OK,
Ameca seems to be the town which it is impossible to get to. We have
tried several times to make the journey to Ameca. It has however
been impossible. The first attempt was thwarted because it took so
long to get downtown to the bus station because of traffic that we
abandoned the journey because it was too long to make it worthwhile
for the day.
The
second attempt was so promising. We got up extra early, got a taxi
downtown and bought our tickets right away. The bus was leaving
20mins after we go there so we thought the whole thing would work
perfectly. It is tricky to know where some of the smaller buses come
and go from within the city so it was no surprise that after a while,
we were near the smaller bus station by my house! Nooo! An hour had
been wasted on the bus.
Noticing
familiar places out of the window, I happened to look out of the
other window into the main part of the highway. I saw a bus that
looked like one of the familiar crummy Guadalajara city buses, but
this one was different. It looked like the central part had been
melted and the plastic was oozing onto the floor. How odd I thought.
I had heard about buses being burned by narcos after a prime ring
leader had been arrested, but had never seen anything before. I
assumed an accident may have happened.
20
mins past and again happened to look out the window and see a
completely burnt out bus on the side of the road. Something was up.
It was making me increasingly nervous about leaving the city on a
bus! We pulled into the local bus station to my house and the driver
announced that the bus was being held on orders of the government who
said that the roads were not safe to go on. Road blocks had been set
up around the city by narcos who had burned buses in order to cause
chaos on a busy bank holiday weekend. We were going no where! The
city ground to a halt! We had to go down town again to get our money
back on our tickets, so the day was spent mainly down there. Ameca
would not be happening today!
It
is pretty scary that these things happen, but it is quite rare and
hasn't really inconvenienced me as a traveller. I feel much more
sorry for the bus drivers who lose revenue and their means to make it
as insurance companies do not pay out for their buses (which they
usually own or co-own) are burnt out by drug traffickers.
I
still plan to visit Ameca and will do soon hopefully. I shall update
this page when I do!
Hemos tratado de visitar Ameca en dos ocasiones. La primera vez fuimos a la Antigua Central de Autobuses de Guadalajara para tomar un camión a Ameca, pero no llegamos a tiempo, así que decimos ir a otro pueblo cerca de Chapala.La segunda vez llegamos más temprano a la estación y alcanzamos a abordar el autobus. El camión pasa por todo periférico, mientras íbamos platicando vimos por la ventana un camión vació a mitad de una avenida. En lo personal pensé que se había descompuesto. A los cinco minutos vimos que una tienda de autopartes estaba incendiada. Todo esto me fue poniendo nervioso.
Llegamos a la estación de autobuses de Zapopan y fue ahí donde el camionero nos confirmó lo que ya había estado temiendo: Narcobloqueos.
Ese día en especial el Narco había bloqueado varias salidas de la ciudad con autobuses incendiados.
Nuestro camión se había detenido en la estación hasta que el problema fuera resuelto. El gobierno había dado la instruccion de que ningún camión saliera de la ciudad. Esperamos alrededor de una hora cuando decidimos no ir a Ameca y quedarnos en la ciudad. Nos dijeron que podían darnos nuestro dinero de regreso pero teníamos que regresar a la Antigua Central de Autobuses por el dinero. Así lo hicimos y encontramos un caos en la estación, ya que ningún camión salía de la ciudad. Muchas personas se quedaron esperando salir de vacaciones o a sus pueblos de procedencia.
En cambio de Ameca recorrimos el centro de Guadalajara y encontramos un puesto de tamales pintados de colores y un café que vende nieve de garrafa con vino tinto.
Todavía queda pendiente ese viaje.
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