Three stories about Motorcycles

“I am a traveler on the way to a sacred place where God holds me in the palm of his hand.” 

-Henri Nouwen

Motorcycles are the main source of transportation here in Libertad. Well, motorcycles and donkeys. But I’m not as good on a donkey as on a motorcycle. 

Throughout my time in here, I’ve had some pretty interesting experiences on the motorcycle. Here are three examples:

1) The time I tried to carry two cakes for three hours on a motorcycle

My friend Aleja celebrated her birthday in September and threw a big party for the whole community where she lives. As she was making food for over 100 people, she decided that she wouldn’t be able to also have cake. However, she also told me that a birthday is not a birthday without cake.

So I decided to bring her cake to celebrate her birthday.

But she lives three hours from where I live…

So, being a person that thoroughly thinks through everything (note sarcasm), I had my friend in Libertad make two cakes, as big as possible, since we needed enough cake for over 100 people. My idea was to leave them in the pans and just decorate the top so that they wouldn’t be destroyed in the journey (I was thinking a little bit). However, as things often don’t go as planned, one of the cakes didn’t turn out well so my friend had to use the same pan for both cakes. So I had two beautifully decorated cakes to bring to Aleja for her birthday.

We set out early, because we also had to run some errands around Sincelejo beforehand (an extra hour with two massive cakes on my lap). I started out alright, the cakes in boxes, the boxes in a bag, and the bag on my leg.

Ten minutes in, I knew it was a bad idea. But all we could do was continue.

When we finally arrived at Aleja’s, I was afraid to open the boxes and find two completely smashed cakes. However, I was surprised to find that although the decorations were completely destroyed, the cakes themselves were fine!

Ruined cake

With a little fix up work (well, a completely new frosting job), they looked just like new!

Fixed cake!

And Aleja was very excited to have cake. As was the community. And it was delicious!

But never again will I carry cake on a moto.

2) The time we paid 1000 pesos to carry the motorcycle across an arroyo

It has been a very dry year this year, but the other day it rained. And I mean it rained.

I was supposed to head out of town to meet people from the office in Mampujan early in the morning, but since it was raining, we couldn’t leave. It began raining at 6 am and didn’t let up until 11. At noon, we decided it would be okay to try to go.

The road one takes to enter and leave Libertad is not paved, therefore when it rains like this day, it is quite spectacularly filled with mud. I absolutely trust my driver, so I had no doubt that we’d make it okay, but it certainly was an adventure.

Then we arrived at the arroyo…

There is a spot just a little bit after the next town where, on a normal day, there is just a little trickle of water over the rocks, but after a rain the water rushes quite strongly. And this day it was rushing.

Waiting for the arroyo to calm down.

We spent about twenty minutes watching it with the others, waiting for it to go down a little bit. The young men kept offering to carry the moto across for us for 1000 pesos (about 50 cents). Finally we accepted.

See them carrying the moto?

After the moto was safely across, we all wadded through, holding hands in a line as not to be swept away. The water reached up to my thighs.

We paid the 1000 pesos and continued on our way through the mud. By the time we reached our destination, the wind had already dried us out.

3) The time I fell off the motorcycle into the same arroyo to protect fish

The other day, the director of Sembrandopaz asked me to do him the favor of bringing him some fish from Libertad to Sincelejo since the fish is cheaper here (and fresher- they catch them right here!)

Not a problem.

But… then the Styrofoam cooler cracked and the handle broke, so before we started out to Sincelejo (at 4:30 in the morning, mind you), we put the cooler in a sack. This made it very difficult to grab on to (also, realize that this cooler is quite large and filled with ten kilos of fish and ice on top of that).

It was very similar to my experience with the cakes… Ten minutes in and I knew it was going to be a very long morning.

Then we reached the same arroyo that we paid to cross the moto. This morning there was no rushing water, just some water pooled between the rocks. However, a combination of the darkness (remember it was 4:30 am), the rocks, and the way the cooler made balance difficult… we lost control a little bit.

No, really, it was just me that lost control a little. The driver was fine. He was super surprised to look back and see me, flat on my back, clutching the cooler, in the water pooled between the rocks.

“Lani! Cómo te caiste!?” “Lani, how did you fall!?”

Let’s just say, I am very faithful to the director of Sembrandopaz and I was not going to let those fish fall! So, when they started to go, I went with them.

“Lani, te mojaste?” “Lani, did you get wet?”

Did I get wet!? Ha! I was soaking wet, backpack, pants, sweater… But hey! I wasn’t hurt! So I hopped back on the moto and we continued on safely to where I catch the bus, put the fish in the back, nabbed a seat, and promptly fell asleep (still sopping wet).

Now, it had still been dark when I got on the bus so I didn’t actually see myself until I woke up in Sincelejo and got off the bus.

And what a disaster I was! The water I fell in was super dirty and therefore I was super dirty. How embarrassing to try to get someone to stop to bring me on a motorcycle with a cooler full of fish in a bag, wet, dirty, and smelling disgusting. The guy who stopped looked at me like I was insane.

My coworkers also looked at me like I was insane when I arrived.

“It’s only 7:30 in the morning, Lani! What sort of trouble could you have possibly already gotten yourself into!?”

But the fish made it safe and sound! :)