Concho City

The easiest, and cheapest, mode of transportation in Santiago is the conchos. Conchos are Toyota Corolla’s with stickers in their window marking them as public transportation.  The stickers are of different letters signify the different routs and different areas you may go.  For instance, PA will take you to the airport, while U and K will take you to the Calle de Sol (the big downtown shopping district.) 

One of the greatest things about conchos is you never have to wait long for one.  All you need to do is stand out on the curb and in less than 90 seconds a concho with the letter you want will pull up beside you and you can hop right in.  You don’t even need to be on a corner- if you want a ride, they want your business and will stop wherever you are.  Also, they cost RD$15 which is the equivalent to about US$.50. 

The drawback- Toyota Corolla’s are built for 5 people (everyone here uses stick) but the acknowledged holding capacity of a concho is 7.  This means there are 4 people in the back and 2 in the passengers seat.  I friend and I went exploring today and here’s a bit of what a concho ride is like:

We waited on the curb for longer than we needed to because we were hoping to get a concho that wasn’t quite so full.  Many passed us that had only 5 people in them- plenty of room for 2 more, but we declined.  After about 5 minutes though we caved.  Had we wanted a ‘K’ there would have been no problem, but we needed a ‘M’ and that seemed to be the popular letter this afternoon. 

The one we finally got into did have 5 people in it and these were not your average Dominicans.  No.  These were 5 of the biggest Dominicans I have seen since coming here.  She took the front and I took the back and imagine me and my three brothers cramming ourselves into a compact because that’s how big these guys were.  All of them were over six feet and none weighted less than 180.  But here’s another thing about conchos- everyone’s good-natured.  So I climbed in and the driver patiently waited for me to jam my door closed which took a few tries because my hip kept getting in the way.  Like I said, we were all really big and there wasn’t a whole lot of room.  I got there eventually and off we went. 

As I said before and will most certainly say again- the DR is hot!  So here we are, 7 people in a little car all crammed together.  The one saving grace is that the windows are always all the way down and so when you’re moving, there’s a nice cool breeze. 

Zoom, zoom through the city until you get where your going, then all you do is tap the drive on the shoulder and motion to the side of the road.  One quick swerve later and you are back on the sidewalk.  No problemo.