From the sprawl of TJ, we climb along the superhighway into crumbling mountains. Pass through Tecate, twist down the grade of la rumorosa under desert sunset, rumble into the evening darkness over Mexicali.
From the sprawl of TJ, we climb along the superhighway into crumbling mountains. Pass through Tecate, twist down the grade of la rumorosa under desert sunset, rumble into the evening darkness over Mexicali.
And after a bus terminal break, go on, into pure desert, past Sonora sand dunes and mountains faintly lit by half-moon filtered clouds.
TVs gleam Hollywood movie dubbed in Spanish. Plenty of car chases, fights, and highway wrecks. Your companions laugh as Steven Segal sends several trucks off a cliff. How appropriate. Like showing Airport as an in-flight movie! *Ah, Mexico!*
Lean your seat back. Think about sleeping.
Out of nowhere comes the ritual of baggage inspection. The bus lumbers to a halt. Everyone off, please, take your bags into a white concrete building. Press the button. Green light, you may go, red, open up to be inspected.
On the road again, passengers nodding into sleep, when the great beast begins to break down. Once, twice, and again, we pull off the road, sit, and wait. Driver and partner open the engine hatch, sending light shining out across the desert sands and rock, then start the motor again. But after only a few miles, a whiny little alarm comes on and we pull off. Stop on a gravel area in the middle of nowhere nearby silent motorhomes, trucks, and a single, dark cement building. Driver pops his head into the passenger cabin, "Sorry, Senores, but we have tried everything. We must wait for help to come."
We try to sleep. Later you wake from fitful dreams of thirst, and hear rattling down below. Someone has come. They are working on our bus at last. Look out your window. The light shines from the rear compartment, across the barren gravel. More rattle and clank, and voices shouting in Spanish, and then... vroom vrooooom vroom rumble rumble rumble rumble....
They have fixed it at last! You take a drink from your water. Set your pack on the empty seat beside you. That's right, the guy got off back at Sonoita. Now you are alone, and surely it must be tomorrow already... sleep, sleep, sleep....