My first CRAMPED trip

When riding the metro, there are good times to go and bad times. There are good directions to go and bad directions. I'm referring to traffic. No, not vehicle trafic, but people traffic. Having never lived in a BIG city like Santiago (almost 7 million people), I've never had to experience the physical "fight" to place ones body where you need it. Normally we, as North Americans have a bubble of comfort space around us. NOT HERE IN LATIN AMERICA!!! And especially not in a big city like this one.

I had gone downtown to go to a Christian bookstore we have come to love. Doug dropped me off at a metro station, where very few people were waiting to take the metro INTO town. As I walked down the stairs onto the platform to wait for my North bound train, I saw the South bound train approaching with NUMEROUS passengers. They were coming home from work and had crammed into the train to save just a few more minutes without having to wait for the next train going South. I knew that's what I'd have to experience coming back, but I thought, "I have to get to the bookstore TODAY!" So when the next North bound train came, I got on.

There were plenty of orange plastic seats on this train, and I took full use of one, for I knew that I probably wouldn't get one coming all the way home. Since in reality we have 5 metro lines (I think), I had to make a change of metro lines when I reached the end of my line. It's kind of like changing major highways in a car. You have to fight traffic. However, there wasn't too much traffic at this hour, so I boarded my next train. After 5 or 6 stops I got off.

I had gotten off at a major stop so there happen to be 4 different exits. I walked up to the street using the exit I thought led to my bookstore destination. I was wrong. When I reached the surface of the street, I realized my desination was across an 8 lane highway. Thankfully there was a cross walk! When the cross walk light told me I could walk, walk I did. I crossed the west bound traffic with no problem. I crossed the center bike/walk path median with no problem. Then I began to cross the East bound traffic. Just then, keep in mind I still had a green cross walk light, a car decided to take a left hand turn onto the East bound street that I was crossing. The driver, narrowly missed hitting me by honking his horn and my RUNNING to get out of the way. Whew! Glad that's over!

I proceeded to the bookstore, purchased what I needed and headed back to the metro. This time, I entered on the side closest to the bookstore and did not have to cross any major streets! LESSON LEARNED! If one comes up from the metro on the wrong side of the street, go back down into the metro and cross underneath the street rather than risk your life by crossing above!

I purchased something to eat and even had the little store heat up my sandwhich, because by this time it was 6:30 and I was getting hungry. I looked at the line to enter the metro and it really wasn't that bad. OK, this is good, I should be able to eat my dinner on the way home, that is IF I can get a seat on the train! The train pulled up going my direction and all the seats were taken. There was standing room only and at that we were packed in, or at least I thought we were.

After my 5 or 6 stops I got off to change trains to get back on my line going South. WOW! What a rush of people. Hundreds of people trying to get from point A to point B in a small amount of time. SLOWLY we edged our way down the stairs the crowd almost moving as one as we ebbed and flowed down the stairs to the line where we would all wait to get on the next train. The first train came and went. I edged forward closer to the line. The second train came and went, I got to the front on the line. I watched as last minute people litterally crammed into this train. They'd stand on the edge of the door and as the door would shut, they would shove themselves in the rest of the way. And I thought I was packed in the last train! That was NOTHING!!!

As that train pulled away and I waited on that line, I looked up to the entryway stairs that I had come down just a few short minutes earlier. Hundreds of people, all orderly ebbing closer. I turned my head towards the track and looked down. "Lord, PLEASE don't let them become disorderly and cause us to be pushed off onto the track in front of an oncoming train!" Praise God, Chile is a civilized country and the people love the metro train system.

The next train approached and thankfully I was one of the first on, so I got a little, plastic, orange seat to sit in. I was finally able to eat my lunch and I didn't have to stand so close to people. Many times while standing up you are back to back with a person, or even front to back with a person and you couldn't even slip a piece of paper between you. It can be THAT crowded and THAT indecent sometimes.

Lessons learned!
Cross the road underneath the road!
Don't go the wrong direction at the right time.
Go the right direction at the wrong time.