Transportation

I definitely lucked out with the location of my apartment. I’m about a 3 minute walk from my classes while some people have almost a 40 minute commute walking and have to take a taxi. Thankfully, it’s not too pricey to get around and it’s so easy to flag down a taxi just about anywhere. I guess they have to make it accessible in that way since there’s not really any other public transportation besides the bus. We’re so privileged to have such easy access with the Green Line and Orange Line only minutes away most places in Boston.

Last night I had to go to the hospital for a stomach infection and my professor who went with me told me not to worry about paying because it’s so cheap. She said that you can take a taxi almost anywhere in Miraflores and it will only cost you 5 soles, which I thought was incredible considering Uber prices and how they vary back home. My host mom came for support and to take me home in a taxi and it was only 7 soles, which is about 2 U.S. dollars. I was also surprised to find that we can use Uber here and it’s always as cheap as my professor said.

As a side note, I’ve found the Uber and taxi drivers to be very friendly and some of them even speak a little English and have asked me where I’m from and what I’m doing here with genuine curiosity. This city and everyone in it continues to surprise me.

My friends also told me about an app called Maps Me which allows you to navigate without needing internet. What the app does is it downloads a map of a certain area and you can easily type in a location and it will tell you how to get there just like Google Maps. Today I walked home from the Parque Kennedy alone for the first time using the app and was perfectly fine.

When I first came here, I was nervous about walking alone and finding my way around but after just one week I feel a lot more confident. Since this week we’ll have a lot more free time after classes and interning at the Air Force school, I can’t wait to explore all the area has to offer.