Well the past few days have been a blur. Life has been very relaxing. Easter Sunday was nice and calm. I skyped with my family for a long time and went to a local barbecue on the beach. The barbecue was amazing and I even saw some of my students. I spent the rest of the day at my secret paradise spot on the beach. Good news to everyone... I finished The Hunger Games! I am so proud of myself. Now on to book two!
Today we woke up and got packed up to head inland. We walked on the beach to load the water taxi. The water taxi was quite chaotic when everyone got on and it was packed. We rode the taxi for two hours making multiple stops and finally ended up in Belize City. As soon as we got off of the taxi I could tell the vibe in the city was completely different. The island light hearted feeling was gone and it felt a lot less like vacation and a lot more like life. We ate lunch on site and I enjoyed a nice Coke, one of the first since lent had ended. After lunch we met Morgan Freeman and he piled us into a tiny van to drive to the bus station. Just kidding. It really wasnt Morgan Freeman, but I am still confident that it was his twin brother, or maybe his second cousin twice removed...
After Morgan dropped us off at the bus station we grabbed our book bags and idly stood in almost a stupor of confusion. Of course Dr. K and Mike knew what to do but this was new territory for the rest of us. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! I packed for an entire week in my tiny little book bag! Go me! So anyways, back to the bus station. We meet a toothless man eating watermelon who tells us we can ride the "Chicken Bus" for 7 dollars Belize all the way to San Ignacio and of course we are all about it! Cheap rides equals more money to spend on gifts and adventures. So we accepted his offer and he told us it would leave in one hour and we could go sit on the bus and reserve our seats if we wanted. I immediately wanted to go to the bus so we wouldn't have to keep moving around so much but on further contemplation agreed that this would be sweltering. So we played cards in the station for an hour until the man came back and told us it was time... Let me also preface this by saying this bus station smelled like my Grandad's packing house, which is not a pleasant aroma. There were people everywhere and there was a sense of urgency everywhere. So we follow this little toothless man and his watermelon smile to the gate but already on the otherside about two million people were running to our bus.
It was pure pandemonium. There were about 100 people running to get on an old rickety school bus with their luggage and all of us knew right then that this was going to be an adventure. Boy did we regret not saving our seats. We slid through an opening in the fence and ran to the emergency door at the back of the bus. There was already a crowd there. Women throwing their babies in the air, some hanging on to the sides of the bus trying to lift themselves up. Everyone was shoving. Everyone was pushing. There was a man at the edge of the door with his hands out lifting people into the bus and another man pulling them up from the bus by their shirts. I finally make my way to the front of the line. The toothless watermelon man yells at me in urgency "step hard and push!" when I know good and well I can easily get into the bus on my own. So I make split decision to do what he says and I grab onto this little man's neck, place my Sanuks in his hand and jump.
I grabbed the back of the seat and slowly pulled myself up while the man in the bus shoved my back forward. Phew,I had made it. Next was poor Alyssa. I felt bad because she was shorter than me so it was more of a reach.I made sure to stay and grab onto her to make sure she got up and then turned to find a seat but the bus was entirely full except for a seat next to Tony. I ran to the seat and jumped over the back and slung my purse into the poor guy's lap. At this point I was laughing hysterically. The scene that had just played out was beyond chaos. It was flat out comical. The rest of our group was still loading the bus and began filling in the seats that were already stuffed with two people and luggage. Last but not least Colin and Mike got on the bus. They decided to just stand but then the man came back and told them they had to sit down so Mike squeezed into a seat with a woman and her babies while Colin smushed in with Tony and I.
So there I was. I had made it! The bus took off with a fury and we were bookin it. Sweaty, cramped, tired, and smelly we trucked along through multiple stops on our way to San IGnacio. Luckily within 30 minutes or so Colin moved seats since some people unloaded and Tony and I temporarily had the seat to ourselves. Then at one of the stops I offered to move over for a man and his daughter and we now had four people in this tiny school bus seat. It reminded me of a scene in the movie Sin Nombre. If you have not seen the movie i completely recommend it to the adults who are reading the blog. It is a powerful movie about Latino culture and gangs. If you are familiar with the movie, just picture the train scene with people jumping on and off without a stop. Overcrowded cars and an element of chaos at all times. What a sight we must have been. Getting off that bus I was dazed and confused. We walked a short hike and finally ended up at our hotel. We had literally been traveling all day and were all worn out. We dropped our stuff in barren rooms with no air conditioning and three to a room. Some offs us are even sharing beds. Then we went off adventuring, got dinner, and now I'm here. Reflecting on today causes me to have outbursts if laughter. I recommend the chicken bus to anyone who visits here, unless your last name is Budd. In that case YOU WILL NOT like it. I know you guys dont deal well with disorganization and that is what I love about you all! It was a once in a lifetime experience and I loved it!
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