Buses in Santa Marta

I've tried explaining the buses to mom and dad, but I'm not sure they understood how utterly different they are. Here, you hail it like you'd hail a taxi in New York, then you get on and pay the guy (they're usually teenagers or early 20 year olds) in the door 1,200 pesos. A lot of them will let you get away with paying 1,000, though.

Then you fall down as the bus jerks away while you're still standing. The buses go on routes around the city, traveling from one end to the other. Santa Marta is like a giant horse shoe with the center a mountain that only people in shanty towns live in.



The man standing in the doorway is not waiting to get on or off, he's the... portero for a lack of a title. He lets you on and takes your money, and when you want to get off, you have to let him know and he lets the driver know.

The drivers always have minimal interaction with the passengers. Mostly, they accept big bills from the porteros and literally sit on them.

In the hand you can't see, he has money clasped between his fingers like a fan so that he can give change without digging through a bag o' money.

The buses' goal is to get ALL the people who want to take a bus, even if they aren't going to the same place. In this respect, the portero is also a sales person. He'll lean out and you'll ask if he's going where you want to go and he'll say yes, regardless of whether he is.

Big buses have their porteros get out and walk alongside where there are lots of people waiting. I've seen one sound more like a salesman than a money collector.

New apartment!

The view from my window.



My bedroom and bathroom.





A little geko friend we had on the first day.



Our living room.

I feel I should try and explain my limited understanding of the Santa Marta rental industry. After having been essentially coddled into an apartment, I am by no means an expert, but there are some interesting differences between apartment hunting in Santa Marta and apartment hunting elsewhere.

Firstly, most Santa Marta apartments come "fully furnished." This includes dishware and pots and pans. The reason for this is because most people rent out apartments in Santa Marta during the "high season" to tourists. Santa Marta is a huge tourist town and a good beachfront apartment can earn from 1-4 million pesos a week. This is a lot of money in Santa Marta and it's one reason that if you take an apartment and promise to be out during December/January, your rent is often a lot lower than if you need to be in the apartment at that time.

The "high season" is also the reason a lot of people would prefer their apartments go empty during the year and then make bucco buck during the high season.

My new apartment is really nice. Not as nice as some friends of ours who got a penthouse for less, but you have to look at everything as an opportunity.

Uploading pictures of it is aparently taking up too much bandwidth, so I will hold off on that until I have internet. Hopefully soon!