El Metropolitano

Riding El Metropolitano to work

 Public transportation is not one of Lima's strong points, which is why I was excited to hear that a high speed public transportation system was up and running.  The Mayor of Lima who made it all happen - Luis Castañeda Lossio - is also running for president in a tight race with the daughter of a former president and current congresswoman as well as a leftist endorsed by Hugo Chavez.  Should be interesting, just like their high speed bus system.


El Metropolitano covers a good portion of the city but not all of it....and it gets a little dicey when the city has no power and the station doors don't open.  Your kind of stuck like chuck and have to figure out a way to get creative - like the guy who jumped off the bus and forced open the doors so people could get off the bus and onto the station stop ;)  Eventually, they figured it out and at least they weren't stuck underground in the subway.  All in all it's still the fastest, safest, most comfortable (for the most part) and least expensive way to get around the city - one trip is about $1.50 nuevo soles or about .50 cents U.S. - not too shabby.  It's kind of fun too. 
I highly recommend it on your next trip to Lima.

Wikipedia for more info:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_Metropolitano_de_Transporte 

El Metropolitano is AWESOME when the doors to the station work :(