Mexico City (Associated Press)
Janet Navarro's 1996 Volkswagen Beetle roars up a steep hill above the box-like concrete houses on the outskirts of Mexico City.
She pedaled, passing a Beetle that was the same lime green as hers, then one marked red and yellow, then one painted a bright sea blue.
“No other cars come here,” she said. “Only Bocho.”
The Volkswagen Beetle, or “Vocho” as it's known in Mexico, may have originated in Germany, but in this hilly region outside Mexico City, the Beetle is undoubtedly king.
The Beetle has a long history in the country's sprawling capital. Old models such as these, once used as taxis, roamed the streets of the city because their quirky looks appealed to many people from all over the world. The Beetle was long known as “the people's car.”
But the number of Beetles has dwindled in the metropolitan area of ​​23 million people since Mexico stopped making the old model in 2003 and the new one in 2019. But in the northern district of Cuauhtepec, classic Beetles still line the streets, so much so that the area has been nicknamed “Vocolandia.”
Taxi drivers like Navarro say they continue to use bochos because they are cheap and their engine at the back of the vehicle gives them more power to climb the steep hills in their neighborhoods.
Navarro began driving Beatles to work eight years ago to help support and put her three children through school.
“When people ask me what I do for a living, I proudly say I'm a vocera (Volkswagen driver) on the eve of International Volkswagen Beetle Day,” Navarro said Saturday. “This is what I do for a living. For me, this is a dream, a love.”
While some older cars have chipped paint and wobbly wheels from years of wear, other drivers dress their cars up to keep them in tip-top condition.
Named after his wife
One driver named his bright blue car “Gualpita” after his wife, Guadalupe, and decorated the underside with aluminum flames erupting from the Volkswagen logo, while another painted his Volkswagen pink and white with pink cat eyes installed in the front headlights.
But mechanics in the area say driving the Bocho is a disappearing tradition. Auto mechanic David Enojosa said his small, family-run auto shop in the city mainly sold Beetle parts and maintained the car, but parts have become harder to come by since Volkswagen stopped making it five years ago.
“At current trends, they'll be gone in a couple of years,” said Enohosa, holding his hands black with car grease. “Before, there were too many parts for the bochos, but now there aren't enough, so we have to look for them in repair shops or junkyards.”
As he spoke, a customer with a worn bolt walked in looking for a replacement clutch for his Volkswagen.
Customer Jesus Becerra was lucky: Enojosa walked out of the store with a shiny new bolt.
Unlucky drivers have to drive around their neighborhoods searching for specific parts, and more cars break down and fail emissions tests.
But Becerra is among those who believe bochos will survive in his community.
“Find a way to adapt it and keep it running,” he said. “Say, 'Let's do this, fix it and move forward.'”
Others, like Joaquin Pérez, say they're sticking with his 1991 white Herbie-style Beetle because it's a family tradition. He grew up around Beetles, he explained, rumbling along: His father, like him, was a taxi driver, and he learned to drive in a Volkswagen.
Now in his 18th year as a driver, his dashboard is lined with trinkets given to him by family members: a plastic duck from his son, a stuffed frog from his daughter and fabric roses from his wife.
“As far as I can remember, this area has always, always been a place for bochos,” he said. “This is where people's cars are.”
