NASCAR Buenos Aires

So we got our car! Yeah!! I can hardly describe how liberating it is to have a car. Honestly though, I don't go out that much. First, there are not a lot of places to go by car. Second, but definitely not least, the drivers here are just a little bit maniacal.

Today I had to drive into the heart of the city by myself for an orthodontist appointment for the girls, and I had to give myself a pep talk before we left. Why? As my remis driver once said, "We Argentines like to drive like Mario Andretti."

In my short 4 1/2 months here, I've already seen three pedestrians down.

I know this isn't the best picture, but it's with a phone, and in the car. This area is near what I would call the Central Park area of Buenos Aires.

Going into the city, there are between 2-5 lanes, depending on your location, but most commonly three. The collectivos (buses) dominate the two right lanes. They don't signal, they don't look, they just floor it and go. This forces cars to weave in and out of the right two lanes, while pushing into the left lane. Thus, lanes are merely suggestions. More frequently than not, cars ride half in one lane half in the other, so they can push into whichever lane does not have a road block.

Today on my way into the city, a piece of junk car did the non-committal lane thing, and as a car from the far left lane swerved into his half-lane, he swerved into mine, and I slammed on my breaks throwing all my children up against the back of the seats in front of them, and fortunately avoided the accident. I may or may not have cursed. After which he looked at me and gave me a thumbs-up, as if to say, "Good job not hitting me!"

Once we got to the Orthodontist, I had to park. Parking here is like parking in NYC, good luck! I ended up at McDonalds. Nothing like an ice cream sundae parking fee right before having someone look at your teeth!

The appointment took long enough that on the way home it was rush hour... in one of the largest cities in the world. I felt like Danica Patrick, except my car is twice as big as everyone else's. I usually drive in the far left lane to avoid the buses and the swerving. The problem is, the left lane has cars turning, and there is no turning lane, so there is always more swerving.

On the way home I experienced the motorcycle drivers. There is a place where there are five lanes of traffic. With a solid wall of cars. The motorcycle drivers would cross over the double-yellow line into oncoming traffic, so I had to deal with swervers, as well as head-on motorcyclists.

There may or may not have been a couple of times that I swerved just a little bit with my big fat SUV to scare them.

As soon as I got home, I went straight to my chocolate stash.

The positive thing that came out of my day, is the orthodontist's son told me, "Next time you can park right out on the street because you have diplomatic plates." I may or may not have felt just a little bit cooler than him after that.

Oh, and one more thing, about one out of every ten cars has these red ribbons tied to the back of their car. We asked a police officer what they are for. Apparently they are supposed to stop your car from  blowing up if there is a sudden electric shock. That is some awesome red ribbon!

Until next time, Adios!