a glimpse into public transporation

Living here requires taking advantage of lots of public transportation opportunities. Although this type of getting around is SO different than what I was used to from living in small town Iowa, it has become the new normal.

That is, until today. I was riding in a public car with my roommate Karen and we just busted up laughing realizing how crazy this new normal is. Let me do my best to try to capture the moment for you!

I live in Montellano on the North Coast of the DR. There is a main highway, the “autopista” that runs along the coast connecting the bigger cities- Puerto Plata to the west of us and Sosua and Cabarete to our east.  I live off of this main highway on a street called Maria Agramonte.

Anytime I want to go to one of these bigger cities, I walk down my street-my lovely narrow street filled with friendly neighbors, kids playing baseball right in the middle of the road, women sitting on their porches with their hair in rollers waiting until their hair reaches perfection, a motorcycle “gang” reving their engines (really it’s a group of guys who apparently fix broken motorcycles) women selling fruit from buckets on their heads , little grocery stores called colmados selling anything from individual rolls or toilet paper to cans of black beans, and barking dogs…lots of them. At the end of my street is that main highway. I just wait on the side of the highway for……

A “GUA GUA”, a “MOTOCONCHO” or a “CARRITO”.  

Today I was looking for a guagua or a carrito. The guagua is a van type vehicle that is probably built to seat 12, but easily fits at least 20 here.  If I see a guagua I can just put my arm out and if there is space, they will honk and flash their lights as they pull over to let me get in. Now, let me tell you, this is almost never graceful or comfortable. Hilarious actually. You never quite know where you will be sitting or how you will be sitting. One time I ended up in the very back row and when anyone would need to get off, they opened the trunk of the van and had the person crawl over the seat and hop out! In a gua gua there is a driver (who hopefully went through some type of driver’s ed) and a “cobrador”. This guy is the drivers sidekick. He sits in a seat nearest the door- or he just hangs out the guagua holding on. He is the one that tells you where to sit and he is the one you pay. He’s also the one you tell when you want to get off and he just hits the metal roof of the guagua and suddenly the whole thing comes to a screeching halt so that you can very graciously climb over people to try to get out! Enough about the guagua…today I was fortunate enough to get in a carrito.

Carritos are usually my favorite way to travel here. Picture this. A Toyota sedan circa 1992 or so- various colors and pieces of metal making up the bumper- a felt ceiling hanging down almost touching your head-super loud Merengue music- tinted windows (some of which roll down)- the gas gauge dangerously close to E-sticky leather seats- a sometimes friendly driver- passengers- and me!

Its close to the same routine as with the guagua. I stand on the highway and stick out my arm. Today one stopped that had room in the backseat for Karen and I. Also in the backseat was a woman with her 5 year old daughter.  There was one man in the front seat with the driver. So lets see that’s 6 people.  So we begin flying down the highway as the driver is scanning the side of the road for more passengers. Along the way, we pick up 2 more. A lady squeezes in next to Karen and I in the back and her son climbs in the front with the other passenger and the driver.( A little side note- the smell of the carrito is constantly changing based on who gets in and who gets out. When son got in the front seat, I saw that he had so much gel in his hair that it was dripping down his neck. Although the rest of us were looking completely windblown as we drove at high speeds down this racetrack, I noticed that his hair did not move at all! That gel was really working for him! His mom was definetly not lacking in the perfume department either! Wow!) We’re up to 8 now. As we approach the city, lady and son get out.  We all get a little relief as we try to unstick ourselves from whoever is next to us-but to no use- before I know it, we’ve stopped again and picked up a lady and her 3 sons! The driver says there is plenty of room! Mom gets in the front and all three boys load up in the back seat. That’s 10!!! New record- I’ve never been in a carrito that had 10 people in it at one time. It was a hoot- this is when Karen and I just busted up laughing. The three boys were having a grand old time next to us, but soon their mom yelled at them to be quiet. This was so ironic to me because I couldn’t even hear myself think because the merengue music was blasting from the speakers behind the seat!

Let me add another detail. When you get in, you tell the driver where you are going and hand him your pesos. Lucky for him if you have exact change, but if you don’t its not a big deal- He will pull out his wad of money or drawer of coins and make change while he is speeding down the autopista. Then he hands your change back to you- or to another passenger who hands it back to you- it all depends on what nook and cranny of the carrito you are squished into.

So that’s my funny story for today. All this to get to the grocery store. Of course another carrito is involved in getting home with all the bags of groceries….but that’s another story for another day J