System error

The bus system in Cordoba has gone on strike this week. A million Cordobeses take the bus everyday to get to work, school, or even just to the grocery store. As you can imagine, it's created a dose of chaos for the people who have places to be. My only source of inexpensive transportation around the city and especially to UBP are the collectivos (city buses). I had a near heart attack yesterday in fear that I would go broke just trying to get to school everyday and back. Taxis and remis are cabs that you can take from point A to point B, but they cost in some cases, 10 times as much as taking the bus. Every time I get on a collectivo, a pay a flat rate of 3.20 pesos no matter how short or far the distance I'm traveling. It's about a 15-20 minute bus ride from my house to the university. But, a taxi ride from my house to the university is nearly 30 pesos, 10 times as much as my bus fair. The city is convinced that the buses will be running in the next 24 hours, same thing the news said 24 hours ago. Until then, I will be forking over the pesos to the taxi/remi companies. This is how most things work in Argentina though: unpredictable, anti-systematic, and sometimes just too obscure for me to understand. As I've noted in past entries, I am developing a never before sense of patience by being here and dealing with situations way beyond my control. My mom would say it's situations like these that build character. So, I'm expecting to come home from Argentina money-less, but with a whole lot of character.