LAS MICROS

A micro is a small bus that seats about 15-20 people that runs on a fixed route through Vina and Valpo.

The red and green bus in this picture is a micro.

The micro is a very interesting part of Chilean culture. In terms of modes of transportation, it is the most frequently used and the most dangerous. There are tons of people who get on the micro (besides thieves) that aren’t getting on it just to get from one place to another. There are vendors of all sorts of things – food, drinks, ice cream, as well as artists, singers/guitarists, and people who tell sad stories and then ask for a little bit of money. They usually get on at the busiest stops and then get off as soon as the bus starts moving or when it gets to the next stop. All these different people make the micro an interesting experience every time I take it, because I never know what I’m going to see next.

Here’s another fun part of the micros: the bus drivers will rip you off if you don’t count your change. This I’m not surprised at all by and I have seen/experienced before in Latin America. What I haven’t seen before are the guys that hawk the transportation services – guys that stand outside and shout out where the buses are going and how fast they can get you there (and believe me, it’s always super rapido). They’ll also shout out that the bus is brand new and how it won’t break down (no matter how run-down it looks from the outside). “Ride this bus! The seats are so nice and soft!” They do this because they don’t have real jobs, and the micro drivers will give them 100 to 150 pesos for their efforts. The reason the bus drivers pay them (this is my theory at least), is because they bring in more people for the bus drivers to rip off, then they share the profits. This is fine, like most things in Latin America, as long as you aren’t a complete idiot about things, you’ll avoid situations like this (and if you are, then maybe you deserve it).

However at night the micros become very dangerous if you aren’t traveling in a group, and these guys who yell info about the micros become accomplices to certain micro drivers who want to rob you of much more than just shortchanging you.