Sunday, October 19, 2008

The Adventure I was waiting for...??

Now that I have officially settled in, the high life of taking taxis everywhere, had to end. In comparison to Canadian taxi prices, or even Canadian transit costs, taking a taxi was less. However, taking local transit is even cheaper! So why not? In attempts to cut my costs, and actually get a feel for the culture I'm living in, I embarked on my local transit adventure. Working long hours at the office, mixed with taking taxis left me feeling as though I lived in a bubble. Taking the bus has definitely helped!

I was prepared for long waits... I was prepared for getting lost. Both seemed pretty guaranteed. I was unsure about what else I would encounter, but was prepared to go with the flow.

It's rainy season, here in Nicaragua. It rains every day, which makes me think that the rain shouldn't really affect things (since it is so regular). But it does. When it rains, the buses become packed, the roads go into disrepair; sometimes becoming impassable. The other night, after missing my one bus a couple times (they were too full, and drove off, leaving many trying to get on), I was determined to get on the next one. The determination payed off. This was the adventure I was waiting for! (haha) Off we went, I was barely hanging on, falling out of the front bus door. The others in the bus kept looking at me sideways, the look on their faces clearly read "what is this chele doing??" I guess it's not too common for us foreigners to take the bus... or to do it, holding on for dear life. But with so much attention, I felt pretty secure that they wouldn't let anything happen to me. As we drove out, into oncoming traffic, headlights speeding towards us, the entire bus was praying, swearing, making jokes, and calling each other crazy.

Each new adventure makes me more grateful to still be around. I'm sure it wasn't that dangerous... it was quite fun though. All in the name of saving money. My kind of day!

2 comments:

Kiki said...

Hey Heather, I was one of the interns last year, so thought I'd check out all the blogs- just so you know they are read and enjoyed! I love the bus picture- nicely done. Keep holding on, Nicaragua only gets better and better. Please pass on an 'entonce...' to the everyone at the office!

Kiki said...

oh wait, Mary isn't Amira is it??
no, that makes no sense, she'd go there even less than I would! hahaha, i am quickly becoming your biggest blog fan with all these posts!