Daniel and I decided to take a trip to Managua to visit a family that we know pretty well. Not a big deal, considering we had done so many times before, but never on public transportation. We have a bus station about four blocks east of our apartment. A quick walk down the street and we found ourselves amidst all the bustle. Engines roared, people shouted, and we were quickly ushered in a sixteen passenger van. We were heading to Managua but we didn't know where we where the van would take us exactly.
On the way out of town the van made a few stops to pick up extra passengers. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty! By the time we left Granada, the van was packed way beyond capacity. No one seemed to take note, except for the two gringos.
Once we entered the city, the skies opened up and poured. We hoped a cab across town. Five dollars for two people and about 10 miles, not a bad fare. With all the rain though, the streets turned into gushing rivers. There were times when the taxi seemed to float through the intersections. We finally splashed and floated right in to our destination.
The family that we were visiting wanted to take us to a parque bonito, beautiful park, so we headed for another bus stop. In Managua, there doesn't seem to be any way to distinguish between the buses. One could be heading to the mall, another to the market, and another straight out of the city. I asked the dad how we would know which bus was ours, but he only laugh and said that he had been living there for a long time. So, we followed along blinding, enjoying every moment of the packed bus. The fare was only two cordoba, about five cents.
The park was indeed beautiful but the rain just kept coming, so we didn't explore much at all. Everyone was soaked to the bone and the day light was fading fast in all the cloud cover. It was time to find our way home. So we hopped the next bus. To our surprise, we barely fit inside the doors. Each seat had at least two people, sometimes three, and the aisles were packed solid from front to back. At one point I felt Daniel literally pushing me over. I turned to see what was causing all the commotion. A lady in her mid forties was forcing her way down the aisle. Daniel was blocking her path, so it was quite obvious that she just had to push right on through him. She initiated a wave that traveled to the back of the bus and then returned to the front. Only after the wave did she side step Daniel, push through me, and shove her way through the rest of the crowd. Our stop arrived soon after. When in Nicaragua... The pushing ensued, and we exited the bus.
The final leg of our journey was back on the microbus. The number of passengers quickly blew our previous record of twenty completely away. Grand total, sitting and standing and hanging out the windows, checked in at 31 one passengers. Thirty-one! We all got to know one another very well.
Final thoughts on public transportation: Cheap and slow, but if you have the time, a really fun way to travel. I look forward to future endeavors.
You sure you're not in Bangladesh?
ReplyDeleteDo the buses act as if they have lanes? When I was in Honduras buses and cars would pass one another even if there was not a passing lane, which was most of the time...it was super scary when you would see another bus coming toward you that was also passing on the other side of the road. Crazy times with transportation.
ReplyDelete~Charlotte