Give me taxis or give me death

I bought a used car two weeks ago. Its a Hyundai Sante Fe, an SUV (called a jeepeta here). When I first started to look for a car I knew that I didn't want an SUV. You have to jump to get into the thing. On top of that with gasoline prices as high as they are (here gas is really expensive all the time), I was really concerned with the MPG I was going to get. Today the price of gasoline is ONLY about $2.90. However, before the economic crisis, the price was more than $6.00/gallon. After looking at new cars, which I couldn't afford, used cars that I didn't like, Massiel, who had been studying car websites for more than a year, suggested that we go look at a Sante Fe at a used car dealer near where we live. I loved it. I wanted it. I checked it out on CarFax. Once I read the reviews of this model in the Kelly Blue BookI was hooked. I called and said that I would come by the next day to buy it. When Massiel got there the next morning it was already sold. Now the hunt was on full bore. I located 3 more Sante Fes and went to look at them the next day. I found a great, clean, one owner Sante Fe and bought it. Great looking car. Reasonable (17mpg) gas mileage. Big. You don't sit down into an SUV, you climb into it. Suddenly I became a taxi driver. The convenience of being able to go anywhere I want whenever I want without having to wait for a taxi is something I had longed for. I had had 4 really great taxi drivers who I used on a regular basis. Luis, my normal day driver, is sweet and was very reliable. Nelson my regular night driver is really smart, and fun to ride with. He is hard working and entrepreneurial. I had two other day drivers, Rene and Noel. All were really nice guys. Now however, when something is needed, Joel the taxi driver gets the call. It's OK when I want to go food shopping or go over to the casino at night. However, when Massiel's nieces need to be picked up or taken home, or when Massiel needs a lift somewhere I sure miss my drivers. Yesterday was a further reminder of how I miss my drivers. I left work early to go to the bank to get my monthly SS payment. From there I had to go to another bank to cash the dollars into pesos at a more favorable rate than that offered by the bank that receives my money. From there I had to go to one pharmacy located quite a distance away. I use this pharmacy because the owner, Infante, when working for other pharmacies, always went out of his way to make sure that he had the products that I use. Unfortunately where he is located apparently there is not as much call for some of the medicines that I use so I have to use more than one pharmacy. The other pharmacy that I use was where Infante worked last. Infante's store is located in a really shitty area, and there is no organized parking. You just kind of park on the sidewalk, hope that no one sideswipes your car and do your business as quickly as possible, before someone steals it. The most popular mode of travel for most poor people (most of the people) is the concho. A concho goes in a prescribed route which is designated by a sign with a letter denoting the route on the car door and a passenger can get in or out whenever they wish, always for the same fare. You just hail them, or more likely, if the driver sees you, they hail you. Conchos are usually small beat up cars 20+ years old. My favorite fact about conchos is that regardless of the size of the car they accept two passengers in the front and 4 (regardless of size) passengers in the back. Yesterday at 4 P.M. the road to Infante's store had every concho in the entire world busily driving on it. They weave in and out. They stop without warning. They observe no traffic law. They are a law unto themselves. Now here I come, steering the Queen Mary through this Venetian canal. It was a nightmare. My car didn't fit and because I had to constantly stop to allow the conchos their right of way it took forever. Then after weaving my way back and forth I arrived at the other pharmacy. There was a parking spot right in front with a meter. I put the necessary money in the meter and went inside. Something didn't seem right about the parking spot. It was too easy too find for such a busy area. Sure enough when I came out I saw that I had gotten a parking ticket for parking illegally. I still don't get it. There was a sign that said that the area was for loading and unloading only, but there was a meter which I assumed meant that it was OK to park there and that further up the block, where the sign was, you couldn't park. Long story short 300 peso fine. That's what I used to pay Luis to take me to the two banks, the two pharmacies and home. I miss Luis.