Home to La Masica

My Peace Corps E-Zone Coordinator told me last night that I could leave La Ceiba this morning, that the political situation appeared to have calmed down somewhat.  I took a taxi to the bus terminal about 10AM and climbed aboard an express busito bound for La Masica.  A busito is a modern, air-conditioned 15-20 passenger mini-bus, as opposed to the larger, cheaper yellow “chicken” buses used by most commute passengers.  The chicken buses are essentially old, used, converted American school buses pressed into commuter service.  As soon as the busito reached the first bridge out of town across the Rio Danto we came to a dead stop.  A large crowd of yelling demonstrators had blocked the roadway and the vehicular bridge traffic in both directions came to a halt.  Our busito driver promptly plunged the bus down a dirt road to the water where he drove against the shallow current passing taxis and other cars stuck in the sand trying to also cross to the other side.  We, however, made it.  It was like something out of Indiana Jones.  We emerged under the bridge on the other side of the river and made it up to the pavement, got back on the highway and made it home.  Our normally 30 minute trip took us 2 hours.  If I had taken a “chicken” bus I would still be in La Ceiba tonight.  When I got home I discovered that a workman who had been painting my room when I left stole my digital camera while I was gone for 5 days.  He actually stole it the first day I left.  No pictures for a while.

2 Responses to “Home to La Masica”

  1. Joe Maina says:

    Hi Fortune;

    Sorry to hear about the respiratory problem but glad you came out of it okay. That return trip really does sound like something out of Indiana Jones …… whew!!

    What’s the news on your camera? Any chance to get it back? Will miss the pix, but more importantly is the incident itself. Guess you chance robbery no matter where you are, but it cannot leave a comfortable feeling.

    The news here is that they are looking for some kind of compromise on the political situation. Sure hope it gets ironed out.

    Joe

  2. Fortune says:

    Me: okay. Country: still tense. Camera: gone.

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