Comforters

On Friday morning as I left to get on the series of buses to take me to Tegucigalpa for an MCC retreat for the weekend, my host mom said to me ¨Que Dios le bendiga.¨ ¨May God bless you.¨

My initial plan was to take a bus from La Campa to Gracias, then to La Esperanza, then to Tegucigalpa (if you look at a map, this route makes the most sense). This was the route that I had been told to take. Upon arriving at the central bus station in Gracias, I learned that the station is not so central and that the buses to La Esperanza leave from elsewhere. I took a taxi to elsewhere, and was informed that there were no more buses running that day, and that I´d have to wait until tomorrow...! I returned to the central station to decide what to do. I thought I´d try going to Santa Rosa de Copán, a larger city an hour north (the wrong direction!) to see if there´d be a bus there to get to Tegucigalpa.

Lo and behold, there was! I happily got on the comfortable bus (no chickens on this one!) and prepared to arrive in Tegucigalpa in a couple of hours. As the bus went along, I began to realize that this bus went to San Pedro Sula first before going to Tegucigalpa. Your map will show you that this is significantly out of the way! I settled back in my seat, and realized that I would be arriving a good deal later than expected, but still before dark.

Around noon, the bus stopped. This is not abnormal, as there are constantly people getting on an off the bus. This time was different, because the bus did not start again. Every 10 minutes or so, the bus would inch forward a couple of meters. But for 4.5 hours, we did not make any significant progress. When there is only one highway, and this highway gets blocked by a transport truck slipping off the road, traffic just stops.

I called my MCC team members in Tegucigalpa to make plans as to what to do. We decided that there was a bus leaving SPS at 6 that would stop closer to their house than the bus I was on. Their neighbour, who is a taxi driver, would pick me up and bring me to their house. As the bus got moving again, a woman got on and sat next to me. Her destination was also Tegucigalpa, and we talked about being uncomfortable about arriving after dark. When we were 15 minutes away from SPS, the bus stopped again. A collective groan arose from the entire bus. ¨Not again!"

Yes again. This time, we were stopped for 6 hours. I missed the 6pm bus to Tegucigalpa, and thought that it would be best for me to stay in SPS for the night, and then take an early bus the next morning. At this point, the woman next to me offered me a bed in her house in Teguc for the night, since it was unsafe for me to go join the MCCers at night. I felt a bit uncomfortable with this option, but figured I could call the MCCers and see what they thought. For whatever reason, I was unable to reach them, so my neighbour woman tried. When she saw the name and phone number, she exclaimed ¨Virgilio! Yo lo conozco!¨ ¨I know him!¨ I still felt a bit unconvinced, but she gave me all kinds of information about them and I figured that she really did know them! So it was decided that I would stay on the current bus with her, sleep at her house, and in the morning take a taxi to meet up with the MCCers.

My bus did not have a bathroom. I got on the bus at 9:30am, and by 8pm at night, you can imagine how most people on the bus were feeling. The men had no problem - they can just hop off the bus, stand in a particular stance, and be comfortable. Women have it a bit more difficult! At 8, we had had enough. One woman stood up, and announced to the whole bus ¨The women need the toilet.¨ We all marched outside, formed a protective circle, and took turns squatting in the centre while the other woman scolded any man that got close. Talk about a community that forms when in need!

The bus arrived in SPS at 10:30, and in Tegucigalpa at 2:30. I went to my new friend´s house, where she showed me a bed. On the bed was spread an MCC knotted comforter. I slept under that comforter feeling very blessed by God, as my host mom had prayed that morning.