I’ve been saving this post for a while, because I knew I’d think of more additions as I go. But I think it’s time to post it and update as I go.
Ways in which life in Buenos Aires is completely opposite to life in Toronto:
- Taking the bus – at least in the summer – is preferable to taking the subway.
- Change is hard to come by, and thus prized: ergo, one tries to maximize the amount of coins one receives in one’s day-to-day transactions.
- Eggs are not stored in the fridge. However, everyone keeps their soy sauce in the fridge.
- People are more likely to have a ratty old phone and really nice threads than vice versa.
Ways in which life in Buenos Aires is simply different:
- Subway trains travel on the left, even though cars drive on the right.
- Windows on the subway trains are wide open. Nobody sticks their hands out, not even children.
- Well… lots of ways. See: rest of blog.
Ways in which life in Buenos Aires isn’t opposite to life in Toronto:
- Water doesn’t go down the drain in the opposite direction (come on, everyone knows this one).
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a porteño i know, when giving reasons why he didn’t want to move back, mentioned having to purchase packages of coins at corner stores in order to take the bus. i can’t remember the markup he was charged, though.
February 28, 2010 @ 3:49 pm
Actually, I heard that a few years ago, bus companies were found to have been hoarding coins for purposes of selling them at a markup. I believe that markup was 20%.
Insidious, especially since buses only accept coins. There is no token system, and the pass system is accepted on a basis that is so limited as to be useless.
These days it’s not so bad, but coins are still in short supply. Most convenience stores and small groceries have signs saying “No hay monedas” – i.e. We have no coins.
March 9, 2010 @ 10:53 am