I got back yesterday at about 9am from a crazy weekend in the capital of Argentina with a group of SIM-Paraguay friends. Three of the group are energetic types who had decided to run the BA marathon, which took place on Sunday. The rest of us went to give them encouragement, and to see a different part of the continent while we were at it.
The weekend was crazy for many, many reasons, the first being that we took an overnight bus both ways, leaving Asunción on Friday afternoon and returning the same way on Tuesday morning. It's definitely an economical way of doing it, but exhausting too!
We stayed in a fab hotel in a lovely part of the city, near a park and surrounded by beautiful old buildings. The people were so friendly and helpful and the hotel itself was full of character. The city reminded me so much of Spain. The architecture, the cafés, the atmosphere in general... it is SO different from Asunción. It made me realise just how poor Paraguay is in comparison with its neighbour.
The five of us who weren't running spent the marathon day trying to catch up with those who were running! The four of us who hadn't accompanied the runners missed the start, due to the fact that we hadn't realised just how far away it was, added to the fact that all the surrounding roads were closed, of course. Oops. Then we had to find the friend who had gone with the runners, but by the time we found how to get to the meeting point we'd arranged, the meeting point had been removed!!! (we had said we'd see her at Km 1, but of course all the runners had already passed the marker so it had been taken down!) By the time we found our friend (who was walking with a crutch because of a recent knee replacement) we all needed a bit of a rest, so we sat down in the café area of a service station nearby. Oh, and it was raining. And we had the care of one of the runners' 11 month-old. So in between keeping the baby dry and fed and amused and changed, and dealing with the fact that we'd missed seeing the race begin, things were quite tense at times!
At this point, we were in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of BA and wanted to get to the centre of town to watch the race go by. We weren't quite sure how we were going to do that, but in the end we realised we didn't have time to get to the mid-way point where we had hoped to cheer them on. There was much discussion about what to do instead. You can imagine, five women, all with a different idea! We finally decided that it would be best if we just went to the end of the race, but then there was the issue of how to get there. The marathon didn't do any kind of loop, it was pretty much from one end of the city to the other, neither of which parts were on our tourist map. So it was interesting, to put it mildly, five foreigners (including one on a crutch) and a baby, making our way across this vast and totally unknown city. We managed to navegate buses, underground metro and taxis to finally arrive in the area where the race would end, but then it turned out that we had to walk nearly three miles, along the route of the marathon, before arriving at the finish line! By the time we made it, the sun had come out and was blazing down on the spectators, and we were knackered! Our friend with the crutch had to stop before the end because she was struggling so much, though that meant that the runners had someone to cheer them on before they finished. We didn't have to wait too long at the finish line before our running friends turned up, and there was much jubilation at their arrival - we were all very proud of them for the immense amount of effort and determination which had got them there. In the end it was definitely worth all the hassle to see them arrive and share in their joy.
So we managed to see parts of the city tourists wouldn't normally get to experience and it was certainly an adventure! Particularly for those who come from rural parts of the US, where there is no public transport to speak of. Each new mode of transport was a challenge, in its own way!
On the way back, we split into two groups - the three runners and our friend with the crutch went all the way back in a taxi, while the rest of us decided we'd save a bit of money and go by train and underground. Only we were prevented from using the underground because of an accident so we had to get a bus - much more scary because it's not nearly as easy to know when you need to get off! Still, we made it, thanks be to God, without any problem. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were probably almost as exhausted as the marathon runners were!
I was desperate for a shower after all that, but decided to put it off and take advantage of the late afternoon sun and go take some photos in the nearby park:
I really enjoyed just spending some time on my own; taking photos, wandering aimlessly in the beauty of the greenery and then sitting for a while, just watching people going by.
One huge difference between Asunción and Buenos Aires is that I did not feel at all as though I 'stuck out' - there were people of all kinds of shapes, sizes and skin tone, so I really felt as though I blended in as much as any of them. In Paraguay, I'm often very aware of how different I look than the average Paraguayan, and that can be quite an uncomfortable feeling. I also found that I felt much more 'at home' in the sense that I knew much more what was expected of me - the culture seemed to be much more familiar to me than the Paraguayan one. I don't know whether this was because of its resemblance to Spain or just because it's a very big city and perhaps all big cities have certain things in common...
All in all, I adored being there and hope to go back some day. If you want to see more photos, go to my Picasa album:
The weekend was crazy for many, many reasons, the first being that we took an overnight bus both ways, leaving Asunción on Friday afternoon and returning the same way on Tuesday morning. It's definitely an economical way of doing it, but exhausting too!
We stayed in a fab hotel in a lovely part of the city, near a park and surrounded by beautiful old buildings. The people were so friendly and helpful and the hotel itself was full of character. The city reminded me so much of Spain. The architecture, the cafés, the atmosphere in general... it is SO different from Asunción. It made me realise just how poor Paraguay is in comparison with its neighbour.
The five of us who weren't running spent the marathon day trying to catch up with those who were running! The four of us who hadn't accompanied the runners missed the start, due to the fact that we hadn't realised just how far away it was, added to the fact that all the surrounding roads were closed, of course. Oops. Then we had to find the friend who had gone with the runners, but by the time we found how to get to the meeting point we'd arranged, the meeting point had been removed!!! (we had said we'd see her at Km 1, but of course all the runners had already passed the marker so it had been taken down!) By the time we found our friend (who was walking with a crutch because of a recent knee replacement) we all needed a bit of a rest, so we sat down in the café area of a service station nearby. Oh, and it was raining. And we had the care of one of the runners' 11 month-old. So in between keeping the baby dry and fed and amused and changed, and dealing with the fact that we'd missed seeing the race begin, things were quite tense at times!
At this point, we were in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of BA and wanted to get to the centre of town to watch the race go by. We weren't quite sure how we were going to do that, but in the end we realised we didn't have time to get to the mid-way point where we had hoped to cheer them on. There was much discussion about what to do instead. You can imagine, five women, all with a different idea! We finally decided that it would be best if we just went to the end of the race, but then there was the issue of how to get there. The marathon didn't do any kind of loop, it was pretty much from one end of the city to the other, neither of which parts were on our tourist map. So it was interesting, to put it mildly, five foreigners (including one on a crutch) and a baby, making our way across this vast and totally unknown city. We managed to navegate buses, underground metro and taxis to finally arrive in the area where the race would end, but then it turned out that we had to walk nearly three miles, along the route of the marathon, before arriving at the finish line! By the time we made it, the sun had come out and was blazing down on the spectators, and we were knackered! Our friend with the crutch had to stop before the end because she was struggling so much, though that meant that the runners had someone to cheer them on before they finished. We didn't have to wait too long at the finish line before our running friends turned up, and there was much jubilation at their arrival - we were all very proud of them for the immense amount of effort and determination which had got them there. In the end it was definitely worth all the hassle to see them arrive and share in their joy.
So we managed to see parts of the city tourists wouldn't normally get to experience and it was certainly an adventure! Particularly for those who come from rural parts of the US, where there is no public transport to speak of. Each new mode of transport was a challenge, in its own way!
On the way back, we split into two groups - the three runners and our friend with the crutch went all the way back in a taxi, while the rest of us decided we'd save a bit of money and go by train and underground. Only we were prevented from using the underground because of an accident so we had to get a bus - much more scary because it's not nearly as easy to know when you need to get off! Still, we made it, thanks be to God, without any problem. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were probably almost as exhausted as the marathon runners were!
I was desperate for a shower after all that, but decided to put it off and take advantage of the late afternoon sun and go take some photos in the nearby park:
I really enjoyed just spending some time on my own; taking photos, wandering aimlessly in the beauty of the greenery and then sitting for a while, just watching people going by.
One huge difference between Asunción and Buenos Aires is that I did not feel at all as though I 'stuck out' - there were people of all kinds of shapes, sizes and skin tone, so I really felt as though I blended in as much as any of them. In Paraguay, I'm often very aware of how different I look than the average Paraguayan, and that can be quite an uncomfortable feeling. I also found that I felt much more 'at home' in the sense that I knew much more what was expected of me - the culture seemed to be much more familiar to me than the Paraguayan one. I don't know whether this was because of its resemblance to Spain or just because it's a very big city and perhaps all big cities have certain things in common...
All in all, I adored being there and hope to go back some day. If you want to see more photos, go to my Picasa album:
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| Buenos Aires October 08 |
© Fiona L Cooper 2008
i am jealous! your time in BA sounds amazing!
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