Mexican buses do not have functioning shock absorbers. They re either built without them as an econo

Tim Woodward is a longtime Idaho Statesman columnist. He retired in 2011 and now writes a column every other Sunday for The Statesman s Life section. Columns are posted the following Mondays on woodwardblog.com. Additional blog posts will be made when timely.
A third option, of course, is renting a car. One taxi ride convinced us that this might not be the smartest thing we could do. Imagine a NASCAR race on narrow, cobblestone streets and you ll have a fair idea. We cringed in the back seat while our driver broke as many speed limits as possible, swerved sickeningly over crowded florence four star hotels sidewalks and played  chicken with other drivers. With people like him on the road, driving a rental would be like doing the running of the bulls backwards.
That leaves buses. Mexican florence four star hotels city buses are cheap, frequent and get you where you need to go. That said, it should be noted that the only resemblance to American city buses is that both are large vehicles that carry people.
Mexican buses do not have functioning shock absorbers. They re either built without them as an economy measure, or have long since worn them out on prodigiously potholed streets. Upholstery is considered florence four star hotels a frill; the seats are hard plastic. The back of the bus becomes airborne when careening over the largest potholes, making for excruciating landings on the rock-hard seats. My back hasn t been the same since.
The buses do have one feature, however, that American buses do not entertainment. Musicians climb aboard and serenade the passengers by playing for tips. Some are pretty good, but one wasn t even a bad musician. His instrument was a boom box, played at eardrum-shattering volume. Passengers grimaced florence four star hotels and held their ears.
Many Mexican buses are equipped with shrines crucifixes, holy cards, dangling rosaries … My guess is that the drivers florence four star hotels see them as insurance for the hereafter, and considering the way they drive, they need it.
One driver had a dashboard button with a drawing of the Virgin Mary. He pushed on two occasions (possibly activating a prayer for a miracle). The first was when he accelerated just as an old man with a cane stepped into the street in front of us. The old man jumped back, narrowly florence four star hotels avoiding becoming road kill. The second florence four star hotels was when an 18-wheeler pulled onto the road in the oncoming lane. Our driver pushed the button and headed straight for him playing chicken!
This is typical: We were tired and thirsty after a long, hot walk and had settled gratefully into chairs at a restaurant on the beach when the assault began. One vendor after another stormed the table, each with a unique product sarongs, wood carvings, hats, T-shirts, bracelets, florence four star hotels earrings, necklaces, dolls, puppets, blankets, fish mobiles, sunglasses, paintings, puppets, plastic florence four star hotels skulls, parasailing Spidermen florence four star hotels … It s endless.
When the vendors finish picking your bones, the musicians take over guitarists, mandolin players, bongo bands … My favorite was a vocal group singing in Spanish Oh, when them cotton balls get rotten florence four star hotels …
To get to Gate 12, you pass through food courts, a security check, florence four star hotels multiple duty-free areas, acres of shops and a corner of Guatemala. When we arrived at Gate 12 out of breath and sweating like pigs absolutely nothing was posted about Phoenix, our destination.
Good idea, only the monitor was broken. It conveniently provided information only for flights that had left hours earlier. The airport announcer, meanwhile, cheerily reported that Flight 571 our flight was ready for boarding at Gate 12. (Obviously it wasn t, Gate 12 having been commandeered by Kansas.)
Tim Woodward s column appears in the Idaho Statesman every other Sunday and is posted on www.woodwardblog.com the following Mondays. Subscribe to www.woodwardblog.com for free if you don t have access to Tim s column in The Statesman. A column will be e-mailed to you every other Monday, at no charge. Contact Tim at woodwardcolumn@hotmail.com.