They have their own traffic lane, so they move a bit faster, but traffic can slow things down to the speed of a sloth! SITPs are smaller, blue buses that aren't as clastrophobic.
Unfortunately, with all the buses, cars, and motorcycles that roll around the city, there is lots of air pollution, or smog. If you look closely at that photograph I took of a view of the city from a mountain, you can see the large roads carved into the city, as well as a thin, grey layer of smog over the buildings.
Thankfully, there are a lot of bikers who are helping lower the pollution levels, but even they are negatively affected. Most bikers where white masks around their faces to filter out the smog, or have scarves that cover their mouths! At first I thought it was strange, but I've been thinking I might get one.
The first time I rode Aleja's bike to work at la Universidad Nacional, one of the pedal fell off! I was lucky though, since there were lots of bike fixers near the University. One group of bike fixers, a bunch of University students actually, secured a new, silver pedal on my bike for $7.00! I was grateful.
As I arrived back to my appartment, I realized I had a problem: I would have to carry the bike up and down the stairs every day, which would get tiring after a while. As I stood there considering the situation, I started to look around my still new neighborhood, and noticed an outdoor bike stand with at least 10 bikes hanging on it! Here's a picture of the first time I saw it. Boy was I relieved! I went over to examine it, and found out that I could leave my bike locked there for free.
