This past weekend I visited another volunteer in her site in Guanacaste. A friend from my region went with me and we took 6 buses and traveled for 14 hours to get from our homes to hers. And then two days later we did it again.
Good news though, I appreciate bus travel (which is pretty lucky). It’s like living in Seattle and liking the rain. Being on a bus is the best kind of being out of control. I can’t make the bus get there any faster or slower and there is nothing productive to do. I have all the freedom to sit, to watch, to observe, to sleep or to fantasize. It is often uncomfortable- too hot, too squished, too sweaty, too close to my neighbor and my knees almost always jam themselves into the seatback in front of me. But all that considered I am generally happy to be traveling by bus. In the same way that Peace Corps is giving me the gift of time –time to think, to explore, to discover, to reflect, and to dream. Bus travel gives me the gift of time to very concretely think about where I was and where I am going- and the progress I am making on my journey.
In Guanacaste we spent the weekend at my friend’s house. We spent the first day in her town exploring, watching her baile tipico group, going to a fubtol game at the cancha, chilling on her front porch, making pizza in a clay oven, climbing to the top of her water town and watching the sunset. On day two we went into a larger city and celebrated the Annexation of Guanacaste and my birthday. There was a bull running event, dancing at night and wonderful street food. A spectacular birthday.
On the trip home I ended up with a bus fiasco of my very own. The only bus to my site leaves Guatuso at 4:30pm. But the earliest bus to Guatuso was scheduled to arrive at 4:40pm. Which is ten minutes too late, and means that I would have another 24 hours to wait for the next bus. And since the friend I usually stay with was out of town I had myself a dilemma. Then I discovered the benefit of living in a town that only has one bus a day. Yes, I said benefit. I am friends with the bus driver, so I gave him a call and asked if the bus (and all the people on the bus) could wait 10 minutes for the gringa. Turns out the bus driver wasn’t driving that day, but he said he would call his friend (who was driving the bus) and ask. He called me back a few minutes later with the glorious news that the bus (and all the people on the bus) would wait for me! Que dicha! It’s a pretty good feeling when you need a favor, know who to ask, and they are willing to do the favor for you. Another step on the road from outsider to community member.
Since I have limited thank you writing abilities this year I will write blog ‘shout outs’ in an attempt to express my birthday gratitude. Thanks to Mom and Dad for the card and presents – they are perfect and exactly what I wanted. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the chocolate, bookmark and the birthday card, the chocolate is in the freezer, the bookmark is happily living in one of my new birthday books and the card made me smile and think of you.
Sending loves and gratitude for another year completed and a new one begun.
Chelsea
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