A Friday Adventure

Last Friday I arrived at La Obra and was asked if I wanted to go for a walk. Every once in a while, the staff of La Obra makes house visits to teenagers that haven’t been coming. Although it sounds simple, these visits are actually pretty complicated because even though we had the address, actually locating the address is difficult. The address read 58 Diagonal 3, so house 58 on diagonal 3.  In Barrio Borro there are main paved streets that have names but then there are tons of pedestrian paths, alleyways and gravel roads leading away from the main avenues so the challenge was to figure out exactly where Diagonal #3 was.  Our first stop was at a kiosk near where we thought the address was. The owner of the kiosk didn’t really know and sent us farther up the street.  The second stop was at a random house, which proved to be fruitful because the woman at the house knew the family.  She gave us pretty good directions and we continued farther up the main street. Third stop was at a small corner store for more directions. We were getting warmer. From the corner store we crossed the main street and walked down a gravel path for a bit. After walking around asking neighbors for directions we finally arrived to the house, the numbers 58 were scrawled in white paint on the side of the house. We called out the teenager’s name for a bit without any response and then walked back to La Obra. 

This isn’t a typical morning at La Obra for me but I enjoy going on the visits because it gives me a chance to see more of the neighborhood than I usually do. Friday is fair day so the street was filled with vendors selling fruits and vegetables. I also got the chance to see one of the high schools that several of the teenagers from La Obra attend. We even passed the neighborhood’s supposed haunted house. A long time ago, where Barrio Borro is today was out in the country and two men from Argentina came to build a hotel. The hotel failed but the building remains to this day, it is an ornate building but has definitely seen its better days. The story goes that several grisly murders have taken place inside. Not sure if it’s true but the house looked creepy enough from the outside, I’ll take everyone’s word for it. Creepy haunted houses aside, it was an interesting way to spend my Friday morning at La Obra.