Santa Rosa: the bus rides

The next morning we got up and went to a little coffee shop for breakfast before beginning our journey from hell back to La Unión. I have been on my fair share of psycho bus rides, but that day’s trip(s) took the cake. (If you’re still with me and have read all the way to this point, this is the part where our wonderful trip lost its luster and you will surely laugh at my misery.) From Santa Rosa to Gracias, we were shoved on a bus that was already quite packed and ready to leave. I had a man physically pushing me into the bus and then he “found” a seat for me sandwiched between four grown men in the back. I just giggled and closed my eyes at how lucky I was to sit back there. I tried desperately to keep to myself but the bus driving was driving like a lunatic so I kept sliding into the men next to me. To make matters worse, every time we stopped to let someone off, it instantly became unbearably hot back there and the fumes were making everyone nauseous. Luckily we had the sweet serenades of Justin Beiber playing on the stereo to sooth our minds. Nonetheless, we made it safely to the bus depot in Gracias and little did I know that I would be begging for that bus ride later on.

We ate lunch at a little comedor before getting on that second bus. 

Our bus ride to La Unión was equally as packed, but this time we all had good seats. Outside of Gracias is a town called La Paera and it is the last town that you drive through before hitting the dirt roads. There, the bus stopped and the driver told us that we had to switch buses. Since it took us a while to figure out what was going on, we were some of the last people on the new bus. I bet you can already tell where I’m going with this… I was the first of the teachers on the new bus and I look down the aisle and froze… there was absolutely no room for us. Every single seat was taken, people were already piling over into the aisle, they were packing men into the very back to stand, and there was no more space on the overhead carriers. I had a look of sheer panic on my face because we had to be on this bus, there was no option of waiting for the next bus to La Unión. So, with our giant bags in hand, we crammed onto that overly packed bus. Thankfully the people were really nice and helped us push other bags together in the carriers to make room for our things; we managed to get everyone’s bag up there except for Kara and Lenny’s big bag. There were two men in a seat next to me that scooted over as much as they could to offer me space to sit, so I had about 4 inches of seat to sit on. The rest of the bus ride went a little something like this: The roads were so unbelievably rocky and poor that I’m not even sure the driver thought we were going to make it. The bus bottomed out every time we went over a bump or turned the corner, and all its passengers were tossed around like the beans in a maraca. At one point my head kept bouncing off the belly of some large man standing next to my seat. The men standing in the back kept laughing hysterically at Harriet and me because of the looks on our faces every time we were jolted around or bounced out of our seats. The bus could never get going fast enough to get a good air flow in there so it was disgustingly hot and people were sweating all over each other. The aisle stayed crowded for the entire ride with people sitting on each other’s laps, leaning against seats which meant sticking their butts (or bellies in my case) in others’ faces, or trying to remain on their feet while the bus driver seemingly wanted to toss them to the ground. The driver got out to check the engine once and then proceeded to let his 16-year-old-ish son drive for the rest of the way. A woman with a very angry chicken in a bag sat next to Cassidy and that chicken was raising hell in the bus (rightfully so, I wouldn’t want to be trapped in a plastic bag either). Harriet was given a sleeping infant to hold by a random woman and her bag fell on top of her head. Someone dumped their bags in Lori’s lap. A boy sat next to Kara who fell asleep on her and she had to save his box of chicks from falling and letting all of them loose. Lenny’s balancing skills were tested as he had to stand for the majority of the trip. And I had the privilege of meeting Fernando Gómez Paz, the man next to me who declared that we are the best of friends and invited me home with him. Two abnormal thoughts crossed our minds by the time our normally 3-hour bus ride rolled into La Unión 4 hours later: we never thought we would be so happy to see La Unión, and we never wanted to leave again.

This week praise the Lord for our safe travels! Although the conditions may not have been ideal, I am so grateful that we never ran into any serious issues like actually not being able to get on the bus, a flat tire, a hold-up, or whatever else could have possibly gone wrong. The Lord just finds new ways to test our patience, and all we can do is grow from it and walk away laughing. Thank Him for blessing us with such a great weekend just to enjoy being somewhere new together and being able to stock up on some things. And thank Him for giving us a reason to love this little town that we call home.