on the bus

Because we do not have a car here in Costa Rica, the public bus is our primary mode of transportation. Well, I guess our feet are our PRIMARY mode of transportation, but the bus definitely comes in second. To attend worship on Sundays, we take two buses to church.  We first walk a few blocks to a stop where we wait for the first bus.  Sometimes we wait longer than we ride, I think.  Then we change buses, get on a second bus, and get off right in front of where we worship. We leave our house about an hour before the service begins, and if all goes well, we are seated with time to spare.

The second bus is the less predictable of the two.  On the way to church yesterday, we thought that perhaps the driver was maneuvering through his own NASBUS circuit, taking the turns wide and fast to move to the inside corner for the pass.  There were streets blocked off on the usual route, which necessitated more turns than usual.  We held on tight, even while sitting.

And then it came time to get off the bus.  I got off first, and thought that Tim was right behind me.  It took longer than normal, and when he did get off, immediately he and another woman exiting were in what looked like a pretty heated conversation. There were a lot of arms waving and then one of our Tico friends from church who was also on the bus got involved.  I crossed the street and waited.

The group finished, and crossed the street, and then I learned the entire story.  While getting off the bus, the lady exiting in front of Tim stopped because she lost an earring.  She bent down to look for it on the floor of the bus.  In the process of waiting for her, the lady immediately behind Tim pickpocketed his wallet.  THAT FAST!!  But, after a moment he suspected something funny was going on, felt for his wallet, noticed it was gone, and confronted the lady behind him. She denied it all, but we are sure that she was in cahoots with the lady who dropped the earring, and maybe even a third person we didn't notice at all. (note: I love being able to use the word "cahoots"...)  Yes, the wallet was gone.

But the good news? There was absolutely nothing of value in that wallet.  It had a couple of empty gift cards and a few worthless receipts. Isn't he a clever one, my husband?  Everything of value was in the wallet strapped to his belt and tucked into the front of his waistline. 
HA!

Nonetheless, it was a pretty sobering moment- that it happened that fast.  We were on a bus last week when we watched a woman have her purse stolen from her shoulder at a stop across the street from where we were at a stoplight.  Again, it happened THAT fast, in a blink of the eye.  Both incidents serve to remind us not to be complacent, and that we need always be alert.

All in all, though, just another day on the bus...

(photo credit- really taken on the first bus Sunday morning!)