LIKE WOMEN

My freshman roommate in college--an oft-drunk frat kid named Alex--used to say that pretty women are like buses: if one passes you by, just wait five minutes for another one to come along.

Well, here in Guanajuato, buses come along about every 30 seconds. I don't know what this says about the area females--I haven't monitored their pedestrian tendencies with any of my former roommate's faux-scientific precision--but in theory things look good.

For those of you new to the party, or in need of some general background, allow me to share two things before continuing:

1. Guanajuato is a city composed of narrow, labrynthine streets and dauntingly steep alleys.
2. Mexico as a whole is not a letigious society, because (as far as I can figure out) people have no affordable/practical legal recourse. As such, you do pretty much everything here at your own risk. Suing is not an option.

My reason for mentioning the former:

The bus drivers here are the best I've ever seen: The streets they have to navigate are more treacherous, more ridiculous than in Boston and London combined. The other week, I went with two friends to a rather notorious street to watch the buses pass. Every single driver followed the curve of the street perfectly, avoiding the curbs with only about an inch to spare in places. Here are some pictures:





My reason for mentioning the latter:

Back in the US, if you're trying to catch a bus you have to show up at one of the designated bus stops, wait for the driver to stop, open the door, let you on, close the door, and start driving again. If all these steps aren't done properly and you get injured because of that, you can totally sue.

Here, if you want to catch the bus but aren't at a bus stop, you can just flag down the driver and he'll let you on. If you're a mobile young person, he might not even bring the bus to a full stop--he'll just slow down and let you jump aboard. He might not close the door at all. If you fall out or something--hey, that's your own fault. Lawsuit? Not going to happen.

In short: Convenient? Yes. Safe? Depends.

Miscellaneous information:

The buses here are all great diesel affairs that spew thick blue smoke--smoke that gets trapped in the high-walled alleys, and, consequently, in your lungs when you walk by. Not that many people smoke here, but I wouldn't be surprised if the percentage of people with lung cancer were similar to that of Spain or the UK.

There is more I'd like to write, but I should really go to class--perhaps via the bus. Because unlike pretty women, I can count on a bus picking me up as soon as I set foot outside.