The last Paraje-Fatima bus

Yesterday, when I boarded the Paraje-Fatima bus, I asked the properly-phrased question, “Are you going to Paraje?” I had already decided that if the bus driver said no, I would get off at Super Del Norte and get a taxi for the last 3 miles to the marina. But the driver said yes, so I didn’t get off. This bus driver, a young man in his late 20s, drove quite slowly and kept up a conversation with a friend who stood in the doorway. At one stop, a man on the street asked a question, the driver said no, the man didn’t get on, the driver talked to his friend, gestured to me and said something about “la mujer” (the woman). I wondered what was going on. The bus continued slowly through the neighborhood of Mirador, about one mile of it is a bumpy dirt road. At the intersection where the bus should have turned right to take me over the mountain, the driver stopped, opened the door and told me to get off, it was too late to go over the mountain. I got off and walked over the mountain ... for the last time.  Back at the boat, I looked in my dictionary and added a new word to my Spanish vocabulary. Mentiroso! Liar!

Since that day, I will ride the P-F bus into town, but on the way back, I get off at Super Del Norte, shop for groceries, and call my new friend Leo Amarillos who drives a local taxi. 40 pesos and he does all the loading/unloading, his taxi is impeccably clean, and he‘s nice. 

By the way, $40 pesos = $3.10 USD.   In Phoenix, it costs $2.50 each time you get on a bus unles you get a $5 all-day pass, they don't give transfers.