Buses

[toongeorges]

I took a bus in Chile and on the bus there was the following advice:

In front of the bus, there was a display that showed the name of the driver, how long he had been driving (he is not allowed to drive more than 5 hours in a row) and how fast the bus was speeding:

When the bus driver accidentally hit 101 kph (he was allowed to drive only 100 kph), an alarm did go off until he lowered his speed! All dangerous driving behaviour can be reported at http://www.mtt.cl/controlciudadano

Then I remembered the bus I took 1 year ago in Mendoza that even did not have a working speed meter (it would keep saying the bus drove 0 kph, no matter how hard the driver speeded.)

Argentina and Chile, a world of difference.

 

[camberiu]

Argentina and Chile, a world of difference.

The understatement of the year.

 

[Vagrant Violet]

I've briefly visited Chile, and that was enough for me to wonder if I had stumbled into (or out of) some sort of Alice-in-Wonderlandesque rabbit hole. It was pretty surreal.

I don't know, man... For two countries that are so different in every way, yet so close in proximity, I can only infer that there must be something in the Cordillera de la Ramada Mountains that screws people up good!

Who knows???

 

[camberiu]

As a South American myself, who had the chance to visit most countries in the region, I can confidently say that there is Chile and then there is everyone else in South America. Chile is on a league of its own.

 

[Matiasba]

Here in Argentina people drive VERY BAD. Probably worst than in Chile.
But you have those things, you can call to CNRT, there is a 0800 number to report abuse, and in my experience most buses I took had this speed limiter.

 

[scotttswan]

Here in Argentina people drive VERY BAD. Probably worst than in Chile.

There's no probably about it! Chileans actually use those white things in the road to indicate lanes. Its as if people there take a driving license test and follow the rules of the road!

 

[toongeorges]

As a South American myself, who had the chance to visit most countries in the region, I can confidently say that there is Chile and then there is everyone else in South America. Chile is on a league of its own.

They say you can trust cops in Chile ;-)

 

[Vagrant Violet]

They say you can trust cops in Chile ;-)

Sounds as beautiful and mythological as a unicorn sighting!

 

[EricLovesBA]

I just have one question: in the first picture of the original post, what is the stick figure on the far right doing? My take is that the emergency was someone spilled a coke, and called someone over to clean it up.

You know, in 2008 when I first decided I was going to go live in South America for a while, I narrowed down my final decision to either Buenos Aires or Valparaiso, Chile. The deal breaker really was that I found out that a friend's mom had been living down here for years, and could rent me a room. I had never been to South America so I was making the decision blind. Would be fun to visit Valparaiso one day.

 

[Joe]

As a South American myself, who had the chance to visit most countries in the region, I can confidently say that there is Chile and then there is everyone else in South America. Chile is on a league of its own.

It seems like Peru and Colombia are both following in Chile's footsteps with more rational economic policies. This is reflected in the exchange rate. Over the last several years as the Argentinian Peso has gotten weaker against the dollar the Peruvian Sol has gotten stronger. I'm guessing that's also the case with the Colombian and Chile currencies as well.