La Paz Redux

28. August 2009 by Fortunato Velasquez.

The bus driver grumbled and griped that my ticket should not have been issued to the Conejo desvio exit to La Paz.  “Este bus es un directo a Tegucigalpa,” he complained.  I shrugged my shoulders and insisted that I had to get off at the Conejo desvio; I was a Peace Corps Volunteer on a mission.  Reluctantly, the driver stopped the bus at the isolated desvio and unloaded all four of my suitcases from under the bus, then roared off down the Pan-American highway towards Tegus.  I struggled down the side of the highway lugging four suitcases towards the desvio and luckily a yellow chicken bus appeared from the opposite direction at the very moment I arrived, and turned into the intersection headed toward La Paz.  “Subase, subase,” the ticket taker barked as he loaded my suitcases into the chicken bus’s undercarriage, the bus barely slowing down.  I climbed aboard, rode the 10 kilometers into La Paz, and caught a taxi to dona Luz’s house where she had a fabulous lunch waiting for me.  Hugs and remembrances all around.  Two days later I walked over to the orphanage in the morning; as I turned onto the street where the orphanage is located I saw three children walking up the street toward me, each carrying buckets of corn kernels.  They stopped in mid-stride.  “Fortunato!” they cried, and rushed to hug me.  After trying to answer their multiple questions, I told them I would be at the orphanage talking with the Sister and would see and talk to them later.  I told them I would be living here for the next two years.  In my next posting I will describe the re-immersion of my new life into the municipio of La Paz and the emotions and reconnections that have extended in waves with each passing day.

Posted in Everyday | 1 Comment »