"los tejanos son mas campechanos!" - Iris

there are many almost last frontiers in spanish, but one of them that seems to change almost entirely in every country is the slang.

it is almost entirely impossible to get on a bus and not find someone worth talking to. The road between San Pedro and Tegucigalpa was no exception. When Elliot and I went to buy our bus tickets we assumed that they had given us two consecutive seats. When it came time board it turned out I was in for a surprise - two in fact. As I made my way to my seat I found a young lady that was maybe in her mid twenties in the seat next to mine. From the way she looked it is very possible that she was on her way to compete in the annual Miss Latin America pagent and if intelligence has a face then she was doing a fantastic job of wearing that as well -maybe it was the book in her hand and the stylish glasses she was wearing. Elliot at this point was still looking for his seat. Before sitting down I pulled out "The heart that bleeds" its a readers digest of sorts that talks about latin america in the 80´s and 90´s - I was obviously going to need something to entertain myself for the long 3+ hour bus ride.
As I sat down I hadn´t even pretended to open my book before I heard "disculpe, ummm, es mi asiento" My dear friend Elliot realized that she had made a mistake in her seating, that she was indeed in his spot and he was busy trying to do the appropriate thing and let her know. I cant even begin to tell you the flood of mixed emotions that shot through me at that moment. I tried to be the voice of reason and told them both that it would probably be best to wait till we get going to sort this out, and that it was very possible that the bus wasn´t going to fill up and whoever could sit wherever they pleased. Strangely enough i was ignored and the "problem" was taken to the conductor. The conductor quickly ushered the señorita to the front of the bus to sit next to an older gentleman and i had my faithful companion with me once again. SAVED!!! nearly had a close call on that one. for a good remainder of the trip i could not stop telling elliot how absolutely grateful i was for that intervention.

the trip wasnt over though. about 10 miles outside of tegucigalpa the rains turned the gutters into small rivers and the traffic started backing up considerably. It was about that time that the agitator showed up again. There is an agitator in absolutey every crowd. They are the ones that get people riled up over something that they would normally shirk off as just a minor annoyance. She was a middle aged woman that was traveling by herself. She started off by getting the music on the bus turned off half way through the trip because it was too loud, but it was not her that made the complaint to the conductor, it was someone that heard her complaint and agreed who took that step. At this point when we were nearly to Tegucigalpa she was on her phone talking with her family telling them how slow the bus was going, how bad the rains were, how bad the driving was and a bucket list more of complaints. After hanging up the phone she continued talking to the air about the problems and pretty soon the front half of the bust was in loud verbal agreement with her. I was zoning out on the rivers that had formed on either side of our bus tires at that point and she interruped my trance with a tap on the shoulder and "you speaky spaneeesh"
I knew a conversation was waiting with someone I just hadn´t expected or hoped it to be the bus agitator. We talked for the duration of our 30 minutes on the bus about everything from her family to her country to her travels. It was great?
Two things of note happened when we got to the terminal and got our suitcases.
1. As she was leaving with suitcase in hand the future Miss Latin America went out of her way to make eyecontact with me and then shot me a wink, one of those winks that say "it would have been an absolute pleasure to sit by you and i hope that our paths cross in the future so that we can have the conversation that we were robbed of by your traveling amigo." it was quite the wink.
2. The agitator asked me where we were staying and after i told her she called a taxi for us and told him where to take us followed by a stern lecture on what was going to happen to him if he didn´t do exactly that. Agitator or not, I absolutely love how responsible latins feel towards a stranger who they have taken into their confidence.

The story continues. Elliot and I have similar travel tendencies. Get a room somewhere as quick as you get to a new place and then put your walking shoes on and take a self guided tour of the town. After our first full day in Tegucigalpa I had a strange experience on arriving at the hotel. The concierge handed me a paper and let me know that there was a woman that had been phoning for me. "MISS LATIN AMERICA IS STALKING ME". That was the logical conclusion that my mind jumped to when i heard that. Then I read the paper and it had a number with the name Iris (the agitator) on it.
I called and we chatted for a good long while, once again she guided the conversation toward her husband, kids, and some insect museum that i should go to to see some beetle that is only found in honduras.
the conversation ended with me inquiring about the word campechano - a word that is not in my pocket dictionary. she had used it in describing texans during our conversation. she said it with a genuine smile in her voice so i was not about to refuse what seemed to be a compliment towards my state.
los tejanos, somos mas campechanos!