I´d just like to share how I spent upwards of 8 hours a week.
Pimienta, our little town, resides a brisk 25 minute car ride from the bus terminal in San Pedro Sula. In a car it is a quick drive along a 4 lane highway with factories blanketing each side of the road. Vendors with their wares can be seen peddling fruits, pirated movies and various dishes to eat. A plume of dark smoke, horns beeping and taxis flying in and out of lanes sometimes can make the trip a bit less than desirable... but these are all luxuries if you have your own transportation.
Our experience, as well as the majority of Hondurans is limited to two options, the school bus I rode when I was in first grade...not the same type, literally THE SAME BUS from 1987 that says Fairport Central School district on the side or a 1994 rapidito minivan varying in sizes, but guaranteed to be full. The bus is rarely useful because it stops for anyone who wants to get on at any point. Imagine those same 1987 bus rides with everyone being picked up at their house and getting off at any other house. So the lesser of two evils is the frequent mode... the rapidito.
So with 3 rows of seats and then the driver and bench up front one may assume that 15 seatbelts, if existed, would be appropriate for this car. Well, if you ever have 15 people in the car, you are either one of the last people getting out or stumbled upon a miracle. Instead you are bound to atleast 4 in the rows, and people sit backwards on the small bench that sits back to back to the driver´s row. So basically the car will not leave unless it is occupied by 22+ pèople. Not only because they are accustomed to it, but because their frames allow it a bit, Hondurans are quite accepting of these busitos. The sad thing, I have almost become so as well. With 181 centimeters I tower over the majority of the population by atleast 5 inches. Well, these same 5 inches have to be crammed into the same space on these rapiditos. There is a good chance that I will return to the USA shorter, smaller, and able to be put into a nice box to fit under a Christmas tree. Sometimes eating my knees, others sitting on just one cheek, I have stood for the majority of the trip with my neck scrunched against the ceiling but for some reason I still find myself boarding these mobile sardine tins.
My favorite so far is that at one point we had over 25 people and I was one of the last people. The ayudante who someone squeezes in and around and collects the money was hanging out of the bus while I was standing with my BACK bracing me on the ceiling. This busito was so short that if the bus rolled I would have to do was push a little harder on my tippee toes and I would have been wedged in their so tightly I would have just rolled as the ceiling would have rolled. An absolute rarity and ridiculous sight for even Honduran standards, I got laughs and quite a few comments to what normally are dead silent rides.
I can confidently say I will enjoy the change back to comfort and no back pain when I drive in the states, but I can´t help but appreciate how the needs of transportation are met and the effort these buses try to get people to and from as quickly as possible. And I know not how many hours I will be spending to transport myself to and fro in the states, but something tells me the memory of my travels from Pimienta to San Pedro Sula will stay with me for some time.
