How many times have you been in and out of your car just today? How many miles do you put on your car a week? You probably have no idea. I sure didn't (when I had a car). If you're not in a car how else do you travel? A plane most likely?
Our lives are very mobile in the USA. Cars give us freedom to go where we want, when we want. Gas has been fairly affordable and cars accessible to buy/lease. It's just a normal part of life. Unless you live in a city with mass transit, which are few in the US. Then most people don't regularly use a bus, a train, a taxi.....
So, transportation has taken some getting used to here in Peru. We don't have a car. Richard had one a few years ago, but he rarely drove it. It was more the idea of it. He actually sold it for a profit! I sold my lovely Saturn, that served me well for over 10 years, to a young kid for $2000 about 2 years ago. Yes, I gave it away. Ouch.
However, being without a car in Ilo hasn't wasn't a big issue. We lived downtown. So I could walk most everywhere I needed to go. If I didn't want to walk I could catch a frequent bus for about $0.20 or take a taxi for $0.80. We didn't have to worry about maintenance, parking, keeping it clean. So, really not a bad option. For the most part the taxis are not that scary. The streets are narrow and the amount of traffic and signals keeps the speed down, so even if there was an accident it wouldn't be at high-speed with fatalities. This is important to note because...very rarely do the seatbelts work. I'm not sure why, but the age/type of car they use for taxis in Ilo, the seatbelts don't work and no one seems to care. So you can sit in the front seat if you want and it works about 60% of the time.
The real issue comes when you want to travel outside the city. What do you d when you want to travel? Well, here are the options.
1. You can take a bus. There are bus companies with regular routes to various cities. Our most frequent trip before was to Tacna (about 2-3 hours) or to Arequipa about (5-6 hours). It is cheap ($3.50 one-way for economy and $4.50 for direct). The direct means it doesn't stop at every town along the way to drop off and pick up passenger, which is why it can take up to 3 hours. There is also the quality of the bus. Some of these puppies are serious old. Well used and well worn, but they get you there and are cheap and fairly safe. (further the distance usually the nicer the bus, fyi).
2. You can take a collective taxi (for cities like Tacna, Moquegua). This is basically a 4 door sedan with a driver. He takes between 4-5 passengers. And it costs about $5-6. The pro is that it is of course direct. No stopping and of course they can drive at a faster speed than a bus. I can be a little uncomfortable, depending on how many people and how big they are and of course how much baggage you are bringing with you. The con....you could die! I have sworn off this type of transportation several times, but really...I am done and I'm pretty sure Richard agrees.
The driver work on a rotaton as a cooperative. So you go to their station and then wait for the car to have enough passengers to leave. So this can be fast or slow, not like a regular bus schedule. The problem is that the road goes along the coast, through the desert and doesn't have a lot of traffic and the drivers do not sleep enough. So they seem normal, but once you get going they doze off. I'm not kidding! The one we last had I think was on something to stay awake. His eyes were closed more than open. I made Richard talk to him to keep him awake. They try everything, open widows of fresh air, music etc, but it's just insane. Sadly 2 people that Richard knows died last year in a collectivo from Tacna to Ilo. It's just not worth it.
I suppose one could rent a car, but this seems cost prohibitive. However, I am considering it for the future.
So, my preference is the direct bus, which has 3 trips a day, but it's the safest and most comfortable choice. It's amazing the difference decisions we have to make in lives. People who have seatbelts who don't use them. People who don't have them, but would use them (ME!). All the decisions to keep ourselves alive that we make on a daily basis. The idea of being mobil, free etc. Of course....the new thought is what do you do with a baby? Yes.....this is under consideration and for another day.
Safe travels.....buckle up!
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