Some Cordoban culture

I am always intrigued by public transportation wherever I go. I enjoy the American style that most cities go by--a swipe card that you can add money to over time, or even a hard card that you can prepay a certain amount and save money in the long run.

Then there's Paris, where (at least when I went in 2008) you pay for 10 tickets that are small and easy to lose, and that you need to not only get onto the subway, but also to get off of the it.

I greatly enjoyed the German style, which I hear is also true in Holland, of the honor system. You pay for a ride and then you just get on the train. Kendra and I had bought a 3 day pass because it was so much cheaper, so that we could hop on, hop off anytime we wanted. If you're ever stopped by authorities without proof that you paid for the ride however, you would be fined for 40Euro on the spot!

In Cordoba, you MUST have a cospele if you hope to ride the bus. A cospele can be bought from many little neighborhood stores, and they all come in little plastic packages as if they're pieces of candy.

So, you take out your cospele, you go to the bus stop (you also must know where they are for the most part as they aren't well marked!), and you wait. When you see the bus you want approaching you've got to wave it down or it will not stop. And when it does, jump on as fast as possible so the bus driver can keep going :P It's really not that bad; it's more of an adventure.

From there, you hand your cospele to the driver, and he pushes a button to give you a receipt. Similar to Germany, it's important to keep your receipt so that if the policeman checks you, you won't have to pay a fine.

Another part to Cordoba bus culture includes young people who come on for a couple stops. They hand out various items, usually cards, as in greeting cards. You are allowed to take them to look at them, but then later they come around to see if you will buy it from him/her. It's not annoying, just something I'm not used to. I would suggest that you take the card because you're not forced to buy anything, and it's very fascinating the types of cards for sale. They're often very silly.

Welp, there's your Cordoban culture for the day. Hopefully I'll make a video for Nolan about it. :) Adios!