…Although of course by mammoth I mean bus, the “bus urbano,” which runs across and around the entire city of Salamanca.
And past (way past) the city limits, as I discovered on my first adventure on it.
See, the Facultad de Psicología, the psychology building, is about a forty-five minute walk from where I live; however, there is an extremely convenient bus that picks me up right from the corner of my street and takes me there. Though the ride is no more than twenty minutes, it can actually be quite eventful if you pay enough attention and don’t just zone out, as I often tend to do after rolling out my MP3.
My first attempt at this new method of transportation was not as successful as I had hoped it would be, especially since it was rather late and dinner was all that was on my mind. On the bus, you have to request your stop as you approach it, by pressing a red button. Simple enough, right? The catch is that if you are new in town and don’t know this, or where exactly your stop is, you might just end up in questionable neighborhoods outside of the city, switching buses for the third time in a row, and spending two hours finding your way back home instead of the twenty minutes it should have taken to arrive. Let’s just say I was glad that no one is ever in a rush here.
As a matter of fact, one interesting thing I have noticed is that bus drivers in Salamanca apparently get a rather generous amount of breaks, or self-assigned breaks at least! At certain stops, they step out for several minutes and stretch out their legs, while enjoying a couple of drags. In the meantime, passengers usually sit and wait patiently until the driver returns.
Today, after realizing my pick-up stop to class had been one of the chosen ones, I decided to let go for a change, sit back, relax, and attempt to not stress about the fact that my class would begin in exactly seventeen minutes. Granted, the break was entertaining enough for those of us still inside. For a start, as the radio played American rock, a middle-aged man in the back of the bus jammed out to reggaeton on some speakers. The mix was interesting to say the least…one student across from me immediately put on his fancy, thick headphones. I guess he wasn’t a fan.
As for the bus itself, I guess the best way I can try to describe the feeling of riding it, is to compare it to what one would imagine it would feel like to ride a small, clumsy mammoth in a small city. Or something of the sort. I know what you’re thinking, and perhaps I did let my imagination run way too wild, perhaps I was paying too much attention if you know what I mean, but “small, clumsy mammoth” is what seems to fit best.
Let me (try to) explain. You feel sudden, rapid vibrations and hear a grumbling type sound when the bus is starting up, then you feel it gradually picking up the pace, but before you know it, you’re already at the next stop, and the mammoth takes a few short breaths before starting up again. However, the sensation that catches my attention the most each time is at red lights, where the mammoth really gets to actually relax, actually breathe… Inside, you literally feel a side of it tilt, like one of its lungs is giving out for a second. You actually feel relief as the light turns green, and the mammoth’s lungs suddenly inflate and fill with air.
The animal continues on its way… and so do you.
