and they propose for me to buy a SUBE card (120 pesos and you can recharge it, like in NYC or London). For a hundred pesos you can go all day by bus. In fact I was already given a tour the first day. Itook a cab in San Telmo to go back De hecho, el primer día ya me pasea- to the hotel. It was close enough, but I ron. Tomé un taxi en San Telmo para vol- was tired (hadn’t slept for 36 hours, can’t ver al hotel. Estaba cerca, pero estaba sleep on planes). And I had been walk- muy cansado (no había dormido nada ing through the city for 12 hours non- en 36 horas, no sé dormir en los aviones. stop. And I could see alright that the taxi Y llevaba 12 horas pateando ciudad sin driver was giving me a tour, and further- parar. Y el taxista ya vi, ya, que me pa- more, he scammed me claiming that I seaba y luego, además, me dio el cam- had given him just 50 pesos for the ride biazo porque pagué la carrera con un when in fact I had given him 500. I knew billete de 500 pesos y me dijo que le ha- it couldn’t be, but I decided not to ar- bía dado uno de 50 y yo sabía que no gue. I must say in all fairness that I took podía ser posible, pero no quise discutir. cabs every day and such thing never oc- Debo decir, en desagravio, que tomé curred again, although you can’t shake taxis cada día y nunca volvió a pasar- off the fear that it might happen again; me, aunque el miedo de que te pasea- to scam is to steal, even though there’s sen ya no te lo quitas de encima; estafar no violence. Us girls are afraid to take es robar, aunque no haya violencia. A taxis on the street, there’s a tremendous las chicas nos da miedo agarrar un taxi insecurity, some friends of mine tell me. por la calle, la inseguridad es tremenda, Another one tells me of a co-worker of me cuentan algunas amigas. Y otro me his that boasted about stealing from his explica de un compañero que se vana- boss, who he one day confronted: if you gloriaba de robar a su jefe a quien le must still ask for money to your boss to do espetó, si después de robar tanto debes reformations in your house after stealing de pedir prestado a tu jefe para hacer from him, you’re not only a thief, but a reformas en casa, además de ladrón cretin as well. That is the poorly under- eres imbécil. Esa es la mal entendida stood viveza criolla (liveliness). It happens viveza criolla. Ocurre, también, de este as well on the other side of the ocean… lado del océano… los vivos… the lively… t5318