With the help of Skype, a few of us planned to meet at the Starbucks in Alto Palermo then head out to check out the shopping mecca of Villa Crespo. As members of the group slowly trickle through the doors of the internationally popular coffee house, we begin to share stories of miscommunication, misdirection and mishaps from our daily excursions throughout the city. Their stories were a backdrop to my own internal distress of being unable to figure out which colectivo (bus) to take to get us from our current location to the next. As I frustratingly flipped through my Guia "T" (transportation and city guide), Maya, who rides the subte (subway) daily, suggested we could take it to a "combination" stop which would then connect with other subte lines throughout the city. Brilliant! Thus began my love affair with taking subte lines versus colectivos to travel throughout Buenos Aires.
The shops were not as great as we had imagined, but the company was engaging and we found ourselves parked at a table in a cafe talking over lunch and beer for over an hour. I had forgotten how much more fulfilling it was to sit down and talk to someone rather than send a faceless text message or email. As we parted ways at different subte stops, I marveled at how much more connected I felt with people in general just by being on the subte or walking down the streets in comparison to my life with a cellphone and car keys in hand...
Photos
Left: Group huddle at the Starbucks
Right: Lunch at a cafe
No comments:
Post a Comment