Microtaxi

Took my first taxi combi in Lima today. We're paying a stack for our 4 daily taxis, so it's time to work out the local transport. 

Little minivans - very mini - of about 10 seats that zip along the roads. One driver, compulsory newspaper on lap to be read at every traffic light (or just in traffic), and one guy hanging out the side of the slide door, whose job seems to be to drag people from the street into the already full combi, remind people at every stop to sube or baja, and open and slam the slide door. The route is fixed-ish, and they'll take you pretty much anywhere for a sole or two $1US = 2.7 soles 

At 5'10''/180cm you stand pretty tall in Peru. Squashed into the combi I reckon I looked like Del Potro folded into one of his own racket bags.

I was intimated towards the seat with my back to the front passenger chair. The roof was so my head was  in my own lap. The guy hanging out the side, when the door was closed, had so little space that either had to put his head out of the window, or bent down in my lap.

He chose the latter. All for one sole.

A middle aged woman sat opposite me, about 30cm away, wearing a low cut top that reflected the age she wished, breasts swinging to the driver's tune.

I hate (paying for) taxis: the Scottish voice in me just does not go silent during a taxi ride. I stare at the meter thinking, the bus is a peso, the bus is a peso the bus is a peso... Taxis had become extortionate in Buenos Aires by the time we left, about 40% more expensive each year.

In Lima they're about half the price, and the system is different: you negotiate the price for the ride before you get in. This is good in that you don't get taken on a grand tour to run up the meter. On the other hand the entire system incentivises the drivers to complete their journey in the fastest possible time. An incentive they seem to respond to with mucho gusto. 

But back to the taxi combis.

Downtown, in Callao. I think.

But we'll see. From this local blogger, here's her Top 5 Hates of Lima's taxi combis.
1. They'll stop anywhere except at a bus stop.
2. That they stop in the middle of the road, diagonally, to pick up passengers.
3. That when you're at a red light, they toot you the second it's turned green.
4. That when you're on the combi, all the windows remain closed and no one has the right to open them, except when you get on.
5. That the seats are smaller every time, like everyone is 150cm.

We'll see. Here's my thinking:
Taxi from work to home: $7
Combi from work to home: $1.

I'm for the combi.