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Transportation>
A Train
Taking the "A"
Train
By Cherie Magnus
Published February 2006
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What is it about trains?
We all love them--the
waiting, the leaving, the whistles. Who
can hear the distant "woo-woo"
of a train without feeling something…a longing,
nostalgia, the urge to hop on and leave
your old life behind? Literature abounds
with romantic train symbols: The Polar Express,
Streetcar Named Desire, Train to Nowhere,
The Last Train Home. |
The same for tunnels, which
can be passages to somewhere mysterious and unknown.
Aren't the words, "secret tunnel" exciting?
Tunnels are a metaphor of life and death? Mystery
and secrets? The birth experience, with light
and life at the end?
And when there are trains
in tunnels, well, in the old movies Hollywood
movies during the moral censorship days of the
Hayes Code, when a train went into a tunnel, the
audience knew the stars were having sex.
Most people don't find the
subway so romantic. But taking the A line of the
Buenos Aires subway is usually an opportunity
for me to be transported to realms other than
the stations of Peru, Piedras and Pasco.
The "A" line is
the oldest in the Buenos Aires subway system,
or Supte. Construction began in 1911 and opened
to the public in 1913. It's a short line of only
13 stations, beginning from the Plaza de Mayo.
There the President's Pink House and the Cathedral
sit at right angles around a plaza full of history,
monuments, protests, and souvenir stands hawking
blue and white Argentine flags.
A couple of cars have been
replaced, but generally when I ride to my Castellano
class or to church, I take one of the original
wooden cars. At times it's almost a mystical ride,
especially early in the morning or late at night.
As I sit on the wooden slat benches, the train
rocks me from side to side, the rings hanging
from the ceiling swing hypnotically. The original
incandescent lighting is still in use in old-fashioned
glass shades, and the light glows on the wood,
brass and beveled mirrors. These original cars
have windows at both ends so you can see right
through to the next car or to the black tunnel
you have just left or into the one you are entering.
The world up top seems so far away.
During the day, cars passing
over the grills on the street above, make daylight
come and go as the train rumbles along in the
dark tunnel.
Light in tunnels is a strong metaphor. During
a series of site-specific dance performances in
Los Angeles by Collage Dance Theater in the year
2000, abandoned subway tunnels from the 20's were
used in the work, SubVersions. A brilliant idea
full of symbolism, dancers dug through rubble
for lost hope, and waltzed as phantoms through
the elegant art deco Terminal building. Finally
they built a makeshift boat full of happy passengers
waving goodbye, which was borne on shoulders,
down the dark tunnel until its light disappeared.
Because tunnels are so appealing,
wise businessmen around the world put the lure
of exploring history underground to good use.
In Seattle, Washington, a popular tourist attraction
is a walking tour of the subterranean tunnels
under Pioneer Square, once the main roadways and
ground-floor storefronts of old downtown.
The abandoned silver mine
shaft in Zacatecas, Mexico, was turned into an
amusement park-type of attraction with an underground
disco. Patrons take the old mine train from the
entrance and pass the centuries old chapel with
flowers and burning candles still honoring the
miners who lost there lives there underground.
In Paris, tourists line
up to explore the Catacombs, and not too long
ago they also went on underground sewer tours.
Here in Buenos Aires are forgotten old tunnels
as well. El Zanjón de Granados, on Defensa
in San Telmo, is 150 meters of tunnels, 4 meters
wide, dating from the beginning of the 19th century.
And under the Manzana de las Luces are Jesuit
tunnels even older.
I'm not a spelunker, or
cave explorer. I don't belong to any narrow gauge
or steam train club. I don't search out the roller
coasters of the world. I'm not about to climb
into an old well or abandoned mineshaft.
I'm just going to keep on
taking the A Train. It's not hard to imagine,
as the train appears from nowhere in the station,
that the next stop is somewhere ethereal and strange.
I take my seat and vanish into history.
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Cherie Magnus
(left,
back to camera) now lives in Buenos Aires.
She has written many articles and has contributed
to the-vu for many years, from California,
from Cuba, from Europe, from Mexico and
now from Argentina
FIRST-TIMERS
B.A. TANGO INTENSIVE
After only two days you will feel like a
Porteno/a. You will have danced with milongueros/as
and know how to break the infamous Code.
You will also know your way around to all
the best addresses for fun, food and shopping.
The two days include private lessons, a
parrilla meal, a colorful outing, accompaniment
to milongas, and local transportation. After
two days you will be ready to make Buenos
Aires your own! For one person or a couple.
Come dance with us! (Cherie Magnus is a
Californian living in BsAs, and Ruben Aybar
is a milonguero porteno.)
Write Cherie for
more info: macfroggy @ aol.com
Or call Buenos Aires (54) 11 4902-4855
Check out Cherie's
article on her first trip to Buenos Aires
in 1997: http://www.the-vu.com/solotango.htm |
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