6 March 2009 - We were to take a midday bus across the border to Marcala, Honduras, however when the bus came they said they were not going there today thanks very much! What! How do we get where we are going then... We got in a pickup going to the junction of the road to the border and there we found the same bus so this time asked a different question, not 'are you going to Marcala' but 'are you going to the border?' This time the answer was yes so not really knowing exactly where we were going to we got on board. They slung our packs up on the roof and we squeezed in on the edges of seats. On these buses the left-hand side has a wide seat, which, when the bus is full, three people sit in and on the right-hand side a slightly wider than normal (our normal) seat fits two people, everyone else gets to stand.
The bus wound up through high hills and lush vegetation, pine trees and ferns a bit similar to home. At the border we didn't bother to get off and after sorting those who were getting off the bus carried on. A little while further though it stopped and we saw them unloading our packs, 'que pasa?' This is where the bus goes to the left and if you want to go to Marcala you go to the right. Ok, no problem. A half a dozen people were doing the same as us, that is walking to Marcala. One man said it would take a couple of hours. We figured that if we needed to we have the tent and could just stop anywhere for the night. Most of the people we were walking with carried heavy loads like us but ours were much more manageable. Two men were carrying a big crate each on their backs/shoulders and then between them they also carried another two big stacked crates.
Amazingly for us after we had been walking for about 20 minutes there appeared on the road behind us a campervan containing two women we had met in Suchitoto. They stopped to apologise and say they were unable to pick up any more people as they were full but when they realized it was us they made room for us in the back. Carol felt really bad about leaving the two men there to continue the journey with their huge load but nothing could be done. The journey to Marcala took about another hour in the campervan so we would have been walking all night...
Rolene and Darcy, the women in the van, are doing a Caminata por la Tierra or Walk for the Earth (www. WalkWithEarth.org), which is a journey from San Diego to Santiago. Started by Rolene a year ago the idea is to bring an awareness to the peoples of Central and South America of "moving society towards a more holistic world view as opposed to a mechanistic world view where people learn to walk with the Earth rather than simply over it... ". They are not exactly walking all the way but walk for about 10 miles in each place that they stop. Darcy is a companion to Rolene on the walk until the end of April and Rolene speaks to schools in all the places she can as she goes, she is a very intelligent and highly articulate woman. Also traveling with them is Juan, an El Salvadorian, who joined them after Suchitoto and will travel with them until Managua.
In Marcala the other three stayed the night in a hotel and left us to sleep in their campervan. At the border we had just crossed Rolene had had an accident where she ended up underneath the camper with it rolling down a slope. Her legs were under the front wheels which luckily did not go over her but she ended up very battered and bruised. The three of them were all very shaken by the experience, we got her some Arnica and Carol gave her a massage. Staying in the van was great for us with our budget, a comfortable bed for free. The next day Rolene invited us to join them in their journey and we decided we would travel with them until Nicaragua where we plan to meet up with Gary again this time in the Corn Islands for some sun and swimming.
