A Confessional on Wheels: A Day in the Life of a Mexican Taxi Alejandro Saldivar Chavez - Al Jazeera
go to original September 23, 2015

Sixty-eight-year-old taxi driver Arturo Benitez says he is a collector of confessions and that many of those who get in his cab have a secret to share. (Alejandro Saldivar)

Arturo Benitez no longer has any teeth. He says he lost his first when a van crashed into the taxi he drives for a living. The others have fallen or been knocked out in the years since.

Each day, the 68-year-old drives his taxi across Mexico City until his gums hurt. That's usually at least a 12-hour shift.

As we sit in the morning rush-hour traffic that paralyses this city - with workers traversing it along the main artery that runs from the north to the south - Arturo runs his tongue over his gums and begins reminiscing about some of his more colourful passengers.

There was the one with a gas canister who tried to persuade him to help kill his wife's lover.

"This guy told me: 'I am asking you for a favor. I'll kill the man who is now with my wife. I will kill him and we will run away,'" Arturo remembers.

"I told him: 'I can't, because if someone sees my number plates, I'll be accused of committing the murder.'"

The passenger offered him 500 pesos (around $33) for his assistance, but Arturo says he politely declined then dropped the man off a few blocks from his destination.

Read the rest at Al Jazeera

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