Sandy's Big Adventure

Today was the day!! I went on a bus trip to another town all by myself! That would be sans interpreter!

The object of the exercise was to get from here to Nuevo Vallarta, get my Christmas presents shipped back to the States, check out the "American" grocery store and do a little shopping in the Paradise Village mall. This is the story of my adventure:

As I left the boat this morning and walked through La Cruz to catch the bus I was feeling fairly confident given the fact that Patty & I had gone to Nuevo on Saturday for the Vallarta YC Chili Cook Off. Thus, I was pretty sure I could negotiate the two buses I needed to take. One really great thing about the bus system in Mexico is that a bus comes along about every 10 minutes so you rarely have long to wait in the hot sun. They are not, however, air conditioned and the drivers rarely speak any English at all.

Note regarding Mexican men: They are MUCH more chivalrous than American men!!! They always allow the women to board the buses first and rarely do they not give up their seat for a woman if the seats are all taken.

So - the bus came along and I managed to tell the driver where I wanted to get off. This does NOT mean they will stop there if you don't indicate your desire to get off when appropriate - it just lets the driver figure out how much to charge you for the trip. In this case it was 10 pesos (slightly less than $1). I had a pretty good idea where my stop was so relaxed a bit and looked around. I noticed a very old couple (both with canes) sitting in the seat behind the driver and they had a mandolin with them. From past experience I expected that one of them would be singing (and then collecting tips) before long. By the time we had passed Bucerias there were enough pigeons on the bus and, sure enough, the woman began playing. She was not bad on the instrument but when she sang, holy chihuahua! It sounded like a cat with it's tail caught in a door! While the caterwauling went on, the old man shuffled up and down the aisle holding out his hat for tips. They were both clearly infirm and looked like it had been a while since their last meal so what-the-heck.

Just beyond Bucerias there is an overpass that the bus drives next to...VERY slowly because there are volkswagen sized potholes in the road. For the first time since I've been riding this bus they stopped to pick up some riders there. As I sat looking out the window while they were boarding something in the yard next to the road caught my eye. It appeared to be a very short legged, ugly dog moving across the ground. Then it started bobbing its head up & down like it was eating something and another one came around from behind a bush and started doing the same thing. Suddenly it dawned on me that these were NOT dogs but very large iguanas! They had large reddish fins the length of their backs and had to be at least 3 ft long! I have attempted to find a photo of them on the internet with no luck and, unfortunately, my camera was sitting quietly back at the boat. Isn't that always the way it is?

When the Nuevo Vallarta sign finally made its appearance I got off the bus and walked around the corner to await the next one. This bus doesn't run quite as often so there was a bit of a wait but not intolerable and the entertainment was worth it! There is a restaurant on the corner and there were two guys who were busy re-striping the parking lot...by hand! They would put a 2x4 down next to the line so it would be straight and then pick up the brush & paint can and paint that 5 ft or so before moving the board and beginning again. When the bus finally arrived and I paid my 5 pesos all I had to do was sit tight until the very end of the ride and there was the mall. The next couple hours were taken up with getting the shipping issue taken care of (can you say $80 US for one UPS box back to the States???), checking out the numerous upscale shops (I finally found just the right "white, gauzy dress" to buy) and going to the "American" grocery store to see what could be had that wasn't available at the Mega. Not much! I bought 2 bottles of white wine (thought about more, but since it is a matter of "you bought it, you carry it" I decided to be a bit more frugal) and a bag of Cheetos (chips here are NOT the same so thought I'd try one more type).
Note: In Mexico when you go into a grocery store or any large department store (like Wal Mart) you have to check your bags (except your purse) before you can shop. I'll bet it helps keep the shoplifting to a minimum.

When I was ready to leave I picked up the bus in front of the mall and had a little language barrier to overcome. The driver didn't speak English and I had to explain that I wanted to go to the highway where the bus to La Cruz is. Took a little doing but we finally got it figured out and we were off. Somehow I thought we would just go back the way we had come. Not so! Going this direction the bus makes many little side trips to drop off & pick up people who are staying at the numerous upscale condos & timeshares in that area. It was heartening, however, that they didn't speak Spanish any better than I did. By the time the bus arrived back at the highway we were several miles back from where I wanted to get off so I waited and waited and waited, hoping the driver wasn't going to throw me off in the middle of nowhere. Finally I saw the Nuevo Vallarta sign again and stood up (hanging on for dear life) to signal I wanted to get off. Then, I reasoned, since the buses appear to just pick up anyone who signals as they approach, all I needed to do was get to the other side of the highway to get the bus I wanted. Wrong!! As I discovered (when the first bus flew by leaving only a trail of dust and paper garbage), they actually do have regular stops. I pulled my newly purchased "Mexican Spanish Phrasebook" out of my tote bag and sidled up to a worker by the side of the road to ask where, precisely, the stop was for the La Cruz bus. He replied (in perfect English) that I needed to walk down past the overpass and around the corner. sigh...
Note: When in Mexico, you must get used to crossing back and forth between cars on the freeway. It is extremely scary but, nonetheless, quite acceptable (and, in most cases necessary if you want to get to the other side). The caveat is that you must understand that the cars that are turning left at intersections will be doing that from the far RIGHT lane!!!

What a relief to finally be on my familiar La Cruz bus and know exactly where I need to get off to get home. I spent the next 15 minutes or so practicing all the lewd phrases (very quietly of course) that I want to try out on Chris when he gets back from San Diego, and when we reached the stop for La Cruz de Huanacaxle I confidently climbed off the bus and walked through town, exchanging "hola's" with the locals and feeling quite smug that I had negotiated the trip and not become lost, run over or frantic.