Today, I took a micro (pronounce "me-crow" and translate as bus) home from Spanish class. I love micros! I don't really know if there's a system to taking micros, but what I do is look for street names I recognize, and hope for the best. I think of it as my afternoon adventure.
Here's the deal: Sometimes when you get on a micro, it leaves before you're all the way up the steps. Sometimes you get a seat. Always, you weave in and out of traffic, stopping at red lights in front of street performers, with a constant flow of street vendors selling everything from ice cream (I highly recommend the pineapple popsicle) to bandaids, passengers get on and off at specified stops--or in the middle of traffic--and the bus driver manages all of this while counting fares and handing out tickets, made more complicated by the fact that there are multiple fares depending on how far you're going (within the city, to the neighbour city, or a couple of cities over) and whether you're a student.
Today I tried to pay attention to the people who check in with the driver to try and figure out what they do. Checkeriner 1 yelled "five!" and the driver gave him some change. Then, the driver outmaneuvered the micro in front of us, impressively without crashing, and the next Checkeriner yelled "four!" and also received some change. The driver looked at his friend and said "!Es un baile!" In English: It's a dance!
I love it.
Love,
Eli
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