Chapter 2: South America

True to her word, my former landlady had stored everything I owned in a closet. I spent a couple of hours sorting through what I wanted to take with me, then packed it all into two suitcases and a carryon bag that Lisa and I had bought in Cancun. I used the land-line phone to call the airline and make a reservation for South America. I was lucky! There was room on a flight leaving the next morning. My former landlady gave me a ride to the bus station and three hours later I was at the airport.

I did not want to spend the little money I had left on a hotel room, so I found the gate I was leaving from and sat down. After eating the most expensive hamburger and fries I ever ate in my life, I slept on a bench at the gate.

My flight left at 7am. By noon I had passed through customs and was waiting in line for a taxi. A man who could speak English asked where I was going, thinking maybe we could share a ride. When I told him the O’Shea Ranch he told me I had missed the morning flight at the private airport and that I would have to wait until the next day. I asked about a bus, not wanting to spend the last of my money on another airplane ticket. He told me I could take a bus from the station there in town and go to O’Shea Landing. It is located just before the town of Conception. From there I could catch the riverboat going to the ranch.

Four hours later I was standing on a dock looking at a big boat unloading frozen meat, produce and bags that were labelled “La Jabita 100% Geisha Coffee’. This older lady walked up to me and saw me standing there in a cowboy hat, boots, jeans and a western shirt.