The majority of people here don't own cars so there are many forms of public transportation here. First, there are carro publicos (public cars). They are privately owned cars, usually old toyotas that have 4 different routes that you can ride for 20 pesos (55 cents) each time. No one follows road laws here so they fit 2 people in the front and 4 in the back in order to get as much money as they can. There usually are no seat belts or upholstering and usually you have to open the doors with a paper clip because the handle has been ripped out. These cars are ok for the day time but at night it is more dangerous so I usually take a taxi. These public cars can confuse foreigners because they have taxi signs on top of their cars but they're not actually taxis. They just like to pretend I guess. Then there are guaguas (city busses). They have numbers in the windshield corresponding to the route they are driving. I and my classmates have to take them to get to every school we go to. It also costs 20 pesos per ride. There are also guaguitas which are little 10 person vans. Just like the carro publicos, they try to fit as many people in their vehicles as they can. But it only costs 15 pesos to ride.
A few days ago my friends and I got on a guaguita to go to INTEC which is a school that's 45 minutes away. It was already really packed but we were afraid another van wouldn't come for a while and we were already late. So we all got in and I ended up having to sit on an old man's lap because there was litterally no room. When I say no room I mean there were almost 30 people in a van that can comfortably fit 10. It was interesting to say the least. But that's part of the experience! Good thing I dropped that class at INTEC.
Side Note: to see all my January pictures of the Dominican Republic go to this link!
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