The Two Guys Who Run Lima, Peru

In Lima, Peru, there are two guys who run the entire city. Whatever it is that you need or want, you must pass through them to get it. If you are crossing the street, these are the guys who decide if you live or die. They are 'the driver' and 'the drivers's assistant'.

The Driver

The Wingman

These guys share a weird kind of symbiotic relationship. While the driver is the employer of the wingman, the wingman can abuse the driver. If the wingman is on a bad day, the driver can fire the wingman. Communication between the two is rarely civil, and they rarely exchange more than a few words. The Wing Man gets paid on comission for how many people he can get on the bus. The driver is self employed, but is too bad at customer service to get clients on his bus. Thus, they need each other. While on my 'Private' bus tour of Lima, I got to observe a few of these dynamic duos. Here is a sample conversation:

Wing Man: 'Hurry, hurry, get on the bus!' (yelling at patrons)
Driver: 'Talk to me!'
WM: 'Still boarding.'
D: 'Hold on!' (as he speeds into traffic with people still boarding)
WM: 'Wait!'
D: 'Load the bus faster you asshole!'
WM: 'The people are too slow, lets go!'
D: (sticks arm out window and honks horn to indicate merging into speeding traffic)
WM: 'Paradero! Paradero!' (bus stop!)
D: 'We're not stopping at this stop. The bus is full' (traffic stops in front of bus so he opens door to let people on).
WM: 'Hurry, hurry, get one the bus!!!'

Without these two guys, the controled chaos that is Lima, Peru, would digress into utter madness. Thank you, driver and wingman.