Zebra sightings in....La Paz, Bolivia?

On our recent travels to La Paz, Bolivia, we got to witness a curious sight at the busy intersection of Sagarnaga and Avenida Mariscal Santa Cruz, a huge, noisy expanse of cars, minivans, buses, and motorcycles. We climbed to the roof of San Francisco Church right next to the intersection, where we got a bird's eye view of busy La Paz street life below us. As the traffic lights rotated through the cycle from green to red, pedestrians and vehicles traded turns for physical space on the street with the help of people dressed in zebra costumes! This struck me as an amazing idea to encourage pedestrian safety and educate drivers on the rights of pedestrians in traffic crossings. (It also reminded me of the Halloween I dressed up as a zebra - I think I was around 10 years old.)

Here's a great video that gives a little history on the city of La Paz's use of human zebras at busy intersections - I guess that this traffic safety program has been in place since 2001.

I put up my own video of the zebras on youtube (although without the nifty subtitles and the cinematography of the video above!).Me posing with the zebra traffic guards. The sign says "Hasta que tu quieras a tu ciudad" which means "Until you love your city". I found out later that most of these traffic guards are between 16-22 years old but at the time I just thought they were really short!
The zebra traffic guards are physically pushing this public transportation minivan back and out of the zebra crossing!
While the light is green for traffic, the zebra traffic guards stand with pedestrians in the median and the sidewalk on either sides of Avenida Mariscal Santa Cruz.
I think the non-zebra was a donkey but I'm not sure.

The signs the traffic guards are holding say "Pare" or stop on one side.

How's this for a map of the suburban train system?

Impossible to find maps of the Suburban train system. Here is the best one that I found:

Please note that even this map has its flaws - namely, that the lines and stations seem to float in midair and aren't anchored by any geography. The only hints that we are given as map viewers is the outline of the city of Buenos Aires (Capital Federal) and that the map appears to be to scale (for example, distances between stations and between lines seem to approximate actual distances on the map). Still, viewers are left to ponder where some of these stations may be in relation to the subte, to different municipalities, and other important destinations.

Well, at least the map shows the entire system, which cannot be said for most other maps.

Trip to Fundacion Banco de Alimentos

Raja and I have started volunteering at a place called Fundacion Banco de Alimentos. We're working in the warehouse, packaging food and other products to be distributed to food shelves and soup kitchens around Buenos Aires. It's a pretty cool operation that takes in over 250,000 kilos of food per month!

Our route to get to our volunteer site has been an exciting transportation challenge. First we walk about 40 minutes, then we hop on the suburban train at Scalabrini Ortiz Station towards Villa Rosa, we travel 4 stops and get off at Munro Station, and walk another 15 minutes or take bus #333. In total, approximately one hour and 30 minutes door to door.

On our walk, we've had a chance to discover some of the greener areas of Buenos Aires. Although you're not allowed to walk inside the Golf Course (think high chain link fence), the Campo de Golf provides a green lush respite from city noise and traffic. And the Lago de Regatas has lots of joggers, fishers, and families who enjoy the birds and plants around the lake. Then we walk through a little neighborhood of houses and apartment complexes before arriving at the Parque de las Americas and crossing a pedestrian bridge to Scalabrini Ortiz station, which is located in the middle of the highway.

The first day I did this route by myself and got quite lost. The most humbling moment was when I stood on the wrong platform and watched my train go by. Why? Because the trains here were built by the British and thus travel on the left and not the right like in the US. One way cost for the train trip is 75 centavos or less than 25 American cents. Wow!

Some initial discoveries regarding the Buenos Aires "Subte" system

The Buenos Aires subway system is called the "Subte", which is a shortened version of the Spanish "Subterraneo". Its first station was inaugurated in 1913 making it the oldest subway system in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere (for comparison, the oldest underground system in North America is claimed by Boston, which began in 1897). Pretty impressive for Buenos Aires!

Another interesting cultural tidbit is that the cars on Line A, the oldest line are the original wooden subway cars that were built in 1913. I'll post a picture after I ride the line. Last time I was in Argentina Raja and I were given a huge warning by a fellow passenger to beware of pickpockets, hence we took very few pictures as we didn't want to take out our camera. The next occasion I think we will worry a little less.

I found this website, http://www.enelsubte.com/, which in my opinion is by far the #1 site for all things subte news related. It seems like the free metro newspapers that are distributed in Boston, NYC, and other big cities in the United States. Except, this one is online.

Today when I looked at it there was an article on the negative health effects caused by exessive sound in the tunnels, information on which stations were having musical performances, and a critical piece on the impact of inflation on Subte employee salaries.

One of the things that I find confusing with the subway system (and train system in general) is that station names are not unique. For example, the A (red line) and the D (green line) both have a station named "Callao" which is in reference to Avenida Callao. However, these two stations are in different locations along the Avenue.

In my search to better understand the Subte system and how I might be able to use it, I came across a few websites with (and without) maps.

Mediocre to Good transit mapping websites in Buenos Aires

http://www.subte.com.ar/mapas/subte.asp

Here is what appears to be the official subte website for Buenos Aires. The map is really quite mediocre - not interactive or anything - and no base to reference where you are. It also has some additional information about how to pay, fares, and times of operation.

http://www.gosur.com/es/23823_capital-federal/metro/

An ok site for seeing the subte lines juxtaposed on a google maps base. You can turn the lines on and off.

http://www.subirte.com.ar/

Seems like this site is actually under construction. But it looks like it should be pretty nice once they finish putting it together. Right now it's got a graphically pleasing map of the subte that is supposedly interactive but is actually under construction.

New bike paths in the Almagro neighborhood

When Vijay and I were exploring the Almagro neighborhood on a chilly August day, we came across one of the new bike paths we heard about. The green solid section is at the intersection. Smart idea to put a barrier in the main section of the bike path to keep aggressive Argentine drivers away from the bikes.


Just watch out for the manholes as you cross the intersection on your bike! They look rather dangerous.

Bicycling towards better health and less traffic

Check out this recent article from July 14, 2010 from www.buenosaires54.com on plans to expand bicycle facilities and promote bicycle usage around Buenos Aires. A couple reasons are behind this initiative including health concerns and ever-growing traffic jams around the city. Interesting that the World Health Organization appears to be involved in this effort!

Buenos Aires becomes a bicycle usage model in Latin America
Luis Roberto Escoto, a World Health Organization (WHO) consultant on family and community health, is proud to report that Buenos Aires is well on the way to becoming a model Latin American city when it comes to bicycle usage.
More than 14 million people live in and around the Argentine capital, and like all large agglomerations, the city suffers because of high population density.
According to Escoto, the 21st century’s health problems are largely related to population aging, urbanization and climate change.
“These are the three great topics, whose effects translate into health problems. It is interesting to see how bicycling directly affect them,” Escoto, a Honduran who received his degree in medicine from the National Autonomous University of Honduras, told dpa.
The WHO Health and Transportation Program states that a sedentary lifestyle is the main health risk in industrialized nations. Some 1.9 million people die each year all over the world from illnesses connected with not getting sufficient exercise.
Bicycle use as part of daily life, half an hour five times a week, contributes towards strengthening muscles, bones and tendons, among other benefits.
“It has an effect on diminishing premature arthritis, heart ailments, osteoporosis, certain kinds of cancers and diabetes, and it also contributes to emotional wellbeing,” Escoto said.
Cities also benefit because transit and gas emissions diminish and residents get healthier lives.
Physician Claudia Valenti, an advisor to the Argentine Health Ministry and head of Paediatrics at the Jose Maria Penna General Emergencies Hospital, said that around 40 percent of children and teenagers are obese or overweight.
“When physical activity is prescribed for clinical reasons, many say they don’t have the money to go to a gym. Sending people to walk when they are overweight is to increase their joint pain. We usually tell them to ride a bicycle. Therefore, bike lanes are extremely important,” she added.
Buenos Aires City Hall has made its “Better on a Bike” program a priority and the intention is to encourage residents to use bicycles on a daily basis to improve their health.
“The only way to deal with global warming is to change the way citizens act. A key point is fuel use because automobile exhaust fumes are the main polluters, not factories,” Buenos Aires Deputy Transportation Secretary Guillermo Dietrich, said in an interview.
“It is essential to incorporate bicycles to diminish environmental pollution,” he said.
Following trends set by other large cities such as Paris, Barcelona, New York and Bogota, the Argentine capital also seeks that bicycle use become a strategic ally to alleviate traffic jams.
Under the plan, by the end of 2011 the city will have built 100 kilometers of protected bike lanes connecting to train stations, universities, and other areas where crowds gather, such as office districts.
The city has completed 25 kilometers and a growing number of Buenos Aires residents are using them in the crowded downtown area.
The project includes parking lots, a rental system, promotion and driver education so that society can learn about cycling as well as a corporate social responsibility program so that private and public institutions and schools and universities can encourage employees and student bodies to use bikes.
Escoto said that if the policy is kept up success is practically guaranteed and Buenos Aires in eight or 10 years could be a model city on a world scale in the use of bicycles as a healthy and sustainable means of transportation.
He said that Buenos Aires has the advantage of being a flat city, unlike others in the region, and that bicycle use is necessary in a city with “more and more inhabitants and whose streets are collapsing because of the heavy transit.”
Escoto said city authorities must guarantee appropriate places where to leave bikes, deploy additional police agents and educate the population.
Some Buenos Aires residents have voiced concerns about the safety of bicycles for those who ride them and others, because drivers are unfamiliar with them.
“As bicycles become more common and people come to see them as a regular form of transportation, drivers too will begin to respect them,” Escoto said.