Creepy #2

Today Annemarie and I met up at Las Violetas, a 123-year-old French café in the neighborhood of Almargo. It’s along the A-Line, so we got to ride the old subte trains over there. That was an adventure in itself because we ended up on separate trains, and Annemarie couldn’t figure out how to manually open the doors, so I arrived about 20 minutes ahead of her. Las Violetas has these beautiful stain-glassed windows and was recommended by New York Times’ “36 hours in Buenos Aires” article, and so far NYT hasn’t steered me wrong. But we opted for lunch because it was around 2 pm, a bit early for teatime, and all of the tea services basically included foods we eat on a regular basis. So we ordered omelettes. These can be eaten at any time of day here. Mainly dinner and lunch. Mine was the house specialty and included peas and carrots folded inside the eggs, with mushrooms and basil-tomato salsa on the side. It was good.
Then we hopped the A-Line back to visit the Madres’ Museum, mainly because I wanted to check out their libreria to buy a Che Guevara book, and since they tend to idolize Che, I figured I wouldn’t get as many strange looks as I would in a more conventional bookstore. We took the wrong subte stop and ended up walking from La Casa Rosada along Hipolito Yrigoyen, which isn’t a terribly far walk, but brought us straight through Monserrat, a very sketchy neighborhood. We never felt unsafe the whole time, but then again, we didn’t realize we were in Monserrat. So we explored the Madres Museum, which is really more their headquarters. When you enter, there’s a small café and a bookstore, then further back there are bulletin boards, some classrooms and a few paintings. I believe the paintings were the “museum” part our beloved Frommer’s guide told us about. But it was neat to see what all was going on. The Madres really do a lot. They run an entire University, with classes that focus on law and capitalism and Che and resistance. They’re a bit intense. But I suppose if my child disappeared on me at the hands of the government, I’d be intense too. My favorite part of the Madres Headquarters, besides the delicious coffee and teeny-tiny croissant they served with it, was a display of Mother’s Day cards a bunch of Los Angeles, CA high schoolers wrote to the Madres. It was really sweet. And a neat project for kids learning Spanish and about Argentine history.

But today will not be remembered as the day Annemarie and I went to Las Violetas then wandered through Monserrat to get to the Madres Museum. Today will be remembered as the day Meg was assaulted by a man’s genitals on the subte.

So we took the A Line to the D Line, and since Catedral is the last stop, we easily managed to grab seats. So we are sitting. And the train gets more crowded. “What’s in that man’s pocket?” Annemarie asks me. I assume she is looking at the guy who just got on. I tell her, “An iPod.” “No, the man in front of us.” Well, suffice it to say it was not a banana. So we awkwardly laugh and titter because well, what else do you do? And then he puts his hand in his pocket and plays with himself. He is not even being subtle. Then he adjusts his briefcase so he can play with himself even more. So at this point I try not to acknowledge him because that’s just weird. So I am talking to Annemarie and laughing and I feel him tap me on the bare knee with his finger. Well that was weird. And creepy. But whatever. I don’t acknowledge it. My stop is like 3 more away. Annemarie has a lot more to go. She decides she’s getting off with me. Good, because I don’t want to leave her alone with creepy pervert guy. So we duck off at Bulnes, and when I stand up, I notice Creepster’s fly in unzipped. He takes our seat. Annemarie and I crash into the wall in a fit of giggles. “Did you realize he had it out?” she asks me. Pretty sure it wasn’t his finger that he tapped me with. “That is the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me,” she says, “and I am a lot older than you.” It was bizarre. And gross. But what do you do? If you can’t laugh, you might cry. She makes sure I’m okay. I am. But now that it’s sunken in, I am a little weirded out. But I have to wait tables today. Or barstools. Not really sure how that works. So I move on. I can’t believe that happened. But I suppose it could happen anywhere with public transportation.