Exactly one year ago from this day I took the official government oath and became an official sworn in Peace Corps Volunteer. I thought it was really cool that I took the same oath that the president took, but now that Trump’s taken it too it doesn’t seem quite as cool anymore.
Anyway, I realized that I’ve never told the “real” story about how I got to my site after our swear-in ceremony. This is one of those stories that I couldn’t tell right away. It’s one of those things that happens to you and you are shaken to the core, too rattled to tell anyone about your experience. But you also think to yourself, hey maybe in a year a now, I’ll look back at this moment and it will make a great story! Well, that’s exactly how I feel about it now.
I am going to tell the story of how I got to my community for the first time alone, and how this was hands down, easily, the most terrifying experience that I have ever had in my entire life.
Anyway, I realized that I’ve never told the “real” story about how I got to my site after our swear-in ceremony. This is one of those stories that I couldn’t tell right away. It’s one of those things that happens to you and you are shaken to the core, too rattled to tell anyone about your experience. But you also think to yourself, hey maybe in a year a now, I’ll look back at this moment and it will make a great story! Well, that’s exactly how I feel about it now.
I am going to tell the story of how I got to my community for the first time alone, and how this was hands down, easily, the most terrifying experience that I have ever had in my entire life.
SO to remind you all where my mindset was at exactly a year ago today, lets refresh a little bit.
I had just completed ten weeks of Pre-Service-Training. Peace Corps had so graciously been in charge of us throughout those ten weeks, which included getting us from place A to place B, and filling our lives 6 days a week with a full schedule of activities, from technical training to security training. What we learned from our security training was that Paraguay is a scary place, and you need to be careful, because you will get robbed. The streets are dangerous, being alone is dangerous, the nighttime is dangerous, and most importantly, the buses are dangerous. When you travel, don’t bring your valuables with you, don’t flaunt your cell phones, generally, just use common sense. Now don’t take this the wrong way, overall, compared to other Peace Corps countries, Paraguay is one of the safest in terms of security issues. However, petty theft and robbery are still very common.
ANYWAY, so May 6th comes around and we have this big swear-in ceremony where we have to wear the nicest clothes we’ve packed with us, there’s actual makeup on my face, and I’m even wearing jewelry. By the end of the celebration, its getting late in the day, we’ve taken a million photos, we’ve said goodbye to our Paraguayan families, and now we realize, we are about to leave each other. I’ve already written a post about swear-in (see it here (and a very very abbreviated version of this same story!)) so I won’t get into too much detail. So, we get dropped off at the bus terminal with all of our luggage and Peace Corps goes, BYE SEE YOU LATER!
And that’s it.
So there I was, with an oversized suitcase, a 50L backpack and an overflowing regular sized backpack full of everything I owned. I had a piece of paper that told me which bus I could take to get to my site, and so I boarded the Padre Fidel Maiz bus line for the very first time, feeling very accomplished and excited to move into my new home.
The bus was pretty much empty and another volunteer and I sprawled out, taking up nearly the entire back of the bus. As the bus slowly made its way out of the city and up the northern highway, more and more people kept piling on until it was standing room only, and growing darker and darker outside. My excitement turned to nerves quickly, and when the other volunteer got off the bus before me, my nerves turned to fear.
There I was, alone in the pitch black (the lights on the bus didn’t work obviously), stuffed into a crowded bus, full of strange men I did not know, with every single thing that I owned (phone, laptop, iPad, etc.) with zero clue where I was going.
I remember in our training sessions hearing that the back of the bus was where you didn’t want to be, and you should try to sit up front by the driver and the other women. Unfortunately, it was too late for me. So I improvised, I saw a woman sitting a couple seats ahead of me, and when the seat opened up next to her, I awkwardly stumbled over to her with all of my things to sit down next to her. I began to ask her where the bus would stop at, and asked how I would know when I need to get off. She apologetically told me she didn’t know, and she was getting off the bus soon, but she would ask and find out.
Much to my dismay, this woman turned around to the group of 10 or so men in the back of the bus and announced very loudly “HEY THIS YOUNG GIRL HAS NO IDEA WHERE SHE’S GOING, CAN SOMEBODY HELP HER?” and then casually hopped off the bus, leaving me alone, petrified.
I sat there thinking to myself “Well, this is it. My phone is gonna get stolen, I’m not going to be able to call my uncle to come pick me up from the bus stop. All of my stuff is gonna get stolen. I have no idea where this rickety metal bus is going in the utter darkness. All of these men know I’m totally lost, and they see all of my overly packed suitcases. Everything I have to my name is with me, and I’m gonna lose it all.”
And then a strange thing happened, I started to laugh. Not like a cute little giggle to myself, or a quiet little chuckle, no, I was in complete hysterics, laughing uncontrollably to myself. If I didn’t have the attention of all of these men before, I definitely had it now.
So there I was, chugging along a dark road in a metal box, not sure if I was getting closer to my new home or if it had already passed me, with the fear that every single thing I owned was going to get stolen, just laughing uncontrollably to myself.
What a terrifying feeling! But somehow, I knew that no matter what happened, I would be okay. I would survive this. Maybe my stuff wouldn’t, but I would.
After my hysterics died down, a man came and set next to me, and asked me where I was going. Hesitant at first, I explained to him that my Paraguayan family was waiting for me, and I just had to get to the town of Arroyos y Esteros. He was very interested in what the hell (excuse my english) I was doing, and eventually I explained my situation to him.
As we pulled up to the town, the man informed me that I should get off, and he got off with me, helped me carry all of my suitcases off, made sure every last article of mine made it off, including my water bottle which had fallen, called my uncle for me from his own phone and then waited with me uncle my uncle showed up in his car to pick me up.
In the end, I made it home for the first time perfectly fine, thanks to the help of some strangers.
I never told this full story before because I didn’t want to worry my friends or my family, but now it’s a little late for that. As I sat on the bus the other day, I just sat laughing to myself (again, but a little less hysterically) thinking to myself about my first experience alone on the Padre Fidel Maiz. Now I’ve got the bus ride down, I know most of the bus drivers, and I even recognize some of the people on the buses. What a terrifying, but memorable first experience aboard my metal box of death, that now brings me the comfort of heading home after a trip.