Public Transportation

Here’s a quick lesson, on Public Transportation a la Cochabamba;

In Cochabamba, there are 3 main types of transportation: Truffi’s, Micros and Taxi’s.

In order to get from my house to School, church or the Casa de Amor houses, I need to know how to get myself around town!

Micros, are small-sized bus’s. You pay when you get on and they make regular stops.

Truffi’s, are smaller, usually Vans, you pay when you get off and can get off wherever you need to by telling the driver “Voy a bajar” or “en la esquina por favor” which translates

This is a picture of a typical "Micro"

to “I will get down” or “on the corner por favor”. These and Micro’s will be my main form of transportation.

Both the Truffi’s and the Micro’s cost 1.50Bolivianos per ride, which equals about $0.22 cents, American, not an expensive way to travel!

There is no form of written schedule for the Truffi’s but all of them have their own route that they will follow. So for me to get to church from my house, I have to walk to the corner of the main road, and wait for a number 230 Truffi, you flag it down, and it will cross lanes and lanes of traffic to pick you up. So then I will ride on that until it gets as close to the church as it gets, and I’ll say my “Voy a bajar, por favor” loud enough for the driver to here, and he will pull to the side for just long enough for you to get out, and wait just long enough for you to pass your 1.50b’s through the window, before pulling back out into traffic. After that, there is generally a fair amount of walking before you actually make it to your final destination, but walking is just expected here in Bolivia! (I do find myself tiring a lot faster here, and I’m blaming it on the altitude!)

So I am in the process of learning the numbers of the Truffi’s that I will use, but once I have that down, I’ll be an expert at getting around town!

On another note, the driving is Crazy here! There are very few rules (atleast very few rules followed!) and pedestrians definitely don’t have the right of way. You will see people sprinting across the road to avoid being hit! However, in the past few days with all of the reckless driving I’ve seen I’ve yet to see any accidents, so I guess they know what they’re doing!

Thanks everyone for keeping up with me on my trip!

Prayer Requests:

• Please continue to prayer that I will not just learn but understand and absorb everything in my Spanish classes.

Gracias!

*Just a little additional note, on the way home from church tonight, there were 21 people in a van this size,

I couldn't find a great picture, I'll take my own and add it sometime!