| | I have met a lot of people I admire here in Belize. The mother with eight children and another one on the way. My host mom who works untiringly to put her daughters thru school in a society that doesn’t yet value women’s education much. The 5 year old boy who can ride an adult-sized bike while carrying his 2 year old sister. But someone who I have come to hold in high regard is the bus conductor. All bus conductors really, but specifically the one on the bus I frequent from Progreso to Orange Walk Town. In Belize, the busses have drivers and conductors. The drivers…drive, and the conductors run the bus, a job that requires quite a bit of skill, I’ve come to realize. The conductor from Progreso, not over 18 years old, collects the money while the bus is in motion—an incredible talent to be able to do quick math without falling over while the bus maneuvers around and thru potholes the size of small cars. Because the bus doesn’t have assigned stops, other than the final destination point, the conductor is also in charge of keeping track of where everybody wants to get off. Admittedly, this isn’t so much a challenge between Progreso and Orange Walk, where there is only one village between, but from Orange Walk to Belize City, people can ask to get off at the green house just past Tan’s Grocery Store by mile 28 along the Northern Highway, and the conductor remembers dozens of vague requests like that. The challenge on the Progreso route comes on the return trip. The conductor knows where everybody lives and where they need to get off in the village. I’m lucky that the bus route goes on the same street as my house, so I get dropped off at my doorstep! The bus conductor also takes care of any luggage people have, from suitcases to sacks of coconuts to bicycles. The conductor delivers messages and goods for people in the village to people in town. On days that the bus is particularly crowded, he manages to fit people where you wouldn’t think there was room. And the most amazing thing about the conductor from Progreso is that he appears to do all these things without saying more than 3 words the whole time! He can get 5 standing passengers seated with a mere nod of his head. He really went above and beyond the call of duty though when my parents visited. The bus was late arriving at the market, the main pick up stop. Students and shoppers began to rush the bus as it pulled into spot to get a seat. The conductor, seeing my parents and I standing wide-eyed with lots of luggage, was quick to throw his own backpacks on a couple seats to save them for us. By the time he helped us get our bags on the back of the bus, someone had sat in each seat, but he politely asked one to move, and the three of us got a seat, making us much more fortunate than about 20 others who had to stand. Three cheers for Mikey the Progreso bus conductor! |
| | Posted 3/26/2007 1:21 PM - 59 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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