MonoMonday ~ Connection

Few residents of Zihuatanejo own vehicles, so their connection to the greater community is mostly through public transit, which in our town is primarily small 10-passenger vans known as combis. These vans run their routes through various Zihua neighborhoods, a couple of nearby cities and the airport (where the one shown here is destined as a prospective passenger can easily tell by what is written on the front window). They are very inexpensive, for example this ride from the airport by combi costs 12 pesos compared to 350 pesos for the same trip in a taxi. In the morning they connect workers to jobs, kids to school, and locals to the mercado. Regular riders connect with friends between stops (which happen whenever anyone requests the driver pull over). Connections would be much more difficult here and in the other communities we have visited in Mexico, without the service of hardworking combis.

It is somewhat ironic that today's challenge is connection as we have been without our connection to the outside world since Saturday’s loss of the internet in our complex. The technician just left after replacing a faulty switch and we are once again part of the global community.