I think the Buses in BA, los colectivos, are great. They come along every two minutes or so (no timetables here) and they rattle along at a fair old pace.

They are also the most noisy, smoke belching, evil danger on the streets.

When it rains here it can really rain. Yesterday, for example, there was a bit of a downpour. I was on the bus to Belgrano and when the doors opened there was a river running down the street, it was a good two feet wide and was really racing. The lady on the bus who was getting off at this riverside stop just looked at it 'que lluvia' she said. She may have said other rude things too but we haven't really learned them yet.

When it does rain the buses are packed, everyone has a dripping umbrella, 'paragua' the street sellers say, switching from selling cd cases in a matter of seconds is essential because it's too warm for a coat, you can read that bit again. Hee hee.

So on rainy days all the buses are like this. Still, people are pretty polite, one woman swapped seats so that two friends could sit together and chat, all the men gave up their seats to women (I didn't have a seat to give up), and men who knew each other threaded their way through the throng to greet each other (yes, with a kiss... I've already said it's the norm... so much so that I hardly notice it now, unless it's some particularly funny example, such as two armed policemen (which I saw yesterday)).
  ¶ 4:19 PM