Traveling is tiring (part 2)

Yesterday was supposed to be my long day of travel from the beach of La Libertad, El Salvador to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. And so it was, but 3 times what I expected. My original plan was to catch a bus from La Libertad to the capital, San Salvador, then change onto a bus for San Miguel where I would change for a bus to El Amatillo (the border), cross the border, and take one last bus to Tegucigalpa. I had the bus numbers, estimated fare and duration, which amounted to about $8 and 8 hours of travel. I figured that if I got an early start around 9am I would be comfortably set in Tegus before dark. Mind you, the last bus from the border to Tegus left at 5:30 (or so I thought), so I knew by what time I needed to reach the border.

What really happened was I left at 9am and got on the right bus to go to San Salvador...and that was about all that went to plan. As we were entering San Salvador I started seeing alot of buses parked on the street and wanted to know if we were close to the terminal that I needed to be at to catch the next bus. I asked the guy next to me and he gave me an unsure nod which I should have disregarded and waited to ask the bus monkey, but I took his word and jumped off the bus. Literally as SOON as I jumped off and asked the next person where bus number 301 was, he said that I wasnt at the terminal, rather City Center.

Great, I think, but Im not really trippin because I figured we were close. So I start walking in the direction I saw the bus go and asked a security guard which direction the terminal is. He, like everyone else when you ask for directions, looked up to the sky as if there was a map of the city in the clouds or something before telling me that I needed to catch one bus right there to a church from where I needed to catch a second bus to the terminal. Okay, this is getting a little complicated but Ive got time because I left early, right? A couple buses pass by and after about 5 minutes the right bus comes and I jump on it. A mere 10 minutes later Im at the church (which I should have taken a picture of but didnt because I dont have any space on my memory stick left) and the next bus pulls right up within a minute. Again, I get on and am feeling good about getting back on track. We pass another part of town where there are alot of buses parked on the road, but this time I make sure not to let my anxiety lead me astray so I stay on. I asked the bus driver to tell me when we get to the terminal so I wouldnt make the same mistake. For some reason, I start to feel like Ive been on this bus a little too long. Theres traffic and all, but it shouldnt take an hour to get across town, I mean San Salvador is probably twice the size of UCLA...it sure as hell didnt take the UCLA Shuttle an hour to get to and from the apartments and Macgowan!

Finally, he yells out "Terminal! Terminal!" and I jumped off the train already scanning the terminal for Bus 301 to San Miguel. It didnt take long to find it, and it turned out to be a luxury bus for the 3 hour ride. Also, the bus had a luggage compartment which meant that I didnt have to hold on to my pack on board. I got in the bus with the A/C on blast and nearly all the seats empty. Im thinking this is gonna be a good rest before the next set of buses. Unfortunately, luxury in Salvadoreño terms doesnt quite "fit" my concept so well. My knees were stabbing the seat in front of me the entire time, and the bus filled up pretty well too. The ride was interesting enough though. One by one different salesmen would call the attention of the bus for 5 minutes or so to sell a variety of things for 1 or 2 bucks. I was priviliged to a bag of candy, a book on christian hyms (with a cookbook as a free bonus), and a book on medicinal herbs. Then we got to watch Soul Plane in Spanish. Finally, after a blood-circulation-restricting 3 hours we reached San Miguel. There, it wasnt too difficult to find the bus I needed to head for the border and so I got on, a little too late to get a seat, and set out for the border. So now I am already 4 buses into my journey and starting to feel the pinch because its already 3pm and I still have an hour and a half to go before I reach the border.

Then the backbreaker, the neckbreaker, the dealbreaker. A traffic jam like the 405 at Howard Hughes during rush hour on a Friday afternoon! Straight up, we didnt move for a good 30 minutes. There was an accident up ahead and they were only letting the opposite side of traffic through. For a few minutes I almost felt at home and a smile crept up on my face as I listened to people in the bus complaining about the traffic. But then I looked at the watch on the wrist of the man next to me who only had four fingers on his right hand and saw that I was gonna miss that bus from the border if we didnt start moving soon. It took longer than I hoped, but we finally got going and when we passed the accident I saw why there was so much commotion. There was a pickup that was demolished and a bus right behind it with a pretty bad shiner on fron right side. I found out later that two people died. Well, like after any traffic jam caused by an accident, as soon as you pass the accident the road is super clear, so we were flying down the highway making up precious time. We reached Santa Rosa, a stop en route. What I didnt realize was that it was apparently my stop as well. See, I had gotten on a bus to the border, not the bus to the border that I was looking for.

Now, its gametime and Im on the side of the highway without a bus or a plan. A guy with a cowboy hat asks me where Im going, and I tell him. He says theres a bus I can wait for, but that he can take me in his pickup ahorrita for 5 bucks. Not only was I replaying scenes from El Norte in my head, I was thinking that I hadnt spent 5 bucks on my entire haphazard trip from La Libertad and I was not about to pay this fool 5 bucks to go 30 minutes to the border! Well, I did end up paying him...but only a buck because 5 other people decided to take him up on his offer and we spread the cost around. Now im riding on the back of this pickup, where I find myself all too often, headed for the border. Still, I see myself getting left on the side of the road finally finding a rat-infested sewer to crawl through to get to the other side of the border. (Note: if you havent seen the film El Norte, that reference will make no sense at all) None of that actually happened, he took us right to the border and it was a smooth trip. I cleared immigration, walked across the bridge seperating the border, again imagining some hollywood-esque border crossing with machine gun crossfire and blackhawks distracting me as I crouched along the bridge trying to make it across alive...

...To make a really long story less long, I got across the border and ready to catch the last bus because it wasnt 5:30 yet. Like everything else in that book, the bus schedule in the Lonely Planet (aptly named because if you follow their advice you will be really damn lonely) was outdated. But luck was on my side, and a lady sitting in a bus hissed at me (the normal way to get someones attention in these parts) and told me that she overheard me asking someone about the buses and that she too was headed for Tegus. The bus she was sitting in went to a junction where we could catch one last bus for the capital. With nowhere else to go and no other bus in sight I got in. By this time the headache and neck pain from being thrashed around by the waves while trying to boogieboard the day before in La Libertad was nearly unbearable. By the time we left the border it was already dark so my plans for being in Tegus before then were shot for sure. The bus ride to the junction was alright, and the lady, Laura, was really nice. We got to the junction and again by chance there was a guy with a microbus hanging out on his way home to Tegus and had just stopped in one of the comedores for a snack. Me, Laura, and one more lady got him to take us to the capital for 50 Lempiras each. About an hour and a half later, he dropped me off outside the hotel I asked him to and at last...at last I was in Honduras.

Overall, the trip ended up costing me a little more than $10 and took about 12 hours. What a day!

Keep it fresh...fresher than a newborn.

- Neil