Thursday 7 April 2011

Hands free doesn't mean the steering wheel.


In general if we catch public transport we use the Trolley bus.  It’s very cheap and hassle free.  Apart from the odd time when you see an old lady in a nylon skirt fly off her seat, Trolley bus rides are mostly uneventful.  Today we were going into the hills to visit a friend so we took the bus (micro).  On the way to his house the micro was so full that I could not see the driver even though I was less than a metre away.  I held on to Truce and waited til I could see my friend who was hanging onto Indiana escaping the cramped space.  The trip home was another story. 
It’s more than a little disconcerting traversing the hills of Valparaíso by bus at the best of times.  However, it’s especially scary when the driver answers his mobile phone whilst negotiating hairpin corners and steep declines.
Talking on the phone is enough to make most people nervous but when he decided it was time to text his friend I gripped both my children and tried to stop the bus by pressing my foot on the non-existent brake.  Something everyone who drives will do from time to time.  
Now I know why the Chileans on the bus make the sign of the cross when the go past the churches. 



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