to esteli

12/03/25

I told myself - enough with bus travel stories. I´ve already taken so many buses and boats - they've started to blur. And yet, here recovering in Esteli, I do believe, yesterday again I passed over the line. Esteli is not far from Ometepe in kilometres but it demands many changes in bus and boat. A crowded bus to the boat. A ferry over to the mainland. Another bus. All along, I was not sure whether I would make it. I told myself, I will stop when it gets too messy or I get too tired. Maybe I will stop in Granada. Then the bus was heading to Masaya. Maybe I will stop in Masaya. And then, it was midafternoon. The bus had just dropped me off on the outskirts of Masaya with instructions to take a taxi to Tipitapa. OK. A taxi driver tries to hustle me into his taxi. I stop him and join a group of two others.Then I realize that Tipitapa is 20 k away. I am no longer nowhere near Masaya. I am dropped at a noisy intersection where people are standing waiting for the buses coming from Managua. There is garbage everywhere. People looking hot, harassed, tired and unfriendly. The buses arrive, packed. People are jumping on, squeezing on, holding on. I think, oh shit.

A well-dressed woman sees my distress and comes over to help. I say - are all the buses this full?. Yes, she says. To get a seat, I would need to go back to Managua. Or go down the road to a hotel (questionable at best) and try again in the morning. I go off to the toilet -a wet stall which doesn't flush. I pay 25 cents for the service. When I get back, she says: come quickly. Your bus is here. Someone grabs my suitcase and stows it under the bus. She tries to tell the boy - This woman has a problem. She needs a seat. But he isn't listenng. I move quickly to the front. Stick in hand, I push onto the bus. I can barely get on. I have visions of being stuck one foot off as it starts to move. Impassive faces No one is offering a seat. There are 2 peoiple sitting on the triangular engine cover next to the driver. I ask the woman if I can sit too. She moves over as much as she can. I sit on one buttock for a while. Peope have to step over me to get on and off. It is ultimately too uncomfortable and I stand. After a long while, someone gives me their seat as they are getting off. The rest of the trip is uneventful. I have a seat. It is wonderful.

We arrive at 7:30 pm. A taxi to the hotel. I wake this morning at 6:30 am. A church group is having a celebration, the music echoing outside my window. A block from my hotel is a little cantina that sells homemade yoghourt with fruit. I have bought 2 containers. I had been craving yoghourt for days. One is with papaya, the other with pineapple. Heavenly.