Katie and Kristina walk to Teguc

A few weeks ago, Katie and I were supposed to help train the new group of Muni D volunteers in HIV so that when they go to their sites, they are able to give an HIV charla if called upon to do so.
Katie and I had a plan to meet up in SPS and travel the rest of the way to Teguc together. I got on the morning bus, got into to SPS, saved Katie a seat and we were soon on our way; Only 5 more hours until we arrived in Teguc. Everything was going fine… we even had a surprise visit by our favorite Bus vender—the tattooed man who used to be in a gang but has now found his faith in God, changed his ways and now deserves money from innocent travelers—he is great…. You know it is a good bus trip when tattoo man gets on! He gives you a nice little show at the end of his rant, by lifting his shirt up and showing everyone all his gang tats—very impressive. FYI… here in Honduras tattoos=gang… or at least that is what PC tells us and I guess it used to be as such a few years ago.
Tattoo man got off the bus and we continued on our way, stopping just outside of Teguc caught in traffic. Katie and I begin to wonder what is going on when we notice an hour has gone by and we still haven’t moved. We were about 20 minutes outside of the city. We began calling all the PC staff members to find out what has happened….. Apparently there had been a giant accident involving 2 semi trucks which was blocking both lanes.
Katie and I were faced with 2 choices…. Sit on the bus and wait it out, which could take god knows how long here in Honduras or foot it across the accident and hitchhike to the nearest gas station where the PC vehicle would pick us up. Of course, looking for our adventure we chose option #2.
We decided to get off the bus. We walked for about 10 mins through all the buses and cars which were all backed up due to said accident, we got in the back of a pick up so we could get up closer to the accident by driving on the shoulder. We went as far as we could in the truck, but soon enough we found the shoulder backed up with all the cars that had the same idea as us. We got out of the truck bed, footed it another 20 minutes down the highway. Finally arriving at the accident, where the 2 semi trucks had crashed into one another. At one point in time the cab of one of the trucks had been engulfed in flames and all that was left was the metal frame. Can only hope the driver escaped before this happen. We crossed the accident, walked for another 10 minutes, bought some yummies which some ladies were selling on the side of the road, explored the cemetery that we passed and waited to hitchhike to the gas station.
First car went by… full. As I wandered around by the cemetery, Katie waved the second one down….from a distance it looked like a pickup but up close we realized it was the scariest rape van you could ever imagine…. White van, no windows, 2 men in the front. They pulled up to see if we wanted a lift, and the side door slides open to reveal yet another big burly man in the back…. We looked at eachother, both terrified and politely declined. Finally we found a pickup with a nice little family inside, got in the back, arrived at the gas station where we waited with our other friend Andrea who was also stuck in the mess until the PC vehicle came to get us.
Just another day in the life of a Peace Corps volunteer…..