Combis

Just back from what is turning into my annual trip to Mexico. My two weeks went by so quickly yet so slowly. I tried so hard to keep my New Year's resolution of writing each day even if it meant listing the contents of my lunch. Didn't suceed entirely but I tried. Here are some entries from my trip.

Now I consider myself a connoisseur of public transit systems and I've endured the many quirks that come with public transportation. I've been compulsively meowed at by a transvestite in Hollywood, I've been ignored by Parisians when I tried to figure out the subway system for the first time at 1 o'clock in the morning all alone, I was once on a night tram in Amsterdam where my friend and I were the only passengers and the conductor kept saying into the microphone "So you vant to party? You vant goot time?", and the scariest moment of all: being enveloped by the crowds in the Mexico City subway and consequently being dragged out at different stops. Yet nothing can equal the experience of a taking a combi.

Combis are what would be recognizable in the US as a hippie wagon. Yet here they are used as a public transit system. They abound everywhere and are way cheaper than taxis (each ride is about 45 cents) and just as fast. There's a certain art to riding one, almost like an extreme sport. First you must step out into the street and hail one in the same manner as a taxi. This is the tricky part. You have to step out just enough so that the driver sees you and then step back quickly lest it run you over. You hop in and your mission is to find a seat before the driver steps on the gas and sends you into someone's lap. Oh, and manners dictate you say hello to your fellow passengers. After all you might just have to have a stranger's loin in close proximity, it's just good manners to say hello.

Although they're quite small I've actually been in ones where there are nineteen passengers not including the driver. Everyone squezzes in even if there's only standing room (hence the loins in very close proximity). At night, they're even better. Most are decked out with interior neon lights and bad music; it's like being in a mini traveling discotheque. Since the colonial downtown area wasn't built for modern day traffic, streets are very narrow and difficult to navigate. Thus, the combi driver has to make use of every chance to accelerate, pedestrians be damned. While this may be exciting for those lucky enough to get a seat, it can be extremely tortuous for those who have to remain standing since there isn't a lot of head room. Still they're much more fun to ride than taxis; I highly recommend them. If only they had them here, I'm sure combi drivers could teach an MTA driver about something called speed.