This city is hot. And I don't mean "yay it's time for shorts, tank tops, and summer dresses" hot. I mean walk out your door and you're already sweating hot, stick to the subway seat hot, only want to sit at a pool or inside with air conditioning hot.
This past month Buenos Aires has hit some new heat records and it didn't just last a few days, but a few weeks. This led to blackouts all over the city as everyone turned on their air conditioning in an electricity infrastructure not strong enough to allow everyone to do that without breaking down. Many people went days or even weeks without electricity or hot water. There were news articles about families with children sleeping in their cars because their children couldn't sleep in their 40 Celsius degree home (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit) at night.
When my family and I flew back from Santiago, we were met by our car driver with a worried expression on his face. He told us that because of the "corta de luz", blackouts, part of the highway was shut down so instead of a twenty-five minute ride to our hotel, we should be prepared for an hour to two hour car ride. That was fun...
A few days ago I was taking a taxi from a restaurant to my apartment after dinner. Ahead of us we could see four police cars stopped with their lights on and in front of them, something that looked like fire in the road. I asked the taxi driver what was going on and he said people were upset because of all the "cortas de luz" so they were setting fires in the streets to protest and we'd have to take a different route. Great.
At least the heat has had one positive effect, everyone that can has left the city for summer vacations so the city is much more quiet than normal. I can almost always find a seat on the subway, don't have to wait at restaurants, and don't have to worry about literally bumping into people on the street as I'm walking. I was walking outside a couple days ago and went three blocks without seeing a single person, that is unheard of in this city!
It's been really interesting experiencing the season changes here in Buenos Aires. It was winter when I arrived in August, everyone was bundled up and drinking lots of warm drinks. Next we moved into spring with purple flowers blooming all over the city and lots more movement on the streets. Each season has had a distinct feeling and atmosphere, it has been wonderful to experience all the changes.
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