High Above the Gridlock
The teleferico lines are differentiated by color. We planned to take the yellow, which was close to our house, to the green towards the south side of town. The ride costs 80 cents - I bought a handful of tickets to cover the line change from yellow to green and the return ride home.
After climbing the stairs up to the station platform, you pass through a turnstile and walk into an available pod. There is a bench on either side of the pod, which is big enough for four people per bench. The attendant will ask you to move if the benches are unbalanced - ideally there should be an equal amount of weight on each bench.
The pod took off and soon we were flying above the city. Nobody seemed particularly interested in the views, they see this every day. We pivoted in our seats, snapping photos.
The views are spectacular. We were taking the yellow eastwards, following the valley down and away from downtown.
Just southeast of downtown they haven't yet figured out how to conquer the steep moon rock.
The pods have a solar panel attached to the roof to power the doors and lights. There is no sound at all, just a slight rumble as your pod passes each stanchion.
I preferred to ride with my back to the destination.
Some preferred otherwise.
Since it's so quiet, you hear the everyday sounds of the city, dogs barking, conversation, kids playing soccer.
As they enter a station, the pods downshift their speed by simultaneously releasing their grip on the cable and entering onto a slow conveyor built into the station. They pile up at the station, doors open, just a few feet from each other until they are passed to the other end of the station. The doors close and they exit the conveyer belt and re-grip the cable, shooting out into the sky, tilting forward from the change in speed.
They're the perfect mode of transportation for this terrain. They've proven to be so popular that there are half a dozen more lines under construction.
At the end of the yellow line, we stepped off, walked a few feet through a turnstile and got on the green, heading towards the most expensive neighborhood in the city.
Within a few minutes, after climbing the edge of a rock face, we noticed how the houses changed from modest terracotta to sprawling estate.
It's the first time I saw grass in a week.
I wondered if they'd built a separate green line, with an extra fare to keep the riffraff away from the swankier part of town.
Later in the day we reversed course from green to yellow. I meant to take a few other lines but ran out of time.
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