4 - Mexican Transportation

Love'n'Hate Mexico Number Four: Mexican Transportation

I can go anywhere in Mexico for about 35 cents.

Okay, this isn't entirely true, but Mexico has a pretty impressive transportation system that extends to every weird little corner I wanted to go to. Busses seem to come in all shapes and sizes depending on where you're going - the more rural it is, the tinier the transport mode, which invariably leads you to take a ride on the Best Damn Transportation option available - the Collectivo!

A Collectivo is basically a Collective Taxi, of a sort. (There are actually collective taxis that people share), but a true Collectivo goes on one specific route, generally back and forth in back directions all day long. A Collectivo consists of a pickup truck with a Conestoga wagon-style blue tarp over top, with benches in the interior. You stand along the route, hail one down, and climb in the back. It seats about eight, but often there are twelve or fifteen people inside. This is Mexican travel like you read about - people carrying chickens or loads of produce are not uncommon, and as the truck rumbles off after picking you up, you take a seat or just hang on until you get where you're going, then you press a little button (crudely) wired to one of the rails and they pull over. You get out and pay the driver 35 centavos - 35 cents, more or less, to you and me.

My favorite Collectivo ride happened In the Middle of Nowhere on my way to Puerto Angel. The bus driver ($1.35 for an hour's ride from Puerto Escondido) let me out at an empty crossroads and told me to wait under a tree. After fifteen minutes I was certain I was being filmed for the Mexican version of "Candid Camera."

"See how long the dumb gringo will wait before completely losing his mind."

Alas, such was not to be, for a Collectivo arrived and picked me up and took me the last six klicks down the road to Puerto Angel. In the cab with me was a woman with a chicken, and another with a bucket full of tamarind pods, and she gave me some. I kept the seeds with the idea that they'd make cool beads. And when we got off in Puerto Angel - it still only cost thirty-five cents. Excellent!

One Caveat of my Mexican travel experiences: Before I left, my mother, a veteran traveler-on-the-cheap, warned me that Mexican busses were very likely to be extremely low on ventilation and extremely high on heat. I found the opposite to be true. Today's Mexican busses have enough air-conditioning going on that you could Quite Easily hang sides of beef inside them. Don't even THINK about taking a long-distance Mexican bus ride in shorts and a t-shirt - be prepared to take the warmest clothes you have, because chances are good you will need them.