Por que mierda...?

Yesterday, one of the expressions Juliana taught me from the m1cest video on Glams, Chetos and Floggers was "Por que mierda...?" - literally, it means "Why the shit...?", but I think it is more equivalent to "Why the hell, or why the you know what...?" in English. I made a question "Por que mierda nadie tiene cambio?" - "Why the shit doesn't anybody have change?", and then Juliana told me a story. Change is a good topic to get people going, and not Obama kind of change, but change for something like a 5 peso bill. It seems that no matter what you buy and no matter how much you give them, nobody has change. Actually, it is a little better than what I remember from last year, but I have been hoarding small bills.

Anyway, I don't know why I thought about that expression or why I started my blog off with it. I do like it though and am going to try to use it.

After the gym this morning I headed over towards Corrientes to meet Marcelo for my tango lesson. I went to La Continental, one of my favorite pizza/empanada places for a few slices of anchovy pizza and a salad. I like the salads because you get to choose the ingredients. You have to choose a minimum of 4. I ordered a salad with radicchio, carrots, beets and olives. I got two slices of anchovy pizza, which comes without cheese and with one anchovy and a green olive and lots of sauce. The crust is cruncy and the pizza is springy and doughy. It's good.

When my salad came I started to mix it and saw that there was no radicchio, but there seemed to be an inordinate amount of carrots. I called the waitress over and told her I ordered radicchio, but it seemed that there was none. I then added that there seemed to be a double order of carrots. She asked if I wanted her to add some radicchio. I said no, but it looks like there are a lot of carrots. She asked if I wanted her to take out some carrots, and I said, no I was just letting her know. I don't know what I wanted her to do, but I think I just wanted an acknowledgement that I had ordered radicchio and didn't get it and that it was strange that I got so many carrots. I thought I was going to turn orange!

She walked away and I sat and ate my lunch, thinking, "why the shit did I get so many carrots?" I was watching people coming and going. I could see the area where people stand. At some places like this, you can get pizza or an empanada and stand to eat it. It is cheaper than if you sit down. I saw a woman come in and get her pizza and a pepsi, and then go over to a counter and put all of her stuff underneath the counter where there was a little shelf. She had several bags and a purse.

I saw a young guy come in and go up to the register. He had what looked like a 5 peso note.

Then I got lost thinking about why the shit I had so many carrots in my salad.

When I came back to earth, I saw a woman go over to the woman who had put her bags under the counter and point to the door. Then the woman with the bags, who had a bright red shag haircut, looked under the counter and saw that her purse was missing. She stopped for a minute in shock and then started to cry. Her crying got louder and louder until everyone in the restaurant could hear her. We were all in shock.

With so many people sitting and standing around and all of us with a view of this woman, no one except this one other woman had seen what happened, and for some reason, the woman who saw what happened, was very slow in reacting. Perhaps for her it was also an odd thing that took time to register.

I think it was the guy who was trying to get change for his 5 peso note.

The poor woman continued sobbing and one of the waiters went outside and flagged down a police officer who was right outside (a lot of good he did). He came in, got a description of something (maybe the purse) and went outside. A little later he came back and shook his head. Nothing.

Yesterday I was in another restaurant and a woman came in and sat next to me and ordred a coffee and medialunas. She has a lot of bags with her and a purse, that she put on the seat next to her. Directly in front of me were two conchettas who both had purses next to them.

I was thinking of how amazing it is that women can keep track of their purses.

Today proved that that is not always the case. I think purses are especially dangerous, because unlike pants pockets, you can fit a lot more things in a purse. I imagine in addition to her wallet, money, credit cards, make-up and all of that stuff, she also had her house keys, maybe car keys, cell phone, and who knows what else. The guy who took it made out like a bandit.

After that I felt the mood in the restaurant turn very somber. It was like we were all in shock. I wanted to give the woman some money to try to make it better, but though that would be strange (she didn't look like she was poor, but she had obviously lost some important things). I wanted to go outside and see if I could find the guy, but I doubted he would be standing on the corner looking through the purse. He probably scooted down into the subway or into a doorway or something as soon as he left the restaurant.

It was a good reminder to be careful and pay attention. I am always aware of where my bag is (when I have a bag) and I keep my wallet in my front pocket and my cell phone as well. I also don't carry a lot of cash, and don't carry a credit card if I am not going to be using it (or I try not to).

This is a big city and like any big city, there are people who are going to take advantage of convenient situations. I'm sure that counter at La Continental is a very convenient situation for thieves, as are sidewalk cafes, or anywhere else where people put their bags in a place where they may not be paying attention to them.

I finally had to get out of the restaurant as I could not finish the rest of my carrots and I felt traumatized by the powerlessness of the situation for all of us there. In a way we were all victims of that crime, though the woman who lost her purse is going to be thinking about it a lot longer than the rest of us.