When the cab pulled up to my apartment in San Jose I was nervous about embarking on a six country, 2000 mile trip beginning at 3 Am. The cabdriver was friendly, readily helped me with my too big bag and skillfully drove through the deserted streets. The bus terminal was far from deserted. Lots of people were lined up to be processed and check their luggage. One enormous man was struggling with two cases of wine he wished to take with him. He turned out to be an auto mechanic who lived in Los Angeles and was traveling with his son to visit relatives. Throughout our portion of the trip together he was kind, helpful and funny to me the gringo who spoke little Spanish.
Soon on I met Bill and Kathy, two school teachers from Texas who spent their summers just traveling around Latin America by bus gathering new experiences, perfecting their Spanish and visiting places they could then bring to life for their students. Two backpacks, great senses of humor and adventure were all that they brought on these trips plus an eager desire to share their knowledge and experience with their fellow travelers. We spent a few hours in the bus station in Managua, Nicaragua talking and dozing on hard benches with our feet propped up our bags. It is impossible to express how grateful one is for this kind of camaraderie when traveling alone.
Elsa, the young woman from Germany who took various teaching jobs around Mexico always travelling by bus even though she was prone to car sickness. She was so friendly and regaled me with great stories of her travels all by herself.
Traveling this way is truly what Rick Steeves calls "going through the back door." No American style hotels and in many places no fast food except the street vendors who are so much a part of the rich fabric of these countries: tacos, burritos, fresh fruit, corn on the cob, hamburgers and hot dogs, grilled chicken, ice cream, french fries-all prepared and served from carts at amazingly cheap prices and often with amazing quality. People who are truly grateful for your business and whose warm smiles and quick "muchas gracias" are the ultimate in customer service. Having taught customer service for more than ten I appreciate the motivation of these people who toil for long hours, for little pay and still manage to be truly gracious.
As the bus meandered through Salvador and Guatemala I met a young woman and her mother from the Netherlands. The daughter had been traveling alone through Latin America. She got off a bus in Managua and needed a hotel. A very friendly woman cab driver promised to take her to a nice inexpensive hotel. Instead she robbed her of all her money and left her on the street.
She was able to call her mother who then joined her and was accompanying her for the rest of the journey--not insisting she come home but becoming the companion for the trip of a lifetime. I have already shared in a previous post my wonderful Guatemalan cab driver who took my to the lovely B & B in Guatemala City.
Angela and Victor.
To me heroes come into our lives in many forms and I know that the term "hero" is frequently misused as it probably will be here. But for this guy from Virginia who always played it safe when it came to travel "heroes" has to apply to Angela and Victor. I met them on this bus trip as they were making their way to Belize. From Los Angeles these two 27 year olds were traveling around the world to 24 countries in eleven months. They had planned the trip for three years, paid off $30,000.00 in credit card debt, quit their jobs, sold everything they owned and off they went. You can read all about this remarkable couple at www.soltrekkers.com. When Sandy and I made our trip across the United States and part of Canada--11,000 miles in 33 days through almost every state and a few provinces--so many people said,' I've always wanted to do that."
But Angela and Victor have no home or jobs to return to, no safety net to fall into--just the confidence in themselves and each other and a great desire to see this crazy world we live in, to live life outside the cubicle, to get more real education in eleven months than in four years at a university. Obviously Angela and Victor have great self reliance and they have each other but I can assure you that as they continue this remarkable journey they will continuously rely on " the kindness of strangers."
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