Yo Tambien

The five of us (2 Germans, Manon, Lani and myself) began our trip by riding the local bus, that is easily accessible from the front of our hotel. The three of us had met the German girls two days before our trip and we invited them to join us on our adventure to Playa Blanca. The local bus is super cheap and extremely entertaining. There are checkpoints on all of the routes, which provides for an exciting trip. The drivers have to make each checkpoint in a certain amount of time otherwise they get fined. So the speed of the bus depends on where they are located on their route.

Playa Blanca

Our driver could have driven with his eyes closed without hitting a single pedestrian, moto-taxi or colectivo. He also seemed to know how to make the checkpoints in a timely fashion by zipping a squeezing past every other vehicle on the road. I was basking in the humid breeze of rotting fish as we drove through the local market, when our bus suddenly broke down. Thankfully, the assistant driver was able to spray the engine with motor starter; while the driver turned the key in the ignition. On about the fifth turn with cars beeping and people screaming at us to get moving the engine made a roaring noise. We were on our way again.

All of a sudden our driver abruptly stopped for the second time. This time the five of us looked at each other -- then at about the same instance we realized that we were to jump off this bus and pick up a second bus that had just screeched to a stop in front of us. Once we had transferred to the next bus things went smoothly -- the assistant driver jumped off the bus with the punch card to run to the check point even before we reached it so that they wouldn't have to pay.

When we finally reached our stop the driver was kind enough to wish us safe travels. Our next mode of transportation was a colectivo. A colectivo is a taxi that a bunch of random people can ride in. Seeing there were five of us and the driver we easily filled the entire car. The driver took us to a small town where we were to catch the local ferry to the island that Playa Blanca is located on.

As we road the ferry across the water, Lani made friends with the people next to her. They offered to take us the rest of the way on their bus. Lani thanked them generosity, but told them that we had no problem taking a moto-taxi. I was in between the two Germans on the ferry. I could tell by their facial expressions that they were pretty unsure of who they were traveling with. I tried to make some jokes and reassure them that we would reach Playa Blanca, but I think they were hesitant to believe me seeing that we were drenched in sweat and in the middle of nowhere.

The Germans

As we reached the other side -- Manon, Lani and I were eying the moto-taxi drivers. As I stepped off the ferry I was immediately swarmed with 15 drivers all trying pursuade me to ride with them. I started looking for my friends and spotted the Germans. Lani was talking to them explaining how we were about to take moto-taxis for 45 minutes to reach our final destination. One of the girls seemed to be really nervous and it was apparent that there was no way we were going to convince her to hop on the moto-taxi.

Lani quickly gave me a look that meant -- we need to figure something out otherwise we are going to be spending our weekend on the dirt road. Maneuvering her why through the crowd, she found her new friends and immediately took them up on their offer to ride the bus to Playa Blanca.

The two boys who would later become our new friends began talking with us as we waited for the next ferry to arrive with their bus. When the ferry arrived the mother of one of the boys, jumped on the bus to announce that they would be helping some foreigners out by giving us a lift. I could tell it was not going smoothly -- people were pissed that we were going to be riding for free and worried that we would be stopped at military checkpoints because the bus was going to be packed like sardines. We were going to be breaking the law because not everyone would be sitting. She ignored their responses and started to enthusiastically pull us on the bus. The 2 Germans were on it first and Manon slip her way on it before it started to pull away.

Lani and I were still standing on the road. We were just thrilled that everyone else had made it on the bus and would reach Playa Blanca. However, our new friend Carlos came to the rescue and stopped the bus. We were able to get on. People were not thrilled, but as the bus began to jerk down the road it was apparent that everyone would soon be at peace with the thought of our company. At each military checkpoint we were instructed to drop to the ground.

We arrived about an hour after getting on our bus to paradise. Not many foreigners travel to Playa Blanca. Those that do are in awe of the pure beauty of this place. There is about 5km of white, pristine beach. It is like landing on Robinson Crusoe's Island. We walked about a half a mile down the beach to a small cabana.

Our Hammocks

With only paying $2.50 we were each able to get a hammock with a mosquito net for the night. The day was pretty relaxing and peaceful. The food was very rich -- lots of fresh fish and fruit.

The owner of the cabana come out to collect our belongings right before the sunset so that they would not be snagged in the middle of the night. Once the sunsets there is no electricity. Some people go to bed early because they don't know what else to do. However, Lani and I stayed up for a while enjoying the night sky.

When we did go to bed things became pretty funny. Lani had crawled into her hammock and I was sitting in mine brushing the sand off my feet when I found myself lying in the sand. My hammock had fallen to the ground. It was pitch black out and other people were sleeping. Lani asked if my hammock had fallen. When I responded yes she started laughing and jumped out to go find the owner.

He came back to help me reattach the hammock to the beams. I thanked him and made a joke about how I hoped it didn't fall again in the middle of the night. He respond by saying, "Yo tambien (Me too)."

Have a wonderful day!

Peace,

Megan