I mainly posted this photo because I like the mural.
Transportation here in Cusco is peculiar enough that it deserves its own post. It is very cheap and easy to travel by bus and taxi. (I've already talked about the bus system so I won't go into that too much in this post.) Whenever you need a taxi, there is always one nearby. And whenever you don't need a taxi, there are always one hundred nearby. (While standing near a road or waiting for a bus, you will be honked at by nearly every taxi that passes by, which becomes very annoying very fast.) Pretty much any car here is a taxi. Some are official taxis, which are marked by signs on the top of the car roof. Most however are unofficial/semiofficial taxis, which are marked by red and white stickers on the doors of the car.
An official taxi. (Very uncommon for them to actually be yellow though.)
The white car is an unofficial taxi, due to it having the red and white decals on the side.
*As you view the rest of the photos, notice how many of the vehicles have the red and white "taxi" stickers on them.
I feel that the fact that there are so many taxis is both a blessing and a curse for Cusco. It seems that most of the cars on the road are these unofficial taxis, and the drivers are just traveling around town looking for people to pick up, which may or may not actually happen. This means that there ends up being a lot of unnecessary traffic, which leads to another concern...
The system of driving here is INSANE! I can't recall for certain, but I think this is the craziest place for driving that I have ever been to. In general, drivers follow the necessary traffic rules of stopping at red lights and obeying speed limits. But everything else seems to be arbitrary. No one seems to maintain their lane of traffic here. This is partly due to buses needing to pull in and out from the side of the road, or from cars and taxis stopping on the side of the road. This causes a domino effect of all of the nearby cars and buses cutting each other off to get by or to get back into the road. Vehicles constantly cut each other off while turning also. I would never have the patience to drive here. I would lose my cool after five minutes of this.
This bus is about to turn in front of these cars and cut them off.
When cutting each other off or trying to get past traffic, I am amazed at how close vehicles get to one another. Here are some pictures taken from the bus to give perspective on how close vehicles travel next to each other:
This is like five accidents waiting to happen.
I am even more amazed that I have not seen a single accident or even a minor fender-bender since I've been here. This is especially true in neighborhoods because most intersections do not have traffic lights or stop signs. So in essence, pulling out into an intersection becomes a game of chicken. I guess the biggest, fastest, or bravest vehicle is the one that wins.
In some of the high traffic areas near the center of town, there are occasionally traffic cops at the intersections to help direct traffic, in addition to the traffic lights.
Most of the traffic cops seem to be female.
An important thing to note is that pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way here. If you cross the road in front of a car, you are basically risking your life. The driver will most likely stop for you if they see you, but I wouldn't count on it. (Plus you will be the recipient of some extremely angry honking.) I have seen several very close calls when it came to people (local Peruvians) stepping out to cross the road without paying full attention.
Without warning, some days traffic is horrendous. This is usually due to some sort of road closure in one part of town that inevitably ends up affecting traffic everywhere. Strikes, parades, and festivals can pop up at any time, which are the main reason for unusual road closures.
Parade coming down the street. Here comes the cross...
with a band following behind.
Elsewhere in town, this guy is juggling in the street. (I have rarely seen street performers here though.)
One of my friends here pointed out a few days after we arrived that she has never seen a woman driving a car here. Ever since then, I have noticed the same thing too. I am pretty sure women are allowed to drive. Perhaps this phenomenon is merely due to the fact that most of the cars are taxis, which is a male-dominated employment. Also, if a car is privately owned (which I figure is quite uncommon due to the cost), it seems that the husband is the one that drives and the wife is the passenger.
The types of vehicles here surprised me a lot. There seems to be an even mix of older and newer vehicles. There are many tiny and small cars, but there are also a decent amount of pick-up trucks and small SUVs. The brands of the vehicles are not what I expected either. The majority are Toyota, Suzuki, Kia, and Hyundai, followed by some other Asian brands (Honda, Mitsubishi, Mazda), some European brands (Volkswagen, Renault, Peugeot, BMW), and some really generic-looking small cars that have no markings on them whatsoever. Oh, and a few Jeep SUVs too. There are also some brands that I don't recognize (such as one that looks like an asterisk with a circle around it.)
Old and new, small and large.
These Toyota trucks are very popular here. (Picture was taken from the bus, so sorry about the reflection.)
Grande.
Another common vehicle that I see here are old-style Volkswagen Beetles. Once I noticed one, I realized that they are all over the place. For example, on the 20-minute bus ride to school one day, I saw at least 10. And when you see one, there is usually another one right nearby.
In my three weeks here, I have only seen a few handfuls of Chevys. I also only saw a Ford for the first time last night, and then of course I ended up seeing five today, one of which was being towed with a rope by another car. (There is a Ford dealership near my neighborhood though, so I knew there had to be some Fords somewhere.)
Chevy Sail.
Ford Explorer. (Notice the Beetles too.)
Gas stations here are similar in look to those in the US, but the brands are different. Also, it appears that all of the stations are full-service only.
I think PetroPeru is a top contender for coolest logo of any company.
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