My name is Jess and I am a taxi-taker.Since my arrival to Lima I’ve abandoned the bus against my heart’s desire and my better judgment.
I do it because both my schedule and Lima traffic are chaotic and unpredictable. So I haven’t yet calculated how long it takes to arrive by bus at a specific time between 2 specific locations. I know that a taxi ride might vary with traffic but much less so when unlike a bus, it can choose alternate routes and doesn't have to stop to pick up and drop off fellow passengers.
And it totally sucks. Firstly because I loathe Lima traffic, it is pure awfulness magnified by an overcrowded city and underdeveloped nation magnified by the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation's arrival a month away which motivated Lima to begin massive repair of potholes all over the city magnified by the complete non-existence or non-enforcement of any kind of traffic or vehicle operation norms. (In complete irony, Monday I saw a taxi hit a traffic cop!!!)
Reason number two why its dumb to take taxis, is that there is no sun in Lima winter. Supposedly this is a climatic phenomenon but the line is blurred where the overcast sky ends and the smog begins. Lima is so polluted that the Clinton Foundation has it as a priority city for its climate change initiative meant to fight the urban pollution. And here I am, pale from lack of sun and choking on smog riding along in my own personal smog producing machine in a city with accessible mass transportation that would diminish my green footprint by probably a thousand sizes!!
And finally, let's say you came across a sale for a product that you used daily and that sale was 8 for the price of one…you’d take it right? Of course you would! But not me, I'm paying 8 times the price of the bus in every taxi ride I take.
In a meeting yesterday I started jotting down my lose, lose, lose, taxi situation. When I left, I thought I’d walk around in the smog a bit before catching my cab. And wouldn’t ya know it, right then my bus, the brown bus, the number 70, my new number 54, crossed before me. So I hopped on and kid you not, in that very moment the sun came out.
5 comments:
Great story!!!
As much as I love the old Bolivian bus, you really need a distinctive Lima picture for your profile. I would have suggested a bus until today. (sniff)
we can't be friends anymore.
more trips on the 70 bus and more insights into the lives of the working class folks who ride it!!!!!!! Had to suffer through that whole yoga era and then all your silly Bolivian revolutions, but finally we are back to you at your best
The profundity of the mundane is what this blog originally was and I'm glad to see it come full circle two years later. Well done, keep on keep keeping on that number 70
Hooray! Even if against your will, you have now joined the ranks of the taxi takers. Bet you miss the fabulous La Paz taxis, less than US $2 for anywhere in the city and will run errands, pay bills, etc. What Lima really needs, however, is apparently the even more fabulous TRUFI, the ingenious shared Taxi de RUta Fija, clown car, collective, can of sardines, green-friendly, intimate experience with your fellow passenger as you are both squeezed into the front seat up against the gear shift.
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