Public Transit here and elsewhere ...

Thanksgiving Day is already old news.  I hope you enjoyed a feast of food and human connection.  I more or less missed the spirit, suffering from a miserable cold and not feeling grateful for anything except the occasional ability to breathe.  You know how that goes ... Even those of us who are IDEALISTS can be laid low by the body's woes.  I guess I'm thankful for the fact that I can still refocus my mind to some kind of positive, even when everything hurts.  As of today, 12/6, I'm finally feeling normal again.  But Richard coughs and wheezes, pobrecito!

ALSO, I am thankful for PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION in its many forms and variations.  Here in Chile, especially ... where we have no car.

When we left Bellingham, we put the car in the locked garage and changed the insurance to "comprehensive only" for the price break.  We drove the car less than 5000 miles last year.  I had a bus pass to get to my Zumba classes;  we both did a lot of walking.

Here in Puerto Montt, the Collectivo system is huge and we use it almost every day.  Collectivos are small cars that can carry 4 passengers.  I do sometimes have a hard time getting in or out of those close-quartered back seats.  Always, I'm delighted if the front passenger seat is available.  So much more espacio!

Each Collectivo sports a sign across the roof that announces what section of the city you can get to in that car.  Users who are "in the know" can tell by the Number and/or the Color of the sign which of many different routes through and around the city that car will follow.  I wish there was a guide book, delineating all the different routes, but there is no such thing.  Our friend, Marlene, who lives a few blocks from our apartment, advised us to look for the #8, and/or the ones that have a RED sign on top.  We've learned that many of the red-signed collectivos will eventually make their way to Avenida Ramon Munita and get us home.
When you see one with the right color or the right route number on his car-top sign, you stick out your index finger to stop him.  Maybe you stick two fingers out if you need space for two people.  When they are over in the center lane, they're usually already full.  Sometimes, with luck, they pull over to empty people out, and then there's room for you.

So when I'm standing outside the Jumbo grocery store with my pack full of goods, I watch for a #8, or a red-signed #12 or 27.  For about 80 cents that car takes me up to my apartment, a distance of about three miles with A LOT of elevation gain.  In the morning, for the sake of time, we sometimes catch the collectivo outside our apartment down to the Costanera, where we can get the bus (another 80 cents) to the marina.  But if we're not in a hurry, it's easy enough to walk the 2+ miles, all downhill, to the Costanera, if the weather's decent.

Collectivos trolling past the Bus Terminal downtown.  This is the best place to catch one, before they get filled w. people.

 One Sunday afternoon when we'd shopped at the Jumbo on our way home from the marina, we waited and waited for a collectivo with room for two.  They were all full.  Finally we went back into the Jumbo parking garage where the taxis wait, and spent $6 to get home.

 If the collectivo picks up a full load here at the bus terminal, he'll drive the most direct route up the hills.  If he's still looking for passengers, he'll drive farther down the Costanera and turn up to go by the Jumbo, trolling for fares.  What a system!
Maybe you can guess that the collectivo drivers are up in arms about regulation of the price they can charge.  They are faced with higher and higher fuel taxes, to pay for all the road improvements going on in this town, but they're not allowed to raise their rates.
Buses are still pretty cheap here, too.  I take a bus to Puerto Varas every other week to meet with the women of the English-Speaking Book Club there.  Yesterday, after a very nice lunch at Cumbres Restaurant, Maureen gave me a ride to centro so I could get my bus back to Puerto Montt.  When she drives to Puerto Montt, burning fuel for half an hour of freeway driving and then frying her nerves in the wildish traffic in that city, what is the true cost of the trip?  She was amazed to hear that the bus only charges 800 pesos ... about $1.30 in dollars.

Are we gearing up to get rid of the car altogether?  Hmmm.  If only we had collectivos in Bellingham!