seat was at the front of the bus on the second level. What a view! It was nice being able to see the sunrise that morning upon my arrival into Bahía Blanca.
Stay tuned for the next installment of "I Heart Argentina, Parte Tres". I will be discussing the nightlife and the jewelry in that blog.
Thanks for reading!
