Transportation

For the past seven weeks I have been getting around three ways: public bus, taxi, and walking. Walking is the only mode of transportation that is not a bit of a rip off.

I travel during the day until early evening by public bus. It costs R$2.50 every time you step on and its usually extremely crowded. The nice thing is that it is customary for others to hold your bags or anything you are carrying when you have to stand. There is always so much traffic too so everything just takes a bit longer than it should. Salvadorans spend a lot of time complaining about the poor quality of public transportation and the amount of traffic within the city. Taking the bus was how I learned the layout of the city. I definitely have got on the wrong bus a few times but I am pretty confident now and can usually get around. It helps that people are generally helpful about letting you know when to get off if you ask for some help when getting on the bus.

Taking taxis may be quicker but are so expensive here. After going out at night I take taxis home which ends up being rather expensive. It doesn't help that because I am evidently not Brazilian that taxi drivers will try and rip me off. Even though the taxis are metered, drivers try to get away with not turning them on or driving in circles or the long way so that the meter will be more. I have learned to be extremely upfront about knowing how much I should be paying and that I know what route he should be taking. I hate being ripped off because I'm foreign. I live here now and I'm not dumb. End of story.

Walking. I walk to and from class each day which takes about fifteen minutes. I walk past loads of shops and vendors on the streets. Street vendors here sell the most random assortment of things from underwear, refrigerator magnets, staplers, fresh fruit and veggies, and flashy fake Rolexes.Walking the city streets here should be a sport. Salvadorans walk at an extremely leisurely pace in which they make frequent stops in the middle of the sidewalk to have conversations, window shop, or buy and eat food.This makes it frustrating and hard to walk at a steady pace, or even a moderate pace for that matter. Then there is the dodging of poop (human and animal), muddy rain puddles, vomit, loads of trash, and street vendors who are numerous and have no problem reaching out and touching me.  The buildings also drip water down from the AC vents onto the sidewalk so I get a little wet sometimes. There is also an occasional jump or duck needed along the route. I have my walking system down now and am no longer am bothered by the sweatiness that results.