El Residente
6 Adventure by Chicken Bus by Janet LoSole
Part 1: Farewell “Chicken Bus” – Public bus service in some regions of Central America most often utilizing refurbished school buses from North America that are beautifully decorated in pastel colors, religious imagery, and outfitted with overhead racks; frequently crowded with people and animals such that luggage, and sometimes travelers, must ride on the roof. (The following is excerpted from the book, Adventure by Chicken Bus: An Unschooling Odyssey Through Central America)
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our itinerary. “We’ll be arriving at the tail end of turtle nesting season, so we’ll head directly to this area here,” I said, pointing to the Caribbean coast, “to volunteer with a conservation project. After that, we’ll return to the Central Valley to find jobs.”
At the farewell party I’d ushered friends over to the map of Costa Rica tacked to the wall and explained
“No. No way!” I said. I was thinking about keeping our two daughters, eight-year-old Jocelyn and five-
n the eve of our trip I tossed and turned on my farting air mattress and worried. The empty house echoed around our sleeping bags laid out alongside small piles of clothes, and visions of attacking crocodiles and venomous snakes weaseled into my brain. Two years of planning had come down to this: every possession sold, jobs put on hold, long goodbyes over. I worried to myself, Are we ready for this?
Some peered at the map, nodding, others pointed nervously to the region lying to the north. “Nicaragua? With the girls?”
