The Good Path
Talking family and travels with bus driver Marvin Rojas Soto
San José is unlike any city I’ve ever been to before.
I had watched from the window of our tall coach bus all morning as the scenery changed from the rain-drenched mountains of Monteverde, to a bustling ocean port, and finally, to the concrete jungle that is San Jose, Costa Rica.
As we lumbered into town, weighed down by 25 college students and three faculty members, people roused themselves awake in their seats. We had been out late the night before at Bar Amigos in Santa Elena, and running on less than four hours of sleep proved a challenge. Jaime sat next to me, and we picked out heads off of our comfy seats to take in the sights of the city, taking out our shared ear buds.
On the outskirts of San José, families watched their children compete in soccer matches, soaking up the warm weather at the perfect setting for a relaxing Sunday. We were greeted by a man blowing bubbles in the middle of the road, seemingly just to bring smiles to the faces of those entering the city.
Once we hit the streets of the city proper, the scenery changed to match the fast-paced nature of the city. Vendors walked down streets and sidewalks, hawking cheap goods. Traditional styles blended with sleek new architecture, as evidenced by a McDonald’s advertisement serving as the backdrop for a massive cathedral. People of all ages filled the sidewalks, some walking briskly to their destinations, others taking time to slow down and take in the sights. The drivers of San José seemed to treat stop lights, pedestrian crossings, and yield signs as mere suggestions to follow at their leisure.
Our bus driver, Marvin Rojas Soto, expertly dodged traffic throughout our entire journey, maneuvering our unwieldy vehicle through the crowded streets and making turns so tight I had to close my eyes until we made it through. He told me that his skills all stem from his many years of experience.
Marvin is 50 years old, speaks Spanish with a crisp, deep voice, and is infinitely patient with me as I stumble through questions in Spanish, telling me “no problemo” every time I apologize for my lacking skills. With Marvin at the helm of the bus, captaining us through the dense cityscape, I feel as safe as I do sleeping in the back seat while my dad drives through winding roads and dark highways on our own road trips.
Living 12 hours away from most of my extended family, I’m no stranger to long car rides. About two to three times a year, my family and I will pack up in my dad’s Mountaineer and make the trip from Atlanta, Georgia to Cleveland, Ohio. At first, the seemingly endless hours in the car annoyed me, but after a while I came to enjoy our road trips. When you’re in the car, you really can’t do much more than be present in the moment. We spend the time talking, singing along to the radio, and touring many of America’s gas stations. After 7 years of these road trips, you really come to appreciate a Quick Trip when you can find one. More often than not, we face the amusing apprehension of arriving at run-down stations with bathrooms straight out of a horror story.
Somehow, every time Marvin drives us from place to place here in Costa Rica, he finds excellent road-side stops to make. On our way into San José, we stopped at small market to load up on snacks and take some pictures of sun-bathing iguanas. When I’m at home in the states, I normally go for peanut M&M’s or pretzels, but here I chose galletas rellenas de crema, or cream cookies, as my road trip snack.
Marvin tells me he’s been driving a car since he was fifteen, and a bus since he was 16 or 17. “Muy joven,” he tells me in Spanish, meaning he started driving at a young age.
He likes driving out in the countryside more so than the city, because of the tight corners of the city, but he says it’s normal to weave around trucks. He laughs as he mimics the gasps of his passengers as he makes the closest of turns.
Marvin has worked for 9 years driving a bus, and loves that he gets to travel with his job. However, he says it’s hard to be away from his family so often.
Family is the most important thing, he tells me. He works to support his family and make sure his kids grow up along “un buen camino”- a good path.
Marvin and I talk in a dining room beneath the shadow of the Arenal volcano, and he tells me we are only 30 miles from his house. I ask him what city he’s from, but he corrects me- he is from the country, from a place with no name. There aren’t many cars where he’s from, and the houses are spread far apart.
Marvin comes from a big family- he’s the oldest of a family of four. “Muy bonita relación tenemos,” he tells me, meaning he has a beautiful relationship with his siblings. They still all live very close together, as is customary for many Costa Rican families.
The way he talks about his large family reminds me of my own family, of my many aunts and uncles and my 18 cousins. Moving away from my family was hard, but we still make our own camino up north in order to celebrate holidays and important life events. I like thinking about how, no matter where you end up in life, you can always make it back to be surrounded by family.
Marvin shows me pictures on his phone of his 5 kids- Brian, Yerlin, Ariana, Jason, and Rogelio. Ariana is married and has a brand new baby, a little boy named Santiago. Yerlin is at university, and soon, her younger brother Brian will join her. Marvin tells me it’s difficult for parents to send their children to university, because of the cost, but both Yerlin and Brian have scholarships.
Marvin only has 15 days of vacation per year, and he saves up a bit of his salary each week to use for going on vacations with his family. I appreciate the time and care he takes to make the travels of a big group of college kids just a little more special, treating us like family. He always asked us how we were doing throughout the week in San José, if we’d had a nice day, and even hand-chose the restaurant we ate at after zip lining later on in the week in Arenal, which added a personal touch to the outing, and ended up being a delicious choice. Marvin embodies the hospitality and kindness of the entire country of Costa Rica.
After handling the San Jose traffic with ease, Marvin delivered us safely to our abode in San Jose, Hotel Don Carlos. He helped us unload our luggage as we stretched our legs and took in the beautiful exterior of the hotel. Etched around the building were beautiful mosaics depicting scenes from the classic Spanish novel Don Quixote. It was funny to think that, just as Quixote had his trusty steed, Rocinante, we too had a reliable mode of transportation in our large bus.
Arriving on the bus early in the morning, or after completing a tiring but fun activity during the day, it’s nice to be in good hands throughout the next camino we take.
