Mexico City taxis - fun and games --- and definitely excitement!

For anyone who has visited Mexico City and ridden in one of our famous taxis, you know it can be an exciting – and sometimes scary – adventure! Usually I don’t have a problem with the taxi drivers. Hey, they’re just being normal Mexican taxi drivers after all!

But a week ago yesterday, my taxi driver from the bus station to the airport scared me! Really scared me! As soon as I got in, I should have gotten out! First, right there at the bus station there’s a crosswalk for pedestrians, and my driver just barreled through, not letting the pedestrians through (and there were plenty). My first thought was, Wow, he’s certainly impolite! And unkind!

(BTW, the green and white cars are the taxis)

Then all the way to the airport, he barged into traffic, changing lanes constantly, almost hitting other cars, trucks, buses, whatever, every 2 to 3 seconds! I was holding on, trying to stay calm! Whew! At one point he tried to pass a double semi - on the right of course – and nearly got squashed! I wouldn’t have minded if he got squashed, but I was in the car too!

He tried to avoid the big, busiest streets, so was winding in and out of little back streets. Well, we finally came out onto a six lane street with a thousand or so cars (I don’t think I’m exaggerating!), trucks and buses heading our way. And he wanted to go ACROSS this street! Well, no problem for this unkind, impolite, crazy, mean driver! He just edged out until the first lane of cars had no choice but to give way, then he edged out to the second lane, the third, fourth, fifth and finally on the sixth, the oncoming car saw him BARELY in time! Screech! That was the only time I lost my cool and let out a little gasp! It definitely didn’t improve his driving though!

I decided that next time, BEFORE I get into a taxi at the bus station, I’m peeking in to see if my UNFAVORITE driver is there, and if he is, I’ll happily wait for the next taxi!