We Rode the Batman!

In our previous post, we mentioned the combis or small buses. We have to take a taxi or combi to get from where we are staying to the school and city center. Taxis cost 3 soles, the equivalent of about 1 dollar while combis cost 1 sol 20 centimos, or about 40 cents for both of us. Not a huge difference but it adds up over 3 weeks.

Sitting at dinner the other night we asked Pepe, the father of the house, which bus line we should take to get to the school. He thought about it for a second and replied, "You take the Batman." We must have had puzzled looks (we were expecting a number) so he continued, "You know? The dark knight?"

OK, so we look for a bus shaped like the batmobile?

So the next day we went to the bus queue and watched as the different buses came by. The names of the other bus lines, you ask? Santa Maria. Santa Ana. Correcaminos (roadrunner for you gringos)...

Then there it came...Batman. It's actually only a sign in the front passenger side of the window and, sure enough, it says Batman.

Before it pulled up to a stop, the side door flew open and a young man started yelling out stops along the line. It really wasn't a yell though, it was more of a chant. He stretched his neck forward as he hung off the side of the combi and with the precision of an auctioneer and the tone of a town cryer sped through the stops.

We didn't understand a word he said but it was the Batman, so we got on and it took us to our school.

He´s the boletero or ticket-taker. When we decide we want to get off, we hand him our money as he crows at the potential passengers at our destination.

I mimicked the boletero for my teacher and she said she can't understand them either. But now we know we can ride the Batman every day.