Buses - A Colorful Surprise

"Aleluya" - one of the buses I often ride back and forth to San Isidro.

I ride the bus a lot, almost every day. I live in the little town of San Isidro (with a church, soccer field, school, a couple bars and two small grocery stores). The ”big” metropolitan area of Grecia is a 15-minute bus ride away, and I ride down there often to shop, to visit with friends, to go to the gym and swim, etc.

The buses are intriguing, painted with bright colors and designs, some of them with personal names – Dona Elsi, Matthew, Jesus Alexander – and others unnamed, some with religious messages on the back (Jesus is my Savior, The Lord is my Shepherd, Follow me –with a picture of Jesus). The designs seem only vaguely related to the bus companies and routes. I asked someone who’s been here a long time about this, and he told me that most of the buses are owned by the guys who drive them. He suggested I interview the bus drivers. I sense a really interesting story here, and look forward to a time in the not-too-distant future when my Spanish is good enough to do some interviews.

This guy covered all his bases. He's got these colorful kites all over the sides and back of the bus, and then up by the front the Archangel Gabriel.










Dona Elsi - my favorite so far.








Don Elvin, another handsome sample.







Here's a photo I took inside one of the buses, of a little painting on the wall behind the bus driver. It says “Jesus loves me.”


The photo below is of the bus driver’s money-box, a foam cushion with little slots to hold the money, including several slots for the right change to give back to riders. This particular photo has a young man sitting on the ledge of the front window – he sat there during the whole bus trip, occasionally reaching down to fill up the little slots with correct change for the bus driver. The money sits out there, completely accessible to the riders. Not something we’d see in the US.

There is a casual disregard for rules of safety (and rules of any kind, actually) that is both scary and refreshing. Adults only sometimes put on their seat belts, children seldom do. I feel so indoctrinated about the seatbelt thing - it makes me nervous.

I will continue photographing buses - I'm getting kind of fond of them and think of them by name when they pull into the bus station. Eventually I'll write a story, or even make it a chapter in a book.