Finally my first in Saturday Buenos Aires came around and I wanted to make some friends and chill in the city, after all even loners needs company from time to time. I was not familiar with Couchsurfing yet so I used what I knew, the professional expat site Internations. I saw an event at some Navy Yard museum and afterwards they would go out for pizza. Sounded pretty good to me plus I was wanting to eat some Argentine Pizza since I am from Brooklyn and Pizza is like a Religion and my father convinced me that Argentine pizza was the shit. Once again I took the Tren Sarmiento into ONCE then took the Sube to the only stop I knew at this point which is called Peru. Usually when I'm someone new I stick to what I know so I don't get lose, so back to the Peru station. I knew how to get there and I knew how to get back, for my first week I think that was pretty good. As a procrastinator by nature I ended up leaving later then I should have and the train took longer to come since it was weekend. I finally got to the city and try to find this fucking Navy yard museum. I finally found it after going in circles but I was late and I was not allowed to enter.
Oh fuck, that's just fucking great I thought to myself, I just came all this way for nothing. It was around 6pm, so I figured I'd just make the best of the situation and just walk around and do some site city. I was in Micro center which is the financial sector of Buenos Aires. On the weekdays it's super busy, you just see people flying by like robots coming and going. I love to people watch so I would sometimes just hang out on Avenida Florida and just observe the World. But on the weekend Microcenter is dead so there was not much people watching going on. I just walked around until around 8ish and then decided to come back since I didn't want to get back late and didn't feel safe on the Sarmiento train. Even though I could have taken another subway train to ONCE to catch the train to Ramos Mejia, I just knew PERU, so I walked there.
As I was approaching from a far you could see that something was going on because there was a shit load of people. As I got closer to the station I saw more and more people until I finally reached Peru. Well actually I could not reach my destination because there was a very special event going on. It just so happen that today was the big LBGT Buenos Aires Gay Pride Parade. From walking what seemed like the ghost town streets of Microcenter I ended up one of the biggest Gay Pride Parades in the World. The streets were flooded, it was a big party. I have never been to such an event so I just took in the moment and observed the freak show like the curious little child I am.
To be honest the party was popping and I wasn't bothered at all as a straight male. Not only is their a large gay and lesbian community in Buenos Aires, there also a large Transvestite comminity also, something I had never really witnessed with my own 2 eyes until now. The streets were flooded, the people were happy as fuck, celebrating their freedom and I said fuck it and decided to partake of the festivities or rather just breath in all the marijuana being smoked around me and hang around a bit. In my earlier years I would have have been disgusted, disturbed by what I was witnessing since I was a hard core Homosexual hating homophobic old school Bible thumbing christian. Back in the days bible quotes such as Romans Chapter 1 verse 18 would come to mind "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness". But thanks to the Magic Mushroom I took several months earlier before leaving South Florida, I no longer had this distorted biased twisted feeling towards people that are different then me. This was similar to when I partook in the student protest outside my apartment building in Santiago, Chile.
https://steemit.com/life/@aleluzdosol77/power-to-the-people-stick-it-to-the-man
(My account of the student protest 1 month prior in Santiago, Chile)
(This video will give you a good idea of what I was witnessing)
As you can see in the video, literally everything goes in Buenos Aires. For the most part homosexuality and even transsexual are very much accepted and part of the culture. There are even some programs on the TV were the host are transvestite. Also Argentine was the first country in Latin America to legalize gay marriage, therefore Argentina is very progressive and one of the Gay capitals of the world.
I have never really been a fan of large groups of people, since I grew up very shy and introverted by nature. I also suppose because my parents were so fucking loud and argued a lot I was just naturally put off by anything loud. Loud people, loud music and the sensation of feeling like a sardine stuffed in a can has never appealed to me. I'm the type of guy that was never really into clubs because I like to have the ability to talk to people and hear my own thoughts. To be honest if not for trying to get some pussy, I would never venture into a club. I never understood how people could get fucked up and enjoy themselves in such a setting. Maybe I was just different or maybe just so repressed that I didn't know how to let go. Plus when you live as a Christian everything is a sin, so this kind of freedom was of the devil and against God or so I thought.
I think for the first time in my life I was free just to enjoy life, enjoy people and not judge myself or others. SO I was living vicariously thru my LGBT brethren and it was all good in the hood. I stayed on the street taking pictures and videos of the floats passing by, it was a Carnival. Everyone was enjoying themselves including me. It was already dark, so I knew I couldn't stay out too late, so I had to figure out how to get across the street to catch the subway back to ONCE. In most stations in Buenos Aires you have to enter the station on the side of the street that is in the direction of where you are heading. This meant I had the awesome task of getting to the other side without being trampled by a Tranny float. Since this party goes on for 11 blocks down Avenida de Mayo and is attended by over 100,000 people I had to do a kinda Uturn to get to the other side. I proceeded to try to get thru the crowd and get to the other side. Halfway there I passed some street vendors selling food and drink. Since I was hungry I decided to get myself a Choripan and chill for minute. I enjoyed my Choripan and just continued taking pictures and video of this awesome event.
(Choripan is a typical Argentine sausage with a delicious condiment made out of parsley and garlic known as chimichurri)
Of course with all the weed smoking going on I was starting to feen to get my fix. So I start thinking, I need to get someone to hook me up. I don't really care much for going up the strangers and asking them for a puff of there joint. But sometimes depending how badly I desire something I will do what it takes to get what I want and I what I wanted was like Ganja. I looked around to see who my victim was going to be, who would hook me up. I saw some lesbians huddled up sharing a joint, so I just walked up to there circle and straight up asked them "Me puede regalar una pitada?" (Argentine for may I have a hit). So the girl gave me kinda the dirty look of disgust but held the joint to my lips so I could take a hit and also so I wouldn't run away with her J. Mission accomplished, I got my hit and now I was officially high. I stayed around a few more minutes and just continued taking video and chilling like a villain. I was so happy to be in Argentina, it was such a huge change from the years I spent bored out of my fucking mind in South Florida. In a few weeks in South America I was having experiences I've never had before. Part of me was like, what took me so long to get here, but finally I was were I wanted to be and it was exceeding my expectations. I love surprises and felt like the universe was showing me and rewarding me for having the courage to leave my comfort zone.
Finally I decided to get home as I didn't want to get home late, I was staying with family after all and didn't want them to worry about me. So I made my way to Once and got on the Tren Sarmiento. There was a shit load of people waiting for the train. Once the train came I moved quickly to find me a seat since I didn't want to be standing up the entire ride home. Then all of a sudden the woman sitting me who had the window seat got I and left. I didn't think much of it, I just scooted over and took the window seat, cause after all who doesn't like the window seat? At this point I was still a little bit high and was happy about my day and thought I was just gonna chill and be with my family shortly. But this is me where talking about and somehow someway I found a way to turn a very positive day into the biggest mistake of my life.
As I was waiting for the train to move, I felt drops of water coming down on me. Apparently there was a leak somewhere and now I understood why the lady next to me gave up her sit. Now someone was occupying my previous seat and I'm stuck destined to except the drops of water falling on me or another 40 plus minutes. It was getting annoying after a few minutes and was contemplating getting up. While I was in my thought process, I started to smell a familiar smell. So I start sniffing, is that sniff sniff what I think it is? Yup, someone was burning one right on the train, my next thought was were and could I possibly get in on this action. As I looked around it then dawned on me as to where this odor was coming from.
It was coming from the Furgon. I'm sure you might be asking yourself what is a Furgon? To answer this question accurately I have posted a pic of what the Furgon is.
It's basically a part of the train that doesn't have any seats and is primarily used by people bringing there bicycles or carrying other large items. From watching the Argentine news stations on Direct TV with my parents I had seen different stories about this whole other underworld that existed on the train. Strangely not all the news I heard in regards to El Furgon were all bad. I once saw a story were a young girl said she felt safer in the Furgon because nobody sexually harassed her their, which is common on the trains in Buenos Aires. Plus without any Police presence on the trains, one always need to be on his guard especially females. You really ever would see your average white European decent Argentine (basically exhibit A someone like ME) in this section of the train. This is where the Negros hung out, which is to say the lower class Argentine's of more indigenous mix blood or your typical Paraguayan, Bolivian or Peruvian.
Based on what I knew, on a normal day I would have been smart of enough to ignore the ganja smoke (actually it's paraguayo shit brick weed but it still does the job). But on this day I decided to be extra bold and allowed my curiosity to take me where no Argentine Brooklyn boy had gone before. What makes this experience truly sad is that I wasn't just some oblivious retard who didn't know what he was potentially getting into. I knew everything but I'm a risk taker and a pothead and sometimes when the 2 met magic happens and this night I would experience a different kind of magic on this night more like a dark magic. So I said fuck it, I'm no pussy and I know how to box so I made my entrance into the Furgon, I decided I would stay near the cart I came from just in case I had to make a quick evacuation. The only possible thing that allows me to maybe not stick out like a saw thumb is that I have nice tan from all the years of sunbathing.
So now my mission begins, where's the weed and how do I get some. Unlike the picture of the Furgon, on this night it was packed. And like I said everything goes, they had vendors in their selling beer and cigarettes, etc. A woman to the right of me starting talking to me, she appeared to be a druggy and didn't make much sense so I more or less ignored her. Then to my left I there was a slightly tall slim looking Paraguayan fellow with shades on who was giving me the dirty eye, starring at me. Of course I couldn't see his eyes but I can feel his eyes penetrating me. So I just played it off and just waiting for the opportunity to get what I had come for. Then all of a sudden the guy who was starring at me super serious started to smiling and began to conversate with me. I suppose from him observing my dialogue with the crackhead chick he realized I was not a Negro barato (poor nigger). So we began having a conversation, normal stuff small talk like where are you from, blah blah, blah.
Since I was still a bit high and was looking to get smoked out before arriving at my families, I asked him if he could get me some weed. He said he could but in exchange I had to buy some beers for his friends. I wasn't sure if he was legit or just full of shit trying to get a freebie from me. But since I was already in the mix I said fuck it again and bought a few beers for him and his friends. They drank and we kept conversating and still no paraguayo weed. Finally after making me God knows how much time, he rolled a joint and we smoked.
Great at this point it was mission accomplished, I got smoked out, I didn't get robbed or fucked up and almost felt like I made a friend, Winning. But not so fast, this trip was just getting started. Since I was fresh off the boat, I was trying to pay attention as to not miss my stop. I knew I was getting close, so I just thought I would get to my stop and be home shortly.
But before this happens, my new friend asks me if I wanted to buy some weed. Of course I was intrigued and of course since I didn't have any connections at this point in Buenos Aires, I listen to his proposal. He told me he could get me a large quantity for very cheap. Normally you can get a 25 gram brick of Paraguayo prensado for around $150-$200 Argentine pesos which depending by which exchange rate you use (the official bank exchange rate was around $7 ARS to $1 USD but the black market rate known as the "Dollar Blue" was about double. If we use the black market rate were talking around $15-$20 US. I didn't know the pricing at that time but he told me he could get it for $100 ARS, which is a great deal. I had about 150 left after buying the beers so I had enough to cover the cost
The next question was what is it going to take to make this deal happen. So he tells me he's getting off the next stop and if I wanted it I had to get off with him. He assured me that everything would be ok and that he was just trying to hook me up. Now of course everything inside of me said, Bro don't do it, Bro your gonna get robbed, Bro just be happy with what you got and move on, Bro you don't even know this dude, Bro remember how he was looking at you, Bro you've only been here for less then a week and your clueless and only know how to get from point A to point B. This is the exact situation that the God gave humans instincts, instincts that I was choosing to blatantly ignoring. Any other day I would have passed on this offer as tempting as it was, but not tonight.
As we got closer to his station I went thru all the different scenarios in my head. I thought about what would be the worse case scenario, hmm lets see ahhh I get robbed and lose my money. How money would that be, hmmm around $15 dollars. My heart was racing and we were coming close to the stop. I knew I was about to do something stupid and extremely risky but like a degenerate compulsive gambler I decided to take a gamble but at stake was not just a few dollars but my life. As I was contemplating my decision he asked his gordo friend of his if he can come with us.
Because I was so fucking high it didn't really click as to why he wanted his friend to come, I just figured he didn't want to go alone. Finally we get to the stop the doors open and at the last minute I say fuck it and got off. I'm not sure exactly where we were or where we were headed but from the appearance we were still within the city limits. We get to the street and my new best friend tells me we have to take the bus to get to the spot. I was completely trusting this guy at this point even though I felt I could get fucked really really bad. Even while on the bus I told him that I thought he wanted to rob me because I saw the way he looked at me. He just played it off and said he wasn't looking at me but the crackhead that was trying to conversate with me. We continued talking and he shared some info about himself, he told me he worked as a toll attendant which was cool since I also worked at one time collecting tolls for the state of Florida.
He then told me that he has a kid and I too had a kid, so I thought he was possibly a decent guy. He told me not to worry, that he understood what is like to be away and without any contacts to get some weed. Then I got really careless and showed him pictures on my camera of my time in Chile and the beautiful pics I took during the bus ride from Chile to Argentina. Strangely he mention to me a South African guy that he once meet in the train that was similar to me except he said he was smarter then me, I wasn't really sure what he meant by this. I really wanted to believe he was a decent guy and I shouldn't judge him cause he's a negro paraguayo.
At some point I started to realize that we had been on this bus ride for quite some time, possibly around a half hour. Finally we reached our destination. Great now what? Since I was high and talking the entire time I never once glanced outside to see where the fuck I was, not as if it would have made a difference. I was so caught up in the moment that I had no clue of the outside world. So we get off the bus and immediately I am shocked to realize where I was. I was in the heart of one of Argentina's famous villas, to recap my previous post the villa is the ghetto, shanty towns were the poorest of the poor live and were the police don't even bother to enter.
From what I had seen on the Argentine news, I knew the Villas were fucked up but nothing could have prepared me for this occasion. I figured out after from doing some research after this wonderful experience exactly where I was. Not only was I in a Villa, which is bad enough I was in the Worst Villa of Buenos Aires, known as Bajo Flores or Villa 1-11-14. This area is the most dangerous of Buenos Aires and also notorious for being the narcotics headquarters of BA.
(this video shows you exactly where I was)
I felt like I was entering the pits of hell, I was in another world and knew I didn't belong their. I was super fucked and had no idea what to do. In my life I had gotten myself into some fucked up situations but this was definitely the worst. I went from having a great time eating Choripan and smoking some weed with Lesbos to know venturing into one the most dangerous part of Buenos Aires with complete strangers, great job Alejandro. I really didn't know what to do and I knew I was so deep in shit but I had no clue how to get out. It was kinda At this point it was like I trusted this fucker to get me here so I guess I'm gonna trust him to get me out and pray to God that nothing happens. Before we had gotten off the bus my new buddy told me to follow him and his friend but not to stay to close. So we cross the street and entered a passages way that was in between 2 buildings.
(Something like this, except with almost no lighting)
Never ever in my life had I experienced this type of misery, on the one hand I was scared and at the other hand I was mesmerized. It was world unto its self, a maze with twist and turns, shoppes, vendors and homes. These guys were speed walking and I was following them as if I was going to my execution. At this point I was thinking that they would take off running at some point since I had already given them the money for the ganja. In my mind I knew they had almost all my money but of course there was no way for them to know that. So we kept walking until we got to the end of this section of the villa. We then cross the street and entered another alley way passage. It was pretty much the same as the first with maybe less turns. At some point I lost sight of the guys and find myself completely alone in between the passage way of these buildings.
(This is exactly what I was thinking at this point)
At this point it felt like time had stood still, everything slowed down like a movie, I could even feel my heart beat getting slower and slower, it's as if my soul was preparing me for death. I was super confused and afraid. I thought the guys were gone, there wasn't a soul in site. I looked around around and around and saw no one.
And then BAM out of nowhere I was being choked from behind by the chubby friend while the other friend my so called buddy starts aggressively start telling me in Spanish "Dale, Dale dame todo lo que tienes en su bolsilla" Translation "Hurry Hurry Give me everything that's in your pockets. Since I had already prepared myself to get robbed since the moment I was in the Furgon contemplating this detour from our regular schedule programming, I already knew that if something like this was to happen I was just going to give whatever money I had. Ok, that was not brightest thought but obviously when I originally considered or fantasized about the possibility of getting robbed I never imagined that it would be happening in the pits of hell in the most dangerous part of the city. In my mind I actually thought that I could fight if need be and even run since I'm a fast little man.
But considering the situation as it was, I was not going to risk my life especially since I was being choked from behind and didn't know if the guy had a weapon. Because of this fact and not so much cause I was afraid the guys would beat me up that I gave them what they wanted. A positive thing that I did do when the guy originally grabbed me was Yell out Loud, Hey Hey Hey Tranquilo te doy lo que quieres (Hey Relax, I'll give you what you want) I was not about to lose my life for a few dollars. Oh but I miss calculated, it wasn't just a few dollars it was everything I had well almost. I gave him whatever money I had left, then he asked me for my camera, fuck why did I even show him that. Oh I know cause I was high as fuck making the biggest mistake of my life. So I gave him the camera, then he asks me to give him my Sube card, now I was without money and my Sube card which would have helped to pay for my transportation home. After this the guys took off running and now I'm left to figure out an exit plan cause even though they were gone I was till in No Man's Land. Strangely enough they didn't take my cell phone, I guess they were too much in a rush to leave before someone came.
Within 30 seconds after they had gone, also out of nowhere appeared what I would guess were around 20 little Bolivians(it's possible there were Peruvians but my gut feeling tells me they were Bolivians) both male and females. They surrounded me and started intensely asking me what was going on. Upon first contact they thought that I was possibly a criminal committing some crime. Apparently I had shouted loud enough to be heard by them while I was put in a straggle hold. So they asked me what was going on and I told them I was robbed. They said who, was it those 2 guys that went running? I said yup, and immediately a group of them took off to catch my attackers.
They then proceeding to ask what in the world I was doing there?? So I told them I was taken there by the 2 guys to buy some weed. Then they said to me "No, hermano eso no se puede hacer aque, nadien que no es de la villa puede entrar la villa es muy peligroso" Translations (Noo brother, you can't do that, no one that is not from the villa can enter the villa, its very dangerous) Of course I already knew this but it was some strange destiny of mine and my blind stupidity that brought me here. Right after I told them this within themselves started discussing that they needed to secure that area since it was the 5th time that day that someone got robbed in that same spot. Evidently this was a very popular spot for thieves. Because the villa is filled with immigrants it gets zero funding or protection from the government so it's left to the people protect their territory.
After this I asked them where I was and how the hell do I get home. They asked me where I was staying, so I said Ramos Mejia. So then I asked them how to get there from where I was and they told me there was a bus a block or 2 away once I got out onto the street from inside this section of the villa. When I looked to where they were pointing to direct me out into the street I saw nothing but pitch darkness and it scared the shit out me . Even though my accomplices were probably long gone I was of course in shock, traumatized and afraid for my life. I had no idea what was waiting for me once I got onto the main street to find the bus stop. Then my next big issue was, I had no money. Then these super kind humble little people with there tiny little hands, both men and woman started putting $1 and $2 dollar peso bills in my hand along with some coins, about 12 pesos in total and more then enough to pay for the bus. I was so so grateful they had treated me so much kindness and compassion.
It's funny how just a few days ago I was being told by my aunt about how shitty the Bolivians are and how they are destroying the country. And now there I was in the worst possible situation of my life and it was this poor humble immigrant so called terrible Bolivian people that came to my rescue. It so sad how judgmental people are towards others just because they are different and come from a different place, have different beliefs and customs, people who have never done any wrong to them in there life. I was hoping one of them would walk with me to the bus stop, but even though I was lucky I wasn't that lucky. I was going to have to figure it out myself.
So I proceeded to the street made a right and followed there directions and made it to the bus stop. Once I got to the stopped I asked someone how often the bus comes. He told me about 30-40 minutes, for me this was too long. Even the worst was over I was still well aware that anything could still happen in that time frame. I remember something that I heard Ex Boca Jrs player Carlos Tevez say in regards to the villa. Tevez who himself comes from a Villa known as Forte Apache had said something to the effect of back in the day when he was growing up in the villa you would get robbed and that was it but nowadays not only will they rob you but they will also kill you.
With this in mind I decided that I couldn't wait any longer I had to leave ASAP. So I asked the guy if I could catch a taxi somewhere. He told me there was a Remis (Remis is short for Remiseria, Argentine for Car Service) nearby and once Again I was pointed in a direction and couldn't see jack shit due to the fact there a very few street lights in the villa. Also the fact that I'm a bit near sighted and had difficulty seeing well at not only added to my dilemma. So once I again I just said fuck man, lets find this Remis and get out of dodge. I began walking and didn't see much, it was pitch dark outside. Then I stopped at some little shop that had no lighting and asked the lady there which way to the Remis. Once again I was pointed in the direction and was on the right track so thank God for that. Just a short distance later I found it.
(This is the exact Remis spot I was a that day)
Finally I was going to escape this nightmare, this Dark night of my soul that I got myself into. There was only 1 problem, which was I had only $12 pesos and for sure this ride was going to cost me more. I went inside and told them I where I was headed. I got in the car and off we went, there was no discussion at this point and even if there was I would have given him whatever to get out of there. I had already thought to myself that I would tell him that I will pay him once we get to my families house. From the beginning and how the guy looked at me he already seem to know that I was not from around there and I had gotten robbed. As we took off, he told me how much the fare was going to be $150 pesos, which was much more then expected. It wasn't like I even had so much money at home to begin with but I had enough to cover the cost.
From what I gathered he purposely took the highway in order to charge me more money. I even had to cough up the little bit of pesos I had to pay for the tolls, oh well it is what it is. Finally we get to Ramos Mejia and I had to come up with an excuse to go in the house and then go back out. I was sure it might look suspicious to my family as to why I would coming in and going out. I also didn't have a key so it wasn't like I could sneak it without being noticed. So I went in and all the cousins and some other family there just hanging out. I went in quickly went to my room got the money and told them I them I left something outside. I payed the guy and came back in.
I was so so distraught and worn out from this traumatic experience that I just went to bed. I laid down and immediately began to cry and ask myself some serious questions. In front of my family I had put on a front because they would not be happy to know I went thru this experience. But once I hit the bed it was flood works. I couldn't believe I could be so stupid, how could have gotten myself into such a situation. Did I have a death wish??? Did I want to kill myself, did I no longer want to live? Is this what I came to South America for? I knew I was fortunate to be alive, whether it was of luck, or maybe I had some Angels with me or some higher power that saved my ass from complete disaster. I only knew this kind of mistake I could never ever make again in my life.
From this point on I never would put myself in such a predicament, not for a woman and not for marijuana. There were many lessons I learned that night. It's strange how sometimes one needs to go thru a near death experience to really make me appreciate life and everything I had. I got over it pretty quickly and continued with my pursuit of happiness in Argentina. I honestly wasn't even upset at the guys who robbed me because I knew I did it to myself. I created the entire situation and walked right into a big pile of shit. I mean could you blame them, I don't. It's almost as if I went up to them and said Hi, my name is Alejandro would you like take me to hell and rob me. I mean I was like a gift that landed right on their lap. It's not like they came to me where I was sitting when the drops starting hitting and said in a British accent "Hello, How goes it mate?? Would you like to join us in the Furgon? Would you mind purchasing some beers for the lads before we give you some shit amonia filled marijuana so that we can take you to the ghetto and rob you.
Nope that never happened, so I can only blame myself. I'm definitely not proud of what I did but I'm thankful to live thru it so that I can now share the experience and the lessons it taught me. I pray anyone that reads this will never make such a mistake. But if you do then just learn to forgive yourself because life is full of up's and downs and no one is perfect.
So I learn to let go of my pride and ego and accept what is. I've come to discover in life there are many battles some you win and some you lose. One can't go back and change the past, it's already done. So I learned to move forward and never give up.
I thank you for taking the time to read this very long story of mine. I hope you enjoyed and look forward to sharing my next adventure with you.
Until then I send you all much Love and Light.
image source1:https://www.cronista.com/informaciongral/Megaoperativo-anti-narco-en-la-villa-1-11-14-20170630-0063.html