Introduction to Chiapas - The Ride of My Life!

July 2, 2011

I’ve had many rides from the airport, but this one beat all – hands down.

Guadalupe, my driver, met me at the Tutxla Gutierrez airport at 4:30 pm as arranged by the school. He was smiling and holding a card with my name on it. I usually look forward to these drives as an opportunity to dust off my Spanish and take in the scenery of beautiful mountainous Mexico.

As we started the hour plus drive to San Cristóbal, he seemed preoccupied with trying to make a phone call. Turns out the school told him my flight arrived at 3 pm and he had made an important appointment with others for 5pm. Clearly he would be late and he was trying to contact someone to explain the situation.

I guess Guadalupe is not the kind of person who likes to be late. Either that, or he is a frustrated Formula One race car driver. Holy cow – whatever the posted speed limit was, I swear to you he was going double. I don’t usually pay attention to the speedometer when others are driving, but I had to verify that what I was experiencing was not my imagination. I stopped looking when the speedometer read 110 km and the speed limit sign read 50 km.

Then I thought of poor Pamela. Guadalupe picked her up earlier in the day for the same trip – and that girl gets seriously carsick. There is no way she would have survived on these curvy mountain roads at this speed. I was hoping he wasn’t in a hurry with her.

Mexicans in general have a very carefree approach to bodily harm. But this was ridiculous. He would pass cars, around blind curves! I finally stopped talking to him altogether, as he would look at me and swerve every time he answered.

We passed a billboard that read “Mas vale una hora tarde que un momento de silencia.” Translated, “Better one hour late than a moment of silence.” I couldn’t make this up - truth is better than fiction! It’s as if the billboard was speaking directly to us. As casually as I could muster, I commented on the billboard warning to Guadalupe. We discussed the dangers (in general) of driving on these roads and that it is not worth it to drive recklessly. He began to slow down…for about 3 minutes.

Besides praying to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for protection, I included the Virgin de Guadalupe. I stopped looking at the road altogether and tried to enjoy the scenery. Here was a clear situation where I had no control, and it was best not to look and not to think about it.

I have never been so glad to reach a destination in my life! I was so happy to see Pamela and meet Doña Isabel. When Pam and I had a private moment she asked if I had received her text? At that moment, my phone finally received her message -  “Hold on to your knee socks! Guadalupe drives muy rapido."