what's that fuss? everybody move to the back of the bus

I'm spending the week in Nicaragua with friends Crystal, Simon and Delfo. We arrived late in the afternoon yesterday and it has already been interesting. First, we ask a cab in Tegucigalpa how much it would cost to take us to the bus station for the buses headed south and the cabbie simply replies, "I don't want to drive there." Alright then. A minute later, we do find a cab driver that will take us there, and after a quick stop to use the bathroom at McDonalds's, we get to the bus stop and see a mass of people trying to get on one of the buses headed south. It's insane. The bus was already packed but more people kept trying to board the bus and squeeze their way on. People that were on the bus were holding seats for their family and the people that were outside were passing their kids through the bus windows to make sure they got on. After about 2 minutes of pushing, we realized that we weren't going to get on the bus, so we walked over to another bus that was headed south but didn't really stop for anyone. A guy tried to get on while it was slowly moving but was thrown off by the assistant.

After about 5 minutes, another bus enters the parking lot and this one was empty and headed south. We start following the bus and try to position ourselves with 50 other Hondurans and chaos follows. The bus stops, the door opens and everyone starts pushing forward....

"Make a line! Make a line!" Yeah right, lines don't exist here.

More shoving to try and get on the bus. Crystal was the closest to the front, so she does her best to position herself to get on the bus, but it is difficult because so many people are just shoving their way on. I'm right behind her and we're both getting pushed and grabbed but neither of us really care because our main focus is to get on that bus. Crystal was at the stairs of the bus and this guy shoves his kids under her arm to get them on the bus. Not just 2 kids, but 5. Then he pushes in front of her to get on too.

"Excuse me." Now you try to be polite after shoving your kids past us?

Finally Crystal gets on and I'm right behind her, though I'm pretty sure I flashed a few people with the top that I was wearing just because I kept getting shoved. We get to the back of the bus and save seats for Simon and Delfo. Simon gets on without a problem but the driver didn't want to let Delfo on because the bus was already full....after Simon pleaded with the driver by telling him that Delfo didn't speak any Spanish and was scared (lies), the driver agreed to let Delfo on and we were on our way. A stressful way to leave Honduras.