A Little Slice of Mexican Life
11 January 2011 | Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, MX
Penny - 80 degrees
Coming back from the "big" city of Puerto Vallarta requires one to take two busses. The first is a local bus to the "Walt Mart" (Wal-Mart), and from there connecting to a larger bus, heading, in this case, to Punto de Mita with stops in several smaller towns on the way including my destination of La Cruz.
All of the busses have their destinations written on their front windshield and you must stick out your arm to let them know to stop and pick you up (warning - if you are near sighted you can miss a lot of busses).
Upon boarding the larger bus, and having time to kill since Fred had gone to a different destination, I was able to observe those sitting in front of me. Since I was in row 2 it was a fairly limited amount of observation but very rewarding. The culture in Mexico is so different from the US and a great part of this journey is seeing the country and the people from a different point of view.
Each bus is owned by the driver who works 12 hours a day. Almost all of the bus drivers personalize their "space" with everything from happy faces to religious ornaments to family pictures and sayings. This bus was decorated with pictures of his patron saint and a cool inscription: "NO HAY AMOR TAN PURO Y SINCERO COMO EL DE UN CAMIONERO" which roughly translated says that there is no love more pure or sincere than that of a truck driver.
The driver was a handsome young man of about 24 wearing a t-shirt saying "Pray for Hollister Surf" and was accompanied by his wife and 16 month old daughter in the front right hand seats and his buddy in the seat behind him, and man, were they having a good time! The friend was downing his Bud Lites, putting in CD's and blasting out corridos (folk ballads) which is one of the Mexican things I love the most. When you hear those mutant polkas and waltzes, the driving accordions, the wailing vocals and soulfulness of it all it just makes me want stay on the bus and go home with them. Anyways, there was a good party atmosphere happening in that bus and lots of uproarious laughter and fun going on. At one point we were going over a 2 lane bridge and a flat bed truck with a full load of wood tied onto the back came along beside us and tooted the horn. It must have been a friend of theirs because the bus door was flung open, words were exchanged, and before you knew it a drag race was going on! Jeez, hang on and try not to shut your eyes!
The baby was just the cutest little girl. Now you have to remember that this is a personal responsibility country and amongst other things, there are no seat belt laws, nothing to prevent drinking and driving (in fact there are drive-thru beer distributers), no laws against talking on your cell phone while driving, no child prevention seats, no helmet laws, etc, etc.
Do any of you remember the old days when your mom would be driving and if someone stopped right in front she would stretch out her arm to keep you from flying through the windshield? From time to time this mom would stretch out her arm in the same manner. She missed once creating shrieks of crying, and another time shut the sliding glass window pinning the baby's fingers inside but overall this was one happy little girl! Alas, way too soon it was my stop and I exited the bus, sad to leave this little "family" but happy to be meeting up with Freddy Boy.