Public Transportation (6/11)

Well, life goes on. So does the World Cup. And I have to admit, when I am not forced to watch it, it does interest me. Among the teams in the selection are the iddy-biddy countries of Trinidad and the Ivory Coast. How they managed to rank so competitively one can only guess. But they do very well. These soccer games are filled with drama; the ups and downs, the almost goals, the amazing shot, all the while sprinting like madmen. I have a renewed respect for the game. In American football, you run and tackle, but you get a break every down. In soccer, the only break the players get is 45 minutes into the game, and they still have another 45 minute half to complete. That takes a wee bit of endurance.

Well, I have to tell you about public transportation. Deb and I went to see the DaVinci Code at a local mall. (I know, that doesn't sound very "Chilean". But you will have to trust me when I say it is.) After the movie, we got some coffee and walked around the mall. When we finally headed out to the bus stop it was about 10:15. Now, busses run until an undefined time at night. I have been unable to pin down the exact time, mostly because I don't want to get stuck somewhere. We have taken busses up til 11pm, but that is risky. Some people say that it's dangerous to be out that late at night. But I say you are never sure if the bus in gonna come or not. In any case, we try to avoid relying on public transportation that late. Well. A bus came around 10:30pm, but it was sooo full we left it go by and waited for the next one. Fortunately, there were loads of people at the stop or we would have worried a bit. We knew there had to be more busses coming. The next one came at about 10:50pm. We were tired of waiting and a little worried about passing up another bus, so....

When the bus pulled up we could see it was crowded. Some people from our stop got on, but there wasn't any room to go up the steps. I stepped up onto the bus while holding onto the door. Deb, looking apprehensive, hesitated. When the bus lurched, she made up her mind and hopped up too. With my arm around her, she held onto a railing, and we both hung out the door while the bus progressed up the street. Thankfully, this driver didn't "fly with reckless abandon" as some drivers do. We were fine like this until the driver, who we never really saw through all the people, tried to shut the doors of the bus. For the next 5 or so stops, we had to get off the bus in order for exiting passangers to get down off the bus. When we were within walking distance we got off and walked the rest of the way. But, this was definitely a grand adventures to check off our list of things to do in Chile.