During the summer holidays, my parents, my two brothers and I decided to go on a trip to visit our family, we left from the capital, Caracas, where we lived to get to Margarita Island, where we were all born and where the great majority of our family is.
When we visit the island we stay at my grandmother's house which is big enough to receive us all, and when we go to visit several of my cousins usually stay there to share with us so it is always very entertaining. It was day that seemed to end like an ordinary day, when the telephone rang and my grandmother answered, within minutes she was calling us to one of my brothers, a cousin who had spent the night with us and me. The grandmother told us that one of my aunts was preparing a lunch and wanted us all to come and spend some time with family and asked us to get ready.
Once we were ready, we went down the stairs from the second floor where the rooms are located and at that moment we realized a small inconvenience, in the house we were six people; my parents, my grandmother, my brother, my cousin and me, while in the car of my father who was the only one that was in the house, only five people enter. Realizing the situation, my first reaction was to joke with my cousin telling him that it was his turn to walk to our aunt's house, before the nervous look of my cousin who seemed to have taken it very seriously, we decided that no one would leave the house alone, my parents and my grandmother would go in the car while the younger ones would take the bus.
At that time my brother and I did not have much control of the transportation routes, because every time we traveled, we usually had someone who could give us a ride, my aunt had moved relatively recently so I had some doubts about how to arrive her home, but I remembered a way to get to the house, but for that we should walk a not very long stretch of approximately twenty minutes to be able to board a transport that would leave us right in front of my aunt's house, I looked over this idea and told my brother who was not very sure about which way to take and my cousin who despite living on the island rarely traveled by bus to my aunt's house for which was a bunch of doubts, my grandmother broke into the conversation arguing that this way was an unnecessary waste of time because for her, due to her age, it was an infinite journey from her house to the bus stop since right in front of where we were, it was a bus stop that would leave us a block from a famous pharmacy in the village and once there we would have to walk a block to be able to get on a new bus that would lead us to our destination.
It seemed like a great idea since it would save us a good part of the trip, but I felt doubtful as I did not remember exactly where the pharmacy was, also the place where we had to wait for the bus was the same where the buses that drive to the house of my other grandmother, the same is a completely different path than the one we should follow, but my grandmother insisted that we were with my cousin and he should remember, perhaps not wanting to stay the same as his cousins who do not live in the place, my cousin said that he knew which route the grandmother spoke to us, so we decided to take this road, we spent at least ten minutes at the stop and I could observe at least two of the transports already known to me which led to the town where my paternal grandmother lives, finally a new bus appeared and my cousin said "this should be" something did not convince me of that phrase, "this should be" was not a phrase that bring me great confidence. So I asked him if he was sure and he answered yes. The bus started and we were talking between us, after a few minutes distracted me a little and when I look at the outside of the bus I noticed that there were no more houses, only a large number of trees, I looked my brother who seemed to have begun to notice the situation right at the same time as I, no doubt, I have passed that way since I have memory, it was the journey that separated the town where my paternal grandmother lives and where my maternal grandmother lived, among so many laughs we distracted and we did not realize that we passed the place where we had to go down to get to the pharmacy, our first reaction was to observe my cousin who still did not seem to understand what was happening.
With much shame and at the same time with some fury we had to get off after ten more minutes of travel, since in the road that separates the two villages there are no bus stops, we end up in a village called "Tacarigua" which is located a little before the town of my other grandmother. No one said a word while we waited for the new bus that would lead us to the same place where our journey began. Finally after about twenty minutes we were again in front of the house of my grandmother, at that moment We followed the discussion that had been born in the bus about who was to blame for what happened, but finally and a little calmer we decided to take it easy and the laughter between us three did not wait, only now after almost an hour lost in an unnecessary trip we were at the starting point and we had no other remedy than to take the road that we initially tried to avoid, and we had to to walk for about twenty minutes under an inclement sun by the way of which I was always sure, finally we arrived at the famous "distant" stop and we approached a transport. In about thirty minutes we were at my aunt's house.
The first reaction of everybody was to ask why we had delayed so much, after a few minutes with much shame we had to accept what happened and tell the story of how we ended almost across the island, I will never forget the expression of my uncle who with the mouth open simply said "Can not be". My grandmother was the first to laugh, like everyone present unable to believe that we had made such a mistake, my uncle after getting out of his initial astonishment also did not take long to start joking with us three, the main jokes were directed towards my cousin who was the one who lived on the island and in theory should have guided us, but he did nothing more than let himself be carried away by the situation, my mother simply kept repeating to us that we have visited our grandmother all our lives and could not believe the fact that we did not recognize that we were in the wrong way while my aunt remained incredulous because of the fact that her nephews got lost arriving at a site as recurrent as their home. It is not very difficult to imagine what was the main topic of conversation that day when we met for lunch and the following days where comments like "Do not go to finish in Tacarigua" every time I left the house did not wait. After that day I always watch twice before getting on a bus and more if I am in Margarita or feel the slightest doubt. And you? Have you ever taken the wrong bus on a trip that should have been easy?
