Sick of the Transmilenio

With my new job has come a much longer and less pleasant ride in Transmilenio. This is now the worst part of my day. Generally, I hate long commutes (it’s about an hour, door-to-door) because I feel as if I am losing valuable time that I could use doing anything else. If the commute is manageable – for example with a crossword puzzle or a newspaper – then it’s less of a problem. Unfortunately, Transmilenio is such a poorly run and managed organization that there are never enough buses on high volume routes like the one I now travel, while there are tons of buses on low volume routes. Let me just suggest that there is nothing more aggravating than driving by a mostly empty bus while you a struggling to find enough space just to inhale. Needless to say, the buses are always so packed that one doesn’t even have enough space to breath, not to mention do a crossword puzzle.

Then there’s the total F-ing A-hole factor. These are the maleducados, the typically selfish pendejos who force their way past the line and onto the bus blocking those who wish to get off. I have no words sufficient to express my animosity toward these fools. Just now, I got off the bus to make room for those who wanted to leave and 4 pendejos jumped on in front of me. Murderous thoughts do not make for a pleasant morning.

Sadly, Colombia has more of these people than one would expect or hope. And not just on Transmilenio. A frequent criticism that I hear from Colombians about Colombia is that Colombians are generally very selfish people – in that they always think for themselves first and never give a damn about anyone else. I have seen this first hand in complete strangers and in at least one of my friends and it’s probably the least favorable thing about the country. I’ll skip any pseudo-analysis as to why this is the case and just leave it at this: I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to take Transmilenio on a daily basis.