BOGOTA – With her pink cardigan and thick glasses, “Toothless Cindy” is becoming a musical sensation on Colombian public transport.
When the music starts blasting from her portable speaker, the 69-year-old turns into a prolific rapper, whose rhymes crack up commuters on the Transmilenio, Bogota’s crowded and crime-ridden public bus system.
Marlene Alfonso's nickname — “Cindy sin Dientes" in Spanish — comes from the fact that she is missing most of her teeth and she says she can't afford false ones. “I’m trying to make something of myself,” she sings while riding on a bus packed with commuters heading into downtown.