Kate takes the school bus!

Great news! I now take the school bus to school! While going through my daily taxi- city bus combo, some of my students drove by me each day in a Minuto school bus that drives right by my apartment building. So I pulled some strings at school, and now the bus picks me up at my front door at 5:50 every day. The bus system in Colombia is pretty different than the US system, so I feel it is worthy of a share. Here’s some thoughts:

1. “La ruta,” as it is referred to, is not the big yellow school bus we have in the US. All buses are different depending on the school, and are clearly representative of the school’s wealth status. The average school bus is actually a white, 15 passenger van with “escolar” written on the back. The wealthy Bogotanos ride coach buses, sprinter vans, and even one British school has a Spice Girls-esk British flag-decked out bus.

My bus!

2. Here, it’s fairly normal for teachers to be picked up by the school bus along with the kids. It’s common for kids to travel over an hour to their school each way, and often times schools are right outside Bogota but provide services to all Bogotanos.  I’m the only teacher at Minuto that takes the bus, so I’m special in that way, but it’s not unheard of.

3. The buses all line up in a loop around the courtyard. Like I said, we have about 40 identical white vans with little numbers in the dashboard. I can never find “la ruta 20” through the sea of teenagers, so my tactic is to stand in the middle of the courtyard until one of the students from the bus flags me down.

Just try finding your bus through this.

4. Since La ruta 20 now has the only profe, and she’s the American profe, The status of la ruta 20 has significantly risen. My second afternoon ride home consisted of a solid five minute chant of “best bus ever!” I sit next to three eighth graders that are not my students, so they want to have mini-English lessons on the ride home every afternoon. I am usually too tired, and instead practice my spanish  and have them teach me teenage slang.

My bus buddies.

5. There’s no bus stops like back home. Each kid is picked up at their doorstep. So each morning I hang out with some nugget third graders and their moms while I wait for my bus to come outside my apartment lobby. It may be this way for safety reasons, or maybe it’s because there aren’t many real city bus stops in Bogota either and it’s normal to get on and off wherever it’s convenient for you.

6. Each bus, which is really a van, has a “Moni” or the monitor. They basically open the door for everyone and count to make sure everyone is on board. Our Moni is Melba, and she’s quite the spitfire. She rocks bright red lipstick, tight black shirts, and heels of course. She’s super friendly, and I’m happy to have someone over the age of 15 to talk to sometimes.

It's certainly different than the US bus routes. And I'm not sure if I really prefer one to the other. But its great to not have to worry about my commute. And its great to get some insight into another aspect of life here.