Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Public transportation



In the morning, I have a ten minute walk to the metro. At 7, before the sun has come up, shoe shiners roll their stands to the outskirts of the station. The juicer man prepares his fresh fruit:oranges, papaya, mango, pineapple and guava.


The trains are very efficient, as they run every two minutes. When the train arrives I force my way on and guard my belongings. While the space around me is minimal, the cars are not suffocating because the windows are half cracked. Men and women, who are often blind, walk up and down the aisles with speakers on their backs selling hit CD's or children's videos for ten pesos.


Five minutes has gone by and I have already arrived at the bus terminal. The trick is finding the bus that will take me to my destination. First, I pass the gauntlet of vendors selling coffee, pastries, sweet bread, yogurt parfaits, churros, soda, candy, stationary, shoes and DVDs. There are six rows of buses in a parallel formation with lines of people beside them filling the sidewalk. Even though the destination of the bus is posted on the windshield, I had to ask the first couple of weeks if it made my stop.


Then comes the bus ride: the most thrilling part of the excursion. If I am lucky, I get to sit down. My knees rub up against the back of seat in front of me. Other days, I stand in the one-person-wide aisle trying not to knock people out with my bulging backpack. Within 15 minutes to a half of an hour (depending on the traffic), I have arrived.


The challenge now is getting off the bus. For the first couple of rides, I would look out for the landmark closest to the hospital and wait for the bust to stop before I got off. Too late. With the stick shift in gear, the bus was already going again and I was pulled back into my seat. My new learned technique requires getting up in plenty of time and making my way to the back of the bus with a few minutes to spare. As soon as the vehicle comes to a halt, the doors open and I jump off.


Riding home is similar. It requires flagging the bus down near the hospital and hopping on: sometimes while the bus is still moving.

No comments: