With taxi rides edging higher, and the city still feeling relatively safe, I found myself taking more subway rides than I had in the recent past. The subway is fine (and dirt cheap at 90 centavos), but one trend I've noticed in the increase in begging/soliciting on the subway cars. You usually can't go more than 5 minutes without someone asking for something.

The worst is on the commuter lines. I took the train from Retiro out to Tigre (cost: 1.10 pesos!) and there were about a dozen solicitations in the 45 minute trip. My wife and I started betting how many minutes it would be to the next beggar. None of these solicitations felt dangerous, but the constant stream of requests makes it a tiring trip.

It all reminded me of my youth in NYC, where similar things happened until the mayor said "no more." It seems like it's more than time for the police to do something, but I get the impression that in Buenos Aires, the gov't is very reluctant to stop anyone from doing anything. It's a bad call.