Luck of the Draw

We have been having good bus trips this entire time until our trip from Puerto Vallarta to Guayabitos today. The buses to Tepic run every 1/2 hour for the short 1 hour trip about 50 miles north. We always just walk into the station and grab the next bus. Usually a good fast trip. But today was a classic. It wasn't just the spider web broken windshield that had us a little uneasy as we walked up to the bus to board. Those things can happen on Mexican roads. No bathroom on this bus ... well its a short trip, but also that means no tv ... yea, no crappy western or dark crime drama blasting away in Spanish. We are fine with that. But after we got on and they started the engine and backed out of the station the loud squeaking and squealing at every bump had us convinced that this bus needed repair. So ... broken spring? bad shocks? no shocks? not sure. Whatever it was came from the front drivers side and since we are close to the front every single bump (and there are hundreds) had us bouncing up in down in our seats like we were on pogo sticks. Ok ... well, it will be a short trip, so we try to smile and go with it. Not every trip can be perfect. We then putt along at about 35 miles an hour instead of the 50 we should be doing on this 4 lane highway and the driver pulls over for anyone along the road that hails him. Ok .. so this is going to be a slow trip.

After about 10 more miles our driver gets flashing red lights and pulled over by the cops. He gets out and gets into a heated disagreement with them for several minutes. Not sure what happens, he's waving his arms and yelling, but he doesn't appear to get a ticket and gets back into the bus in a bad mood ranting in fast Spanish to his co-pilot who rides along to collect money and tickets and handle the bags. We start up again and rattle along bouncing up and down like we are on some kind of amusement park ride with the bus squawking in a regular rhythm. More miles pass and after a while we guess even the driver gets tired of the noise so he turns on music in the overhead speakers really loud ... a Mexican Neil Diamond wannabee .... there is no escape. The baby on the lap of the lady behind us starts screaming non stop. We look at each other and try to keep our sense of humor. We have had such great trips on comfortable professional rides that it is only right to get one of these.

The road narrows to a 2 lane winding road to go through the mountains and traffic backs up to about 12 vehicles because of a huge propane truck going slow up the hill.

Mexican Joke: Why do bus drivers always pass on a hill?
Answer: Because usually there is no one coming.

So after crawling along slow he now decides that it is macho duty to pass these vehicles, one at a time, to see who can be first behind the big truck. It is appropriate the he has the statue of Jesus on the cross on the dashboard and he gives the sign and a little kiss before each one he attempts to pass. We stop watching. It is better not to know. There is nothing we can do except look out the side windows and try not to think about it. We notice out the side that we are seeing lots of roadside shrines with fresh flowers on the edges of this road.
After nearly 2 fun filled hours we finally arrive at our stop on the very narrow edge of the now back to 4 lane highway. We get off and the co-pilot jumps off and goes into a tiny cubicle that acts as a bus station. We need our bags. They are in the compartment under the bus. The guy comes back and opens the door to the compartment and motions to Steve to get them himself and disappears again. Steve has to nearly crawl in completely to get mine out. He hands it to me, there is no room in this narrow spot to swing it up onto my back so I balance my two and his small one as I stand next to the rear wheels of the bus. He goes back in for his big pack. The top half of his body is in the compartment and I just see him from the knees down. Without warning the driver decides to pull the bus forward about 20 feet and it starts moving, Steve tries to scramble back out ... bangs his head hard on the open door of the compartment, leaps back near to the edge of the road where the concrete drops off about 4 feet to another road below, somehow manages to do enough fast foot work to keep his balance, and bangs hard repeatedly with his fist on the side of the moving bus. The driver finally stops. We have no idea what the driver was doing. The bus door was open, he had not loaded his new passengers, he wasn't ready to leave, he wasn't blocking any vehicles ... what the hell? .... a really close call for Steve.
So after several thousand miles across this country, the last few legs remind us that you can never be complacent in this land of personal responsibility, and always need to be paying attention and expect the unexpected. But at least for now we are thankful to be back safely, and will be enjoying our last few days on familiar ground.