Speaking of buses, on the first bus ride, from Rosita to Sahsa, the guy in front of me stood up to put something in the overhead rack. As he did this, his shirt lifted up, and I could plainly see that he had a handgun stuffed into his pants. This discovery was a little unsettling because I had heard of buses being robbed in Peru. The bus system there is a little different in that they have buses owned by private companies, so the buses are pretty nice. Nonetheless, bus robberies in Peru had gotten so bad that most companies have all passengers go through a metal detector screening before getting on board. These public buses in Nicaragua are mostly beaten up former school buses from the United States. Sometimes people ride on the roof. Animals sometimes ride inside along with possessions, food, crops, desks, and almost anything that can fit. As far as I can tell, there aren't any security measures whatsoever, much less metal detectors. And once you're out in the middle of the campo, ain't nobody coming to rescue you.
The discovery of the gun caused some concern and I began scanning other passengers for unusual bulges in their pants, as well as trying to determine whether this situation might be dangerous. Fortunately, this guy didn't appear to be sketchy. He had just bought a snow-cone like treat for a young girl who was apparently his daughter. Just to be safe, I asked Edgar about it. Edgar says that it's pretty common for people to carry guns in rural Nicaragua. A lot of people were involved in the wars in the 1970s and 1980s and still carry guns for protection. After all, many of these folks live in very rural areas where they don't have any police protection. That made me feel better. I guess that if no one has guns, that makes you feel safe. Or if lots of people do, then you feel a little safe too because anyone would have to be crazy to try to rob a bus full of people with guns.
We didn't have any problems. On the way back, as a matter of fact, another guy had a gun in a holster that wasn't concealed at all.
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