Adventures in traveling

We had an opportunity to try out the bus system from our small community this past week. We had a conference to go to in Queretaro, which is a state capital so has a large bus terminal. Our town however has a SMALL one. there are 6 buses a day that stop here. 3 go north 3 go south. The times are very early, mid day and very late. In order to make connections in the bigger cities, it might mean leaving at the crack of dawn, traveling on an overnight bus or a layover in another city. Logistics, right?! So, thinking we had a ride to the conference from Tehuacan, we left Saturday so we could attend a Quince-anos (15th birthday party) in Tehuacan on Saturday night. All went well. The bus to Tehuacan dropped us at the "autopista" or highway, we walked up the exit ramp and caught an inbound "city" bus to the mall. From there we caught another bus to downtown. The party was lovely and we spent a relaxing Sunday in conversation with family on SKYPE.
Monday we arrived at the office to catch our ride to Qro. and after about an hour found out the person wasn't going to the confernece! Now we needed to get to the big bus station and make the trip from there on 2 routes. Got a ride, made the bus connections just fine, got a cab and arrived at the conference before dinner. Challenge one accomplished!!
The conference was like any other conference. Presentations, round table discussions, more presentations......ONLY IN SPANISH! To say I was lost most of the time is an understatement! I did get the jist of it though especially when I realized I had become the person responsible for getting a piece of information to EVERYONE else! And I hardly opened my mouth.
So, knowing the trip home required some exact timing to catch the bus from Tehuacan, we left the conference Thursday afternoon and went to the station. No problems, made good connection and arrived late in Teh., got a room and had a good nights' sleep. Left for the Autopista at 10 thinking the buses were at 11, 12 and 1. Well, busdriver #1 said, NO we don't stop there. Wait for "otra autobus". Starting to get a bit anxious as the clock ticked and no bus. Finally another bus stopped and kind of agreed to go into our community. We did get "home" at 2 pm. Only 24 hours. I think that might be good by volunteer standards!