Day 21: The best public transportation isn't the buses...

I have to say that the public transportation system is far from Japanese standards. There we could set our watches by their trains (which we actually did). We knew when they would arrive, when they would depart, how much it would cost, and most importantly, not to be late.

Here bus arrivals are approximate at best. Maybe they’ll make it for 9am, maybe not. Miss the bus by a few steps? Just wave it down and it’ll stop. Miss your stop? He’ll let you off when you remember, stop or not. You might make it to your destination earlier if your bus driver decides to speed and pass every car in his path (which happened today) or you might make it later if he decides to stop at a pulperia to pick up a snack (which also happened today). Who says there’s a 10 standing passenger max? (The law actually, I read the sign.) The more people you cram, the easier it is to stand so pick up 20 more. What’s the fare today? Depends on the bus driver. We’ve been on several rides and only a handful have been for the same amount. We don’t complain though. As long as we got a bus and a seat, we just enjoy the ride (because the seats are actually more comfortable than anything we have in our house).

Public transportation gets literal when we start our walk home on the dirt road. Two things have happened that result in more rides for us now. First, we accepted the invite from our neighbors and met quite a few people with cars who drive regularly on our road. We’re guaranteed a ride from them as long as we’re headed in the same direction. Our neighborhood isn’t large…it’s spread wide but with few people who all seem to know each other. While we may not have met everyone, I believe we’re recognizable from our daily walks through the winding palm trees and I’m confident that they’ve heard of us even if they haven’t met us. And so we’ve become welcomed in most cars after brief periods of walking.

These are different than the sketchy taxi rides from beat up Toyotas once you hit town. While giving and accepting rides in our type of town is normal practice, we’re still careful about the rides we accept, most of which are from familiar faces. These are families with children letting us hop in the back of their pickup truck. These are older couples headed to the pulperia willing to take us half way. These are young couples unable to watch us walk in a downpour. And they are all expecting the same thing; a smile and a gracias which we provide along with asking “Cuanto le debo?” (how much do we owe you) as acknowledgement of their favor. We get the same response from each of them though, a wave of the hand, a shake of the head and a "mucho gusto" before we go our separate ways. I have a feeling if we stayed here for the next couple of months, we’d hardly ever have to walk the entire way to town again…