I'm the type of person that I worry about how much I worry. I'm also cognizant that sometimes this "attribute" is not as endearing as say a good old fashioned neurotic Woody Allen flick. But, if we were for a second to indulge me and pretend it were, I have to admit that sometimes when I visit countries or cities where the seperation between rich and poor is much more stark then in, say, Ottawa, I feel ambivalent about my place as a tourist. As Gabby and I set out after brunch on our first full day in BA, the exchange rate on our bill served as a gentle reminder of this reality for me. With this ambivalence creeping into my mind, Gabby and I walked toward the #130 bus to take us out to the ESMA building; which we didn't get to tour due to a comedy of errors I care not to recount at this point - too soon...
Shortly into our walk, it began raining softly with promises of returning to the earlier torential downpour. Gabby needed to buy an umbrella, so after consulting my phrasebook we were ready to buy a "paraguas." Finally, we happened upon a woman selling umbrellas. What followed was one of the most genuine miscommunications between two kindhearted indiviuals I've ever seen. I asked the woman in Spanish how much the umbrellas were and she told us that the smaller ones were $15 which Gabby decided was a good deal and passed over a 20 peso bill to which the woman returned her a 5 peso bill. Aware that she was in need of change for the bus we were about to take she used her new vocabulary word "monera" and pointed to her bill, adding "bus" and pointing towards the bus stop. The woman checked her jacket pocket pulling out only bills, and told us - in Spanish - that she was sorry she only had bills. Gabby looked at her sadly and then the woman asked us: " necesito?" Gabby - deducing, as I did, that she was asking us if it was necessary and that if we said 'si' she would tell us somewhere else to try - replied earnestly "'si, necesito." The woman gave us a half confused and half understanding look and began digging for change in her pants pocket and asked, again in Spanish, how much we needed and was it *really* " necesito"? Again Gabby, not realizing quite yet what was happening - nor was I - replied "si, necesito." As the woman began to pull out change she started to explain, in Spanish, okay she was going to give change to us, but we did understand that she was part of a "association" of homeless people working together for money, right? Suddenly, my tired eyes and ears caught what she was saying - contextually - and I held out my hands shaking them as if to say "no, no" and then finding my words adding: "no, no necesito, lo siento pero gracias, muchas gracias." My sudden, but strong understanding of the reality of the situation was insantly then appreciated by Gabs who began adding "oh! no, no, no!!! gracias , gracias, gracias."
In a simple miscommunication of maybe 1 minute, I was reminded of the profound potential for generousity in the human spirit. I was humbled by this woman's care for two gringa strangers and was grateful I had realized what was happening before we took the small amount of change she had found in her pockets. I can only hope our chourses of "lo sientos" and "gracias'" translated to her as the huge misunderstanding it truly was. And with that we headed on to find bus change elsewhere...
As a photographic post script here is me and my iPhone reunited at the Puerto Iguazu bus station thanks entirely to the amazing staff of a bus company I am going to write the nicest thank you note to - oh happy day!
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