let´s go back in time. december 16th i left work at the lunch bell (ok, there is no bell)at 1pm. oscar and i went to eat in the swealtering december sun, i think it was around 100 again that day, and then we grabbed our bags and hopped on a bus to juchitan. we left ixtepec at 2:30pm. two busses and two hours later (in what would take a car about 50-60min of driving) we arrived in salina cruz and walked about half a mile to the first class bus station. our bus did not leave until 5:30 so we went to a café around the corner and lounged in the blissful air conditioning for 30 minutes.

estrella blanca, white star, would carry us from salina cruz north along the coast road to acapulco. we would pass through the bahias de huatulco, beautiful resort town where i began my bus journeys through mexico back in august, to puerto escondido and numerous other beach resort town on our 14 hour journey to acapulco. why 14 hours? bc the coast road is in the mountains. if you have been to california, or currently live there, imagine driving highway one from aracadia, or around there, down to san diego. the distance is not absolutely huge in the case of salinas to acapulco, but the bus is ginormous and the road is twisty, curvy and of course there are livestock to dodge.

we boarded the bus a few minutes early and oscar and i settled into the front two seats (we had numbers) while the remaining seats were only sporadically filled. this would change. by the time we reached huatulco three hours, and one bad movie dubbed into spanish about an airplane that crashes in the desert and the people are forced to rebuild it based on some model airplane engineer´s design. filght of the phoenix, or something like that. in huatulco i almost left my seat to go inside the bus station to use the baño but then i saw the mob of people waiting to board.

the bus seats, let´s say, 56 people. when the 64th person boarded, things got tense. it appeared that our lovely carrier, estrella blanca, had oversold the bus. also factor in that as the bus rolled along the coast road we picked up stragglers who clearly had no ticket, but paid cash to the driver (this is where the problems with the bus system really come in). oscar and i shook our heads in disbelief as passengers stood in the aisle and held on to what they could. mind you these busses are not meant to have people standing, unlike the other second and third class busses which regularly fill to the brim (the kind we took from ixtepec to salinas for example). as i was sitting in the aisle seat, so i could stretch my legs, i was even more appalled to find people standing where my legs wanted to go. the nerve. then, one girl just sits right down next to the driver and starts chatting. normally there are two drivers on long hauls like this so if one starts to nod off, well, you get it. this chick just slides right in and takes the ¨cushion¨seat away from the spare driver. bold move cotton, let´s see if it pays off.

it did and while many of the others suffered for the next few hours, she at least had a place to sit.
meanwhile, there were 64 people on the bus and i was in disbelief. that was until the door opened again about 1km from the bus terminal and another man hopped on, reeking of alcohol. the girl in the cushy seat turned to the driver and motioned for him not to allow the man to ride. whatever pull she thought she had, she did not. the driver brushed her off and after a, in my opinion, superficial attempt to tell the man the bus was full, the man pulled out cash. at that point the driver turned back into the welcoming host that clearly he was hired by estrella blanca to be, and offered the man a seat on the floor next to the door. as this new friend was having some difficulty standing, he plopped right down and within two minutes was snoring. fortunately, as i mentioned, it was a mountain road, so after the first curve rolled against cushion girl, she gave him a swift kick which sent his head flying into the door. a laugh was shared by all in the front compartment, clearly confirming that we, 1. felt that drunky should not have been allowed on, 2.were happy we had been let on, 3. would silently condemn estrella blanca for overselling the bus, and 4. were secretly, at least we were not going to vocalize it, glad we did not have sit that close to someone who once he regained full consciousness would start to wonder exactly how he had managed to get such a bump on the noggin.

all was jolly and full of christmas cheer for an hour. then we arrived in puerto escondido around 10:45pm. luckily, people got off the bus. sadly, more got on the bus. one woman stopped right next to my seat. she could have moved further back i noticed, but she did not. she let other people smush and shove to get around her while she held her ground. within 30 seconds i noticed something awful. sniff. cough cough. repeat. no mouth covering, no attempt to blow the foul stench of her breath and whatever vile germs lurked within in some other direction. they were aimed at my head. ten seconds later, repeat. again, and again, and again. it was 2 hour until the next stop. i turned my head slightly, she was less than a foot away and gave her my most unwelcoming glare. she hardly seemed to notice and went right on coughing and sniffing. then she put her head against the side of my head rest. i glanced at oscar, who no doubt was extremely happy i had chosen the aisle seat, and he feigned sympathy. she coughed and sniffed again. no way, jose. i jerked my head to the side and bonked her in the head. she made a muffled sound and rose off her new-found pillow. she made no move to stem the coughing or sniffing and renewed said expulsions with a gusto i found particularly annoying.

at this point i removed the sheet from my carry-on, really just the top part of my pack, which although is a fanny pack i refuse to ever wear as such (i instead use it as a kind of murse- man purse, which i wear over one shoulder, or i wear it crossed over one shoulder so it hangs on my back like a bike messenger´s bag, and draped the sheet over my head. i continued in this manner for the next two hours until sickie finally got off the bus.

somehow, at least 10 people ended up standing for around 7 hours of the journey (this from 1am o 8am) while alternating between sitting on the floor and generally annoying those with seats.

we arrived, oscar fairly well rested, me not so much. day one. 17 more. i doubt the next daily entries will be quite this detailed.