Remember how one of my teachers told us how the city breaks down into zones? There are basically 5 or 6 main roads to remember, which are associated with income levels and relative safety. Maybe you should read it.
The other day, I woke up earlier than usual, took a nice long shower, and got dressed for school. I had just done some laundry, so I had basically my entire wardrobe to choose from. I decided on a plain white T and my holey jeans.
When you ride the buses here, they want you to pay in exact change. There are coins in values of 50 pesos, 100, 200, and 500. And bills start at 1000 ("Mil") and go 2000, 5.000, 10.000, 20.000 and 50.000. (etc? I've never seen anything bigger than "50Mil", or 50.000)
The buses mostly cost 1300. i have actually paid only 1000 for most of the time i've been here, even before realizing that people barter with the drivers. I'll explain later.
Anyway, on this particular day, i had exact change for 2 fares. Perfecto; one to go to school and one to get home.
Except, when i got to the universidad, i didn't have my ID to get in (they have a security terminal). Now i was frustrated. I now had to take a bus home, get my ID, and probably have to get a cab back because my next smallest bill was a 10mil. I crossed the street and watched for my bus. Luckily, I go to the school about 25 minutes early, so I figured if I hurried, I'd get back in time for my first class. Several minutes went by, the cootransnorte bus still hadn't come.
I figured that since I essentially live over a bridge and maybe... 3 miles? From UniNorte, I could just take any bus and it would get me to my street. I kept an eye out for one headed to "C.C" or, centro comercial. sure enough, a bus that said "centro" on the window pulled up. I hopped on.
Just as we were getting underway, I read the window again "via 40 centro z. Franca C17 S. Bolivar..."
Wait a minute. This might not be the right bus...
The bus turned off right in front of the bridge,, instead of crossing over it, as I needed it to. Crud. I pushed the buzzer to have the driver let me off, but we were on an exit ramp, so he just looked at me in the rearview mirror and wagged his head. The bus got on the loop that circles the city, the "circunvalar". There aren't any designated stops for the buses, just routes. So I wasn't sure if I would be able to properly identify a bus to take me back to where I started, and even so, i just used up my second bus fare. I decided not to stress about it and texted my classmate to have him tell the teacher that i would be late. I figured i would just ride the bus full circle and get off where i had started. By this time i was accustomed to ascance glances from fellow passengers, but i was getting more of it than usual. I thought it must be because of my especially white appearance: a bearded gringo in stylish jeans, a brilliant white t shirt, and a backpack with earbuds in. Then i realized what C17 means. i took my headphones out and stowed them in my backpack. I texted my barranquillan friend Harold: "looks like I'm taking an impromptu tour of the south end of town. I accidentally took a bus headed to Calle dieciciete..." to which I recieved a prompt reply: "what? No! Don't get off til you are by your house again. You're taking the ghetto tour this morning".
Awesome. I put my phone away as well. I decided to laugh at myself about it. I just watched people in their routines and wondered what they were thinking about. When we got off the circunvalar and back on city streets I was a little unsettled by the number of people wearing brilliant white t shirts on the bus--the final count: 1.
The roads here were thoroughly trashed--in and on. As we continued, we turned off of the paved roads altogether and onto dirt roads with no street signs.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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