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Curious? Just ask.
April 15, 2009 @ 5:23 PM | Permalink
Lately I´ve met some interesting characters, thanks to one tool: a camera.
Sometimes I´m reluctant to bring it out -- I have a fear that people will be suspicious of the strange girl carrying around her big camera, but each time I do, I´m shocked by what people tell me.
A few weeks ago I was sprinting down Avenida Libertador, late and annoyed by the traffic that forced me to wait to cross the avenue. But when I stopped mentally cursing, I noticed that an entire family had converted a roadside fountain into a backyard playground. Right in the middle of the dirty city, the kids had stripped down and the mom was scrubbing everyone´s clothes as if the public fountain was their own personal bathtub. Cars whizzed by. I stopped, pulled out my camera, forgot about my appointment and took their photographs. The kids laughed and the mom flashed me a toothless grin. And after I took a few shots, mom explained that she had moved to Capital Federal from the province of Corrientes, and that her house had burned down and she was living in a nearby plaza with her four kids. Pretty strong stuff.
This past week, on a camping trip in the mountains, I was in the middle of a little hippy haven called San Marcos Sierras when I stumbled upon Walter, a shirtless, cowboy-hatted figure who shared his story in the darkness of a plaza over a very large beer. Walter was a bit more resistant than the fountain family, a little mystified as to why I would want to take his photograph. But once he adjusted to the click of the shutter, he sort of forgot about it, and he opened up. How did he end up in San Marcos? Life, he said, took him there.
What does all this mean? It´s amazing what people will tell you if you just take the time to stop rushing around and do something simple: Ask.
Photos: At top, Ludmila Ramirez, 8, bathes with her brothers and sisters in a fountain by Plaza Francia in Buenos Aires. Below, Walter lights up in San Marcos Sierras.
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That is a weird problem. Do really rich folks ever just pay for a bus ride with a bill?
Saleem Reshamwala on No hay monedas -- Buenos Aires in the clutches of a coin shortage.
2009-03-02
hey saleem! nope, everyone pays the same way, and i´ve even seen some scary shouting matches between bus drivers and moneda-less riders. there is one exception -- once you head ...
Julie Turkewitz on No hay monedas -- Buenos Aires in the clutches of a coin shortage.
2009-03-02
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