“Hijole!!” The term is Mexican slang for describing something surprising. This is an expression I quickly picked up from our cuates here at Universidad Panamericana and it perfectly describes the transportation in Mexico City. This city is wild! I would like to first mention that I am from Los Angeles, the city in the United States with the most notorious traffic. And even LA has to bow down to the craziness that is driving/ riding public transportation in Mexico City.
I have had the opportunity to travel with all three of the main means of transportation in the city: car, bus, and train. Right off the bat coming in the city, our taxi/van ran many red lights and narrowly squeezed through a tight alley with centimeters of air space. The very next day, my host mom drove me to class and we had two near accidents in which we almost ran over a pedestrian and had to swerve out of incoming opposite traffic due to construction. The next days I had to figure out how to use the public transportation system (bus and train) and found it to be more absurd to travel than car. The buses and trains, which in Mexico City run approximately every 2 minutes, are constantly spilling over with people at all times of the day and are wildly operated. I vividly remember a man surfing outside of the bus door because it was so crowded. There was a time where a man ran to catch the train and jumped through the closing doors only to have his backpack get caught outside; the doors did not reopen and the train rode on.
Throughout my first 2 weeks, I have yet to see an accident on the street. Better yet, I have yet to see a dented car or bus! I have no idea how this can be, but there is something magical of the controlled chaos the city has. This city waits for no one. And with every packed street, bus, or train I experience, all I could do is shake my head, push my way in, and mutter “Hijole!”