I guess it was inevitable. The bus system in Buenos Aires is chaotic and, to my North American eye, totally illogical. (I’m OK with that, because it’s all part of living in Buenos Aires.) I have a little book I carry round with me, containing my own notes about where to get which buses, and so far I’ve done all right.

Well OK, twice I got so frustrated wandering around looking for the bus stop I just took a taxi, but we won’t count that. Anyway, last night my luck ran out.

I was going to a social event of InterNations, a great international organization for expats around the world. I’ve gone to some of their events in Toronto and was looking forward to my first one here. I had an idea where the place was (a bar/restaurant) , and I knew which bus I was supposed to take. As usual, though, the problem was in finding where to get the bus. But I looked at the map and found where it was, and I realized it was in Palermo, where I have been several times and I know which bus to get. I figured I could take the 110, get off at my usual stop and walk up Honduras to Fitz Roy.

Well, maybe you’ve noticed this, but when you look at a map sometimes it’s hard to gauge distances, and that was definitely the case last night. I walked for miles — literally — and by the time I was even in the general area my feet were killing me and I was still not sure how far away it was. Fortunately, Palermo is a happening kind of place, so even though it was dark I didn’t feel uncomfortable because there were lots of restaurants and people about. But finally I gave up. I turned around and walked all the way back to get on my usual bus home. Disappointing, because I was looking forward to the event. Lesson learned: don’t guess at distances and make sure I get on the right bus!

On Saturday afternoon a sub-group of InterNations is going to a tango thing, so let’s hope I find that OK. I’ll post about it afterwards.