On fitting people in guaguas

The title of this blog pertains to two types of ridiculously complicated public transportation here in the Dominican Republic. It’s been more than two weeks, and I’m nowhere closer to figuring it out.

First, you have your carro públicos (public cars) which are serious beater cars (think pre-airbag/no air conditioning/roll-up window/older than me type cars) that hold up to seven passengers and the driver. There are two in front and at least four in back, if not five or six (depending on size of the passengers). These carros run up and down popular roads and cost 75 cents no matter the distance you want to go. You’ve got to be careful with these, because there are plenty of pirate carros, which are places to scam and rob people. They’ve told us the way to ensure a legit carro is to check for the licensing sticker and make sure the top is painted green or yellow. Well, most of these dilapidated cars have let their official stickers fall or rust off, so it gets very confusing. My best bet is to see which ones look full and go with them. I’ve been told not to trust any type of public transportation that doesn’t have people piling out of its windows. Ahh...yes, sound advice.

Then you’ve got your guagua, or bus. Now don’t go thinking “school bus” or “charter bus” type buses...think “barely bigger than a mini-van” or maybe “15-seater” bus. And these buses fit more people than you can count on your (and 3 other peoples) hands. There are always five in the back and they call it the “cocina” or “kitchen” because it’s essentially an oven/roasting pit. Then each of the following four rows have at least 5-6 people across. Then there’s the 10 people that can stand basically on top of all the others sitting down and we haven’t even made it to the front where 4 people sit next to the driver and at least 10 more can pile in the entryway.

The best/worst part about these types of transportation is that you get to tell the driver where you want to get off, there are no official or recognized stops. Makes it hard to catch public transportation because you never really know if you’re on an actual car or bus route, it’s mostly just hope for the best and flag ‘em down. And when you happen to be in the very back of the bus and need to get out in the middle of the highway route and off a full bus, you scream up the bus “Dejáme donde pueda, conductor” or “Let me off wherever you can, driver.” Then you’ve got to crawl over 40 other people who are not getting off and it takes about 5 minutes. It’s a mess! But it works...somehow.

To fit all these people in said guagua and to charge them for the ride, there is a cobrador (person charging money) that accompanies the guagua and hangs out the door screaming the route on the highway and trying to get people to hop aboard. You’ll even hear the cobrador scream “Peguénse como anoche,” a crude phrase loosely translated to “Get together like you did last night” when trying to get more to fit into his lucrative little bus. Y por eso (And that’s why) the title of this post is aptly named for a saying here that goes, “you can always fit at least one more in a guagua.”