A couple of weeks into our trip, while we were walking along some sunny path, Sophie asked me "If we were to run into someone we knew right now, who would you be the least surprised to see?" Obviously, since we were somewhere in the middle of Honduras or Nicaragua, and pretty much had an idea of what most people we knew were doing at that moment, we couldn't really think of anyone we would actually run into. In the end, we left the question unanswered.
A few days ago, after the ridiculous (and now pretty funny) border crossing into Panama, we were sitting in the middle of nowhere at what was apparently a bus stop, waiting for the overnight bus that would take us to Panama City. I had gone into the ticket office to buy tickets, while Soph sat outside on a bench with our backpacks. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone walk into the ticket office, and I turned around to face him. I realized suddenly, and in a state of acute confusion, that I recognized him! As the answer dawned on me, I rushed out and said "Sophie!" And she said "Is that Emily's brother?!".
It was!! We can still hardly believe it, but it really was. Flesh and blood. Now we know the answer to our question, even more so because, to be honest, of all people we were definitely least surprised to see him (crazy mofo that he is!) although of course our minds did explode and we did nearly jump out of our skins. Turns out he was on our same bus and everything! He told us he had taken a weeks vacation to surf on the Caribbean, and then the Pacific coasts of Panama, and in order to get from one to the other he had to get to Panama City first (and the fastest way, given that he only had one week, was overnight). But what are the chances?? Same day, same bus stop, same time... I just don't know. Besides the fact that he had apparently decided only an hour before to go to the Pacific Coast - originally, he was just going to stay on the Caribbean. I guess the moral of the story is - it was meant to be.
So Soph and I, Josh Foley, and the two Brazilians we met in Puerto Viejo, all braved the bus ride together. And holy cow, it was something to brave. After so many stifling, infernally hot bus rides, I never thought I would complain of a bus being too cold - but traveling finds a way to consistently dismantle anything you ever thought to be true. This bus was freeeeeeezing! We were so cold! We literally huddled together for warmth. Our chairs reclined pretty far back, but of course we were sitting in front of two enormous women, who thankfully did not protest when we silently insisted on reclining all the way (even though we were sure they wouldn't be able to breathe - but hey, on an overnight bus ride, you avail yourself of whatever limited comforts there are). The women also happened to play loud reggaeton music on their cellphones for the entire duration of the ride, but this hardly mattered since the bus driver blasted his own reggaeton tunes on the radio all night as well. The bus departed at 7pm, so for the first three hours we just figured that by ten the bus driver would shut his music off, and would insist that everyone else on the bus did the same. Ten came and went, and then eleven, then midnight. Soon it dawned on us that the music was never, in fact, going to stop. In a final attempt, Sophie went up to the bus driver and politely asked if he could just turn it down a bit, since everyone on the bus was trying to sleep. He replied with a considerate: "Yeah, well, I'm not sleeping," and did nothing about the volume of the music. At that point we gave up, and fell into a torturous sleep to the rhythm of the enormous women's knees kneading the backs of our seats.
Eventually we got to our hostel, which is awesome, as is Panama City. Sophie emailed Josh the name of the hostel, and he agreed that since his flight home was from Panama City on Sunday afternoon, he would come in on Saturday night, stay at our hostel, and we would all hang out. It seemed the only logical course of action after the way that fate literally threw us together. So, we hung out! It was so much fun! Our hostel is above the most popular bar in this city (among Panamanians as well as foreigners, which is a true rarity) so we met up there and had some beers and talked. Soph and I had been at a concert earlier in the evening (more on that in the next post), and we met a couple of Panamanian guys who were really nice. They went to college in the States actually, so they were an intersting mix of Panamanian and American, having spent some seriously formative years in the States. We told them to come by the bar later on, and they did. Josh had met a girl who happened to work on a fishing boat in Alaska (which is what Josh also used to do), so the six of us formed a wonderful little group and had a great night, complete with late-night gyros at the Panamanian equivalent of a Greek 24-hour diner (which is nothing like the US version, as I'm sure you can imagine).
This morning we made sure Josh didn't miss his flight - we know because we watched him get into his cab. We had all had such a great time, and the whole time we were having all this fun, it was made that much more special because there was this undercurrent of wonder and bewilderment at the workings of this crazy universe. It was also special (and this is actually the biggest reason) because he is Emily's brother. Little Foles, we felt like we were getting the next best thing to hanging out with you! It was just spec-TAC-ular.
Running into Josh is just the biggest, most obvious example of so many different little things that are continually happening to us. You know, those little "coincidences" that are actually so much more - the way things come together, and fall into place, and sometimes just plain fall into your lap. For an excellent example of this last phenomenon, see the next post.
Sending gratitude to all of you, and to all of everything,
Sophisticated Koala
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