You have to be THIS skinny!

Paula had her first ride on the local buses today.  They are all old diesels, and you just hang your hand out when you see one with the correct sign in the window and they shriek to a stop in the middle of traffic and pick you up.  

Really, I don't know who maintains the brakes on these things, but they are deafening.  

Anyway, you leap on, and the bus lurches back in to business.
Remember the signs at the amusement parks?

Well, the difference is, in Bogotá, your BMI (Body Mass Index) has to be under about 19 (normal range 20-25) to fit through the turnstiles on the bus.  No wonder people in Bogotá are slender.  They have to walk until they burn off enough fat to fit through these things.

As you are seriously sucking in your gut, the bus swerves off again, and the guy sticks his hand back and you pay him 1,500 pesos (about 80 cents), and you're off.  

When you get where you want to go, you stumble to the back, hit a button and he lets you off wherever the bus is at the moment. 

At last count, there were 15,895 licensed buses in the city, all of them with shrieking brakes.

Anyway, we hope that all your public transportation is as much fun.  And that your turnstiles are more forgiving.  

Dave & Paula