Sunday, August 10, 2014

Aviones, Trenes, y Automóviles


The roads here are more cutthroat than NASCAR. The micro (bus) drivers have a reckless adherence to never coming to a complete stop on their route. It’s a constant race to hustle customers, exchange tickets for money, and evade pedestrians/stray dogs/missing pieces of road/other cars, all while shifting manually with one hand and perpetually leaning on the horn with the other. I'm pretty sure that the micros here were the inspiration for J.K. Rowling’s Knight bus (based on their flexibility in driving both on roads and sidewalks). For the more nomadic partygoers, some micros also transform at sundown into blacklight-illuminated discotecas, although it’s definitely an ab workout trying to stay in your seat as both people and their baggage are tossed in your face with each jolt. Somehow though, naturals at micro transit exist: the fearless girls applying mascara while rattling around corners at 70 km/hr. For a smoother ride, there’s the metro system as well, where we're often joined for a few stops by "musicians" (mostly high school rappers and vagabond recorder-players, but there are a few legitimate guitar-riff slayers). The metro is also "street-dog approved" by the few perritos that slink on, maybe to avoid other dog-gang territory?





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