No Surfing Zone

We were on the bus yesterday out to La Boca, one of the barrios in the Southeast corner of Buenos Aires. Taking buses is one of the more challenging aspects of the city. Coins ("monedas") are scarce. No one wants to give coins away BUT you need them to take the bus.

Our friend Peter referred us to an article explaining the coin shortage. If you're interested in reading about a financial crisis that isn't the recession, it's worth a look: http://www.slate.com/id/2205635/pagenum/all/.

Anyway, having successfully slotted our coins into the onboard machine, Ben - who was trying to find his sea legs (for want of a better expression!) - made a joke of his stumbling by saying "surfeo" and miming surfing in the aisle.

This was met with stoney faces all around (bar one - ME!). I laughed at his antics. It was funny. He looked comical, that wild hair, the big grin.

I was thinking later about how no one so much as cracked a smile and, to be fair, maybe if I had to catch the bus as part of my day to day life, the novelty of some dude playing in the aisle would be lost on me too. Worn out by the smoke, embittered by the deafening noise...

We read in the local paper that some of the main street corners in Buenos Aires regularly record noise levels that far exceed the levels recommended by the World Health Organisation. I've stood on those corners and it is an assault on your ears.

The underground is an even less jovial place to be at the beginning and end of the working day as it is jampacked with bodies. There will be at least 5 people touching you (depending on your diameter!) as you all stand and try to avoid leaning too much on each other. Each person has the temperature of a bar heater. It's a sweaty sweaty place and definately no room for a pretend surf.

Still, I'm hoping that Ben might surprise everyone on Tuesday morning when we catch the tube to school!

Mrs R