Las busetas

Every time I visit the mission in Usme, I have to take a buseta...or a bus. When I first got here, I was shocked at the lack of organization and safety of the buses. I'm starting to get used to it, but it seriously is a little crazy. 

First, there are no bus stops. You have to wait on the side of the road and search carefully for the bus that has the name of where you need to go. For my trips to Usme,

 I have to look for the bus that says "libertadores". This isn't easy when every bus has its own, different sign with a list of about 10 locations, and there are tons of them. 

So, if you're lucky enough to find the bus with your location on it, you have to flag it down. Like I said before, there are no bus stops. The busetas drive along until they see a hand reaching out to flag it down. Once the driver sees you, he cuts off about 2 lanes of traffic to get to

 the side of the road, so that you can get on. This leads to lots of honking and more crazy driving to get around the bus. 

The bus is there, right in front of you, so you step on. Once one foot is on the bus, it starts driving away...no I'm not kidding.. It was a little scary the first time, but now it's kind of fun. You have to go through a little turnstile and hand the driver your money (usually 1,200 pesos..about 60 cents). The driver then looks at how much you gave him and determines how much change he will give you...WHILE driving down the busy streets of Bogota. This actually really impresses me. 

The busetas here rarely follow the traffic rules. They will go through red lights and are always cutting people off. I really fear for the motorcyclists, who are always weaving in and out of traffic. When you want to get off the bus, you have to push the 'timbre'. This alerts the driver to

 pull over...so he speeds up to the curb and stops on a dime, giving everyone a little bit of

 whiplash. And then he starts driving off, as you're jumping off the bus!

I'm having a lot of fun with the kids in the Usme mission. We are working on some english vocab (fruit, animals, colors) and they're doing really well. Also, we started writing letters to the youth group from Maryland today! They were loving it!

The brigada in Bosa last Saturday ended up not working out. No doctors showed up, and the people from the community didn't show up. This was frustrating because apparently the same thing happened last time. Tomorrow morning, Laura-Catherine and I will be talking with a clinic in Bosa to hopefully schedule a time where doctors can see the kids. Most of them need to be looked at and vaccinated. Also, I talked with some doctors, and will hopefully be going door-to-door in the neighborhood with them in the future to offer medical help.

Next Monday will wrap up my first four weeks in Bogota! I will probably be moving into the apartment with Laura-Catherine sometime soon. It'll be nice to live independently, and closer to the church/office, but I am definitely going to miss my hot chocolate and bread dinners with Miriam and Oscar. They have been wonderful!

Keep me updated on how you all are doing (kate.schaeffler@gmail.com)! Thanks again for all of your love and support.  Love, Kate