So, the other day I had to take the bus 3 hours away to Rosario de la Frontera to preach in a small church on the edge of town. There are only 3 time options available so you kind of have to go with what is available at the time that will work for you. This can make bus travel interesting...
I had to take the 7 am bus to RDLF because the late bus arrived an hour too late - 7 pm. But, this made for a much longer day. I spent all day in the terminal prepping, praying, working on line, anything I could do to fill the time and get lots done. Then I went to the church, spend a great but mentally taxing couple of hours with the pastor and his family (anytime you spend time totally immersed, alone, in a foreign culture it is taxing. You can not take a second off from concentrating on language, body language, non-verbal cues, cultural intricacies, etc, etc.. Trust me, it wipes you out. : ), then preached in Castellano (very taxing), did long prayer time and hung out with the people for a bit afterward before going back to the terminal to wait for a few more hours. Whew!
The bus was supposed to depart at 11:20 pm, but it was running behind. I was worried that I had missed it somehow and was going to have to spend the night in the terminal. Not what you want to explain to the family! Plus, I am sure that the security would not let me sleep there, so that would mean having to get a taxi, get a hotel, etc. Those are expenses that I was trying to avoid.
The bus arrived about 25 minutes late and hit the road as fast as possible. It was packed! (We're getting to the fun part.) Almost everyone on the bus (big double decker - I was upstairs and way to the back) was asleep. This made getting to my seat a difficult. The seat numbers were rubbed off. People were sprawled out in their seats and partially blocking the aisle. And then...I almost stepped on this precious young lady, passed out sleep in the middle of the aisle with her little one sleeping beside her! I had to use the seat backs to do a slow motion hurdle/ vault maneuver over them, all while not dropping my stuff or waking anyone up. When I found my seat, I was not entirely sure that it was mine (it had a jacket hanging over the back of it and a 2 liter half-drank Pepsi bottle in it). I would have asked the guy sitting in the other seat, but he was out cold and there were no other open seats were around. I moved everything over as politely and quietly as possible and took my seat. The lights went out, we backed out of the spot and hit the road.
I was doing well staying awake, but could feel myself fading fast. Normally I can't "sleep" sitting up, but I can drift off for periods of a time. I set an alarm on my phone to wake me up a little while before we would get to Jujuy. I tried and tried to stay awake, but somehow I drifted off.
Suddenly I shot awake! The bus had been stopped and we were just starting to go again. Where were we? I had no idea. They don't announce the stops. You just have to know where you are or ask someone. It was very dark and warm in the bus. I was still very out of it and groggy. I could barely see out the windows. They were all fogged over. What was that?! Are we in Jujuy? Are we pulling out of my stop and heading another 4 hours north to Bolivia?!
I grabbed my stuff, jumped up out of my seat, hurdled the mom and her baby (think I accidentally brushed her head with my shoe) and rushed down the stairs trying to get the driver's attention. Turns out we were in Guemes, Salta - still about an hour or so from Jujuy. As I sighed in relief, I relaxed enough and woke up enough to realize I should check the time on my phone. Yeah. Still far short of my alarm time. Great! I had done all that for nothing!
I turned to go back to my seat as the bus bobbed back and forth on the highway. I looked through the dark at the maze of body parts sticking out into the aisle. I saw that poor young mom with her little one sleeping on the floor. I would have to go through and over everyone...again...only to have to turn right back around and come back through again to get off. - I think I will just sit on the stairs. After all, it is only another hour to San Salvador de Jujuy. And besides, I did not want to fall asleep again and miss Jujuy for real this time. And besides, it is only a hour away. : )
Ever been driving when you were so tired you were drifting off? How long is an hour when you are at that point?! Yea, it is reeeeeeeeeeeally long. I sat in the aisle, in the stair well, anywhere I could be comfortable. I thought about how I was going to go flying if there was an accident. : ) It took forever, but we finally got to Jujuy. I managed to stay awake, not miss my stop, not go to the border with Bolivia, not have to tell my disappointed family, and not have to bus another bus fare back down to Jujuy. - Quite an accomplishment for that time of the night. ha!
The worst part - remember how I said they don't announce where they are? Well, I guess I caused too much of a commotion. After that, with each stop, they turned on all the lights, announced several times where they were, made sure no one was missing their stop, etc. - All because of the crazy gringo, I am sure. : )
Oh well, maybe it helped someone else to avoid my near mistake.
Wish you could have been there to experience it with me. I am sure you would be laughing in the future, telling around tables with friends..."Remember that time when you..." Yeah. Maybe I am glad you were not there. lol.
God bless & have a good one.
Live for Him. Anything else is just dumb -
No comments:
Post a Comment