I left my house at 5AM this morning to head to Managua. I had plans to take the 5:40AM express bus, which takes 3 hours, as opposed to a normal bus that takes around 4-4.5 hours. I was nervous I would miss it, hence leaving my house so early. I arrived at the market in record time (probably because I could walk fast since the sun wasn't yet beating down) and sat to wait.
All of the sudden at 5:15 a bus whips into the market with the cobradors (men who collect money and load big stuff on top) frantically yelling, "MANAGUA MANAGUA MANAGUA MANAGUA!"
I take a look at it and turn to the driver, "Is this an express?" I innocently ask.
"Yes," he lies. That's right. He LIES! To my FACE.
I didn't realize it at first. I passed the glowing red cross on the outside of the front of the bus. I climbed onto the first step and was met by two strips of tiny STROBE LIGHTS, a small glowing red bull's face and horns, and K'naan's world cup theme song. Apparently I had gotten on the party bus. No extra charge.
The cobrador came around and collected my 60 cordobas... meaning it was NOT an express. Jerks. I was already on and seated though. No turning back now.
We started blazing a trail to Managua. These guys were hauling like no express bus I'd ever seen. We were making great time. Then we crossed the bridge and we hit a roadblock. Literally. I still don't know exactly what happened but from what I could see, one truck had broken down and then another truck decided he could still make the turn. He could not. The broken down truck was now somehow LEANING on the other one. We could definitely not fit. So what did we do? The driver threw it in R.
He turned it, drove back over the bridge and went FLYING down a dirt road I'd never been down before. Then we come to the river. I see the bridge in the distance. Lucky us it's not rainy season! We successfully forded the river and made pretty good time to Managua still.
The 5:40 express DID end up passing us just outside of Managua. At this, our driver went crazy and started driving like a maniac to try to catch up. We reached it at one point but then lost it at the light.
Nice start to the day :)
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oh man, that's an adventure for sure. i got on a party bus to rivas once at 5 in the morning and got to watch skanky reggaeton videos for 2 hours.
ReplyDeletewhen can i visit you in matiguas?
haha i once got on a bus from puerto cabezas, also thinking it was the expreso, like my first week in site and had to get off in muy muy because of the stench of fish. it was an experience alright.
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