Morning Commute

Saturday April 24th 2010 9:45 am

I know that I have gotten out of the habit of writing daily, but this is largely indicative of my fallen out of the habit of doing anywhing worth writing about. To sum up the past week, I have spent my time reading, sending a few emails, and not being entirely productive. There were no translations for me to do at work the past week. Not one.

Perhaps the only thing worth note this past week has been the weather. Most people that I know back in Ohio often complain over how rapidly the weather changes and is completely unpredictable. Trust me when I say that we should prefer this system of weather. Up until my return visit at the end of March, it had not rained a drop in Tegucigalpa since January. For three months, it was hot and very dry. For the past two weeks, it has rained every day and stormed almost every night. The ever changing weather patterns of the midwest are far superior to three months of drought followed by a month of rain.

I had been hoping that something would occur that would be significant enough for me to write about, and unfortunately this morning, something did.

After getting ready to come to the office, I flagged down a taxi and made my way to the office. The price was good, but I was wary of the driver taking an alternate route. I figured maybe he knew some traffic pattern from the morning and was trying to avoid the back-up. When we stopped for gas, I decided that his lack of fuel must have been the reason for his unorthodox route to Colonia La Era.

He had no money yet that morning, so I paid him my fee, and he used all of the money to pay for the gas. We continued down unfamiliar streets, but I knew that we were generally progressing towards the office.

Backroads turned into dirt roads, and soon I was lost. I knew where I was in relation to the office, but I had no longer knew how to get to any major roads. Without warning, the driver pulled off to the side of the dirt road and told me that he wouldn't go any further.

"You have to, I already paid you!"
"I can't, no taxis drive in this neighborhood."
"I know, its because you took a terrible way to get to La Era. You drove here, I already paid you, you HAVE to take me!" (I don't often shout out of anger, but this guy made me pretty furious)
"Just give me more money, and I'll take you!"
"I'm not giving you any more money! We already agreed on a price, now drive!"

He turned off his engine, folded his arms, and said he wouldn't drive any further, and that I had to get out of the car.

"I'm not walking in this neighborhood! At least drive me back to another road so I can get another taxi!"
"I'm not driving you any further until you pay me more!" He leaned over to open my door and started pushing me.
"I'm not giving you ANY MORE MONEY!"

With that, he turned towards the window and started to reach for something. I didn't stick around to see what it was. I jumped out of the car, slammed the door shut and began to walk in the direction I thought the office was.

I had been taught that when unarmed in a dangerous neighborhood, probably the best defense was to make yourself look big and angry. I didn't have to act. I was pretty livid. For a culture known to have close personal boundaries, I was pleasantly surprised with the distance people kept from me, though I'm sure the look on my face told anyone who saw it to "stay away."

Luckily after a couple of twists and turns, I got onto a paved road, and followed it until I knew where I was. The crazy taxi driver was right, there were no other taxis in the area. To me this proved less that he was right, and more that this was not be best neighborhood to be walking around in. I estimated that I probably walked about a mile and a half to get to the office.

I finally arrived around 9:40, hot and sweaty from the long walk and from my frustration.

What was normally a 20 minute commute had turned into an hour long debacle, but I was finally at the office, and I finally had something to write about.