What's it like there riding around the city in a cab?
It's hard to describe accurately but here are some things that are fairly consistent.
1. The cab is going to be small. Not "Pakastan" Suzuki car small but small.
2. If the driver is an older man he's going to be listening to American Music from the 1950s and 60s. That sort of music is not my interest but was recoznizable. Dean Martin, Sinatra...the old style music where the artist could actually sing.
3. The driver will try not to activate the meter. Check the meter right after to tell him where you want to go. You should see it register "30" (pesos). If it's not, just politely ask him to set it. Trust me, you want them to set the meter. You can be generous or stingy as you want with a tip but make damn sure the meter is set. The cabs are cheap as far as cabs go, but they CAN be expensive if you get the "dumb white guy" rate. Take a second to check.
4. You will be sitting in the car in the street for much of the trip. Notice that I didn't use the term "traffic". The definition of traffic has the word "movement" in it. What you will be doing in the cab is sitting in the car, in the street.
5. There will be delivery bikes riding around you as you sit in the street waiting for whatever the fuck is holding up the flow.
This might be from some jackass unloading commerical goods from the middle of the street or someone trying to rebuild their jeepny on the fly.
The bikes will wiggle between the cab and the traffic in the next lane if possible and as soon as you stop many will jog around the traffic.