Day 11: Looking for Collectivo 29 to La Boca

My first attempt to explore this South American concrete jungle has been a tiring one. I have walked so much today, to a point, my legs hurt right now! My goal was first to go to Obelisco (the iconic monument on the busy Av. 9 de Julio), it is like the Times Square of Buenos Aires, I would try to find a tourist office around there to get a map and figure out a way to go to La Boca (the colorful houses). That was the highlight of the day. After La Boca, I would try to find a ferry office and see how much it would cost to go to Colonia in Uruguay tomorrow if possible. If there was still time left, I would try to go to Recoleta Cemetery as well, but I didn’t want to stay out when it gets dark, so I knew I probably would see Recoleta area another day. I still have some times in Buenos Aires anyway.

After fixing myself some breakfast, I took off. Diego told me to take the Collectivo 29 which would pass through all the key sightseeing points including Obelisco, Catedral as well as La Boca. The bus station was supposed to be a block from the apartment on the street Sanchez de Bustamante. I expected to see some kind bus sign somewhere, but I couldn’t see it after walking on that street for a while, there were many different buses passing by, I didn’t know where they would stop or if that was the right direction. So instead, I walked to the subway station which was 5 blocks away. It was no doubt a much easier route for me! I got on a subway on Estacion Aguero and headed to Estacion 9 de Julio. The subway ride was interesting, it was underground, but it had no air-conditioning, the windows were opened though, so at least there were some warm air. It was a little stuffy in the subway, but that was ok. I saw all kind of people in there, pitbull kind of hot latino guy with sunglasses, woman in fancy dress going to work, teenagers in uniform going to school, and then some trunky man with his shirt half-opened as well. It was a zoo in there. I guess that is kind of like New York in a way. So far so good, I got to the centro area, saw the big monument in front of me. That area was busy even in the morning, so I carried my backpack in the front, and had all my wallet and phone in the front pockets.

The next thing was to find a tourist office, which was a complete failure, I thought it should be easy to spot out a tourist office with big “i” or something, but it was so not the case. There were a few walking streets near Obelisco, I walked there all over and couldn’t find one single tourist office. Everyone was saying: Cambio, Cambio... (money exchange) to me. I must have heard that term a thousand times today. Speaking of money exchange, because of the economy crisis here in Argentina. The exchange rate has gone crazy. On the day when I arrived, I exchanged US$400 at the airport, the exchange rate was US$1 to AR$7.93. When I got to Bariloche, I went in another money exchange place (it’s an store, not those on the street), the rate was US$1 to AR$10. Jorge told me that 1 to 7.93 was the official rate, but the black market had 1 to 10/11 easily these days. Such a huge difference. I kind of regret that I exchanged so much at the airport. But oh well.

Anyway, I didn’t need money exchange, I needed a freaking map and a tourist office. At last, I did get a map from Galleria Pacifico, one of the big malls on the street Florida. It was noon already, so I ditched the tourist office idea, and just tried to find a bus to go to La Boca. I knew I have two options, either a tourist double decker bus which cost like AR$170 per day, but I could get on and off of that bus to all the sightseeing points for 24 hour, or the bus 29 Diego told me about which cost AR$3 or so for each ride. Anyhow, I needed to first put money on the transport card. I went in a 7 eleven kind of convenient store, and asked to put money on the card, the Spanish is “cargar” Diego told me. It went ok. But oh my god, it took so long to find the bloody bus stop, it was one of the busiest area, there were hundreds of buses coming from all directions with different numbers. I saw both the tourist double deckers and bus 29 passing me on one street and then again on the next, I just didn’t know where to get on either of them. The difficult part was to figure out the direction too, since the same bus 29, it may go on different streets depending on the direction. Now I can really feel for western tourists going to China or Taiwan, looking at those freaking bus signs in Chinese, no idea what direction they are supposed to go or where the bus are actually going, which stops to get off...etc. I have been in the same shoes today.

Finally I saw a bus 29 stopped one block in front of me, I just ran for it, and asked the driver “a La Boca aqui?”  That’s probably not even the right way to say it, but the driver understood me, and nodded. So I tried to pay with the transport card, but I did not know where the scanner was, I put it on a few places it didn’t work, finally a passenger pointed it out to me. Mucho Gracias! I was looking at the map and the street signs the whole time making sure I got off at the right place. There were no signs or announcement to tell you where you are inside the bus like in Boston or Hong Kong. So, you really needed to pay attention, meanwhile there was a teenager standing quite close to me, so I held my backpack tighter just in case. I did make it to La Boca at last which I felt so good, given that I had such a difficult time with the bus.

The colorful houses were beautiful. The area was not that big, but very touristy, many gift shops and restaurants with tango dancers dancing and/or taking pictures with you, asking for tips. I walked by this man and woman, and the woman already put the hat on me, and insisted that I would take a picture with her, in some tango positions, having me looking right in her eyes and acting like I am kissing her inches close. Your odor was strong, madam! I did it, the man used my camera and took a few pictures. And she asked me for tips when I started to walk away. I knew that would be coming. Unfortunately, I really had no small changes, she asked for a 100 peso. I said no, that’s too much, I am just a student! I use that card quite often in situation like that. At the end, I gave her two US dollars, she was pissed. I said I promised I would come back after I bought a drink to break the change. I didn’t come back, I went to lunch instead.

Taking bus 29 back to the centro area, hunting for the ferry terminal. Again, I had no address, no internet on the phone, just blindly looking on the streets. It has not been a very organized day. I was supposed to visit the tourist office first to ask all these questions, and that did not happen. I walked through the pier, found one ferry company (not the one I read about online), it cost almost double for the same type of ferry, so I didn’t buy the ticket after all. I will try to go to the other ferry again tomorrow, I have to do some homework to find out where it is and how to get there first. If I can go to Colonia tomorrow, I will do that, if not, I will go to Recoleta Cemetery instead, and try to go to Colonia the day after.

Took the subway back to the apartment, extremely exhausting. Found a neighborhood restaurant for dinner, I had un menu del dia, which is a dish with chicken and yellow rice. Very homey. Hope tomorrow will be a smoother day.






Other photos from today:

It seems I have seen a lot today yet only such a small part of Buenos Aires today.