a girl in the world

finding beauty, pleasure and grace on the road less traveled

Absurdities exist in all cities.  There are interesting customs and laws that will amuse and boggle my mind, wherever I go.  In Cairo, whole communities live and work inside the city's largest cemetery (they call it the 'City of the Dead').  In Athens, taxi drivers can reject your request for a ride and will only take you if it's convenient for them (they also answer 'yes' with a shake of the head and 'no' with a nod).  And in many places on mainland China, coughing up a lung and spitting out a half cup’s equivalent of phlegm while walking down the street is completely normal.  

Well, in Mar del Plata, playing chicken with your life at every unmarked intersection is the way to go.  It's a different kind of thrill sport. Traffic in the world's major cities can often be deemed crazy but here, I find it ridiculous!  Only major boulevards have traffic lights and apparently there is no budget or patience or 'need' for STOP signs.  All roads are one-way and you race across them as quickly as you please while praying to God that cars traveling on perpendicular roads are more cautious than you.

You yield to oncoming traffic in the purest sense of the term:  you yield to ONCOMING traffic!  You know that car racing towards you as you escape the intersection?  Yes, THAT CAR!  Well, don't worry!  Somehow in the organized chaos of unorganized chaos, you will miss each other by a hair and in half a second you'll be safely on the other side.  Riiiigggghhttt.

This 'suerte' based system of driving is nerve wracking enough during the day, but let me tell you, do not fret, because in the evenings, it gets better!  In addition to trying to look around the corner to see if oncoming traffic is driving fast or slow, you hug the far side of the one way road, flash your lights, and honk your horn.  This is for safety.  SAFETY!  Apparently the commotion will alert others that YES, I AM COMING TO THE INTERSECTION at the same time that you are, and YES slow down a little so that we don't ALL DIE!  


Charming, isn't it?  I love small towns.

[Note:  And DJ, you are not coming down here for a visit.  And if you do, you are not allowed to drive. Ever.  Love, Ate]

A Girl in the World (November 18, 2009)

Apparently, I’ve been writing a lot about Spanish, Time, Work and Saturdays this past week. =) This is from a great site called Wordle, a place to make beautiful word clouds from any source, including a blog. =)

  • Had a 1.5 hour mani-pedi last night.  Scrub, massage, hot wax therapy and fire-engine red toes.  I'm ready for some sandals and for some summer-ing.  Pamperment (is that even a word?) is so affordable here!
  • Helados delivery requires a minimum half kilo order.  Do you know what a half kilo of ice cream looks like?!  That is A LOT of ice cream.  Maybe we'll schedule to have it for DINNER sometime this week.
  • The subte (subway) system here is pretty efficient – except for the fact that you can't switch tracks underground.  If you make a mistake routing yourself, you need to go street-level and enter from the other side! What a major engineering mistake!
  • Spanish learning is coming along.  My comprehension has improved exponentially in the last 20 days.  But my speaking rate is slow, slow, slow.  It takes time to conjugate things in my head and once it's all there, the moment has passed, the conversation gone.  BLEH!
  • I am killing myself trying to get through the Twilight books.  WHY WHY WHY did I decide to read them in the first place?!  The second book was a waste of my life.  The 3rd is better, but so corny.  And I don't think I will manage to make it through to the 4th book.
  • My Canadian passport is ready!  It took ONE WEEK to sort, here on the other side of the world!  ONE WEEK!  If you can remember my ridiculous rant about the Canadian Passport system, you will know how happy this makes me.  =D
  • Bs.As. is a sauna now.  HOT, STICKY and HUMID.  And it's not even December yet.  It will be good practice for the Philippines. =)
Hi, I'm Denise. I'm a writer, artist and photographer. This is where I share what I'm seeing, learning and making.


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