Suiza: In which we do things our parents have always told us NOT to do

Story Time!!!

"It was a dark, cold Swiss night. On a warm, brightly lit commuter bus, four foreigners chat as old friends, oblivious to the fact that the bus nears the end of the line. The bus stops like normal, but all of a sudden, the engine turns off. Startled, the four girls look at each other questioningly. As they start to gather their things to leave, a stranger waiting for them to move out of his path casually mentions in English, "You know this is the end of the line, right?" Feigning an informed attitude, the girls nod and proceed to exit the bus. Outside the doors, they face a dark sidewalk lined by a chain fence that disappears into the distance. Every hundred yards streetlights try to illuminate the darkness but their feeble attempts are swallowed almost immediately by the intense blackhole of nighttime. The thought that it's Halloween offers no comfort.

The bewildered girls glance around, trying desperately to spot something that resembles another bus stop for their connecting bus. The stranger from the bus appears at their elbow once more and asks if they need help. Since there's no one else around and he speaks English, they decide to take a chance. They state that they're looking for the stop for the 54 bus. He guides them to the nearby information board for the stop. Here they realize a deadly mistake--the 54 ran its last route nearly an hour and a half before. In an attempt to help, the stranger goes to the bus' still-open doors and asks about the 54. He confirms that no, it's not coming again tonight, then returns to ask the girls where they're headed. They take another chance and mention that they were headed to a campground and ask if he knows how far away it is. Luckily, he does know of the campground. Unluckily, he states that he thinks it's a 30-minute walk. Once again the girls look down the long, dark road and ponder their fate. The stranger says that he's headed in the same direction for the first part and why don't they start walking in order to get warmer? As they start off, each girl begins to wonder just how safe the Swiss countryside is.

At this point, the stranger asks if they would like a ride down to the campground rather than walking. Immediately thinking of what their parents have always told them about not getting in cars with strangers, the girls hemhaw and don't really respond. The stranger then says that he has to call home and see if his dad has even arrived home yet and if the car is even available to use. At the mention of a father, the girls begin to feel a bit more comfortable with the idea. They stop at the corner while the stranger pulls out his cell and calls. This produces the pleasant surprise that this stranger is trilingual and also speaks Spanish, for he speaks Spanish with his father. Even though they still don't know much about the stranger, for some reason Spanish makes them a million times more comfortable for it is a language they somewhat understand, as opposed to the german and french they had been hearing all day long. The stranger ends his call and informs the girls that yes, his papi is home, and yes they can use the car, and would they like to walk to his house? Taking a huge risk but leaning on the hope that if there's a papi the situation is safe, they agree. At this point, several prospective headlines run through one girl's head: "Four American Girls Disappear in Geneva" "Vacation Turns Nightmarish for Americans" "Swiss Kidnapping Ring Strikes Again."

After a five-minute walk, they arrive at the house and are warmly welcomed in by the father. Introductions are made, backpacks are taken off, and refreshments are offered. During the course of the friendly conversation in the homey atmosphere, they learn that Nelson, the father, works for the UN. Juan, his son the stranger, has just graduated from an university in Ottowa, Canada and is bumming around at home in Geneva.

Isn't that a great story? But wait there's more. We stayed at Juan's house for a good hour and a half just talking. Then we decided that we really should drive down to the campground and see if it's office was open. When Erin had been researching it online, it said it was open year-round but it didn't have office hours. Since it was almost 10pm and apparently everything in Switzerland closes at 10pm, as opposed to Spain where everything OPENS at 9pm, Nelson offered his "garden" to us incase the office wasn't open. Which it wasn't. So we drove back with Juan and set up camp in his backyard. We slept fairly well that night and then in the morning, had tea with him again (his dad had already left for work). Then we all walked down to the campground (it was 30 min from there) and he helped us talk with the office manager and pay for our campsite for two nights. It was a good thing he was there or else we would have paid almost double because of a misunderstanding. Not only did he help us with that, but he also walked around Geneva with us for two days and was our own personal tour guide and put up with some pretty snippy attitudes at times (let's just say it wasn't the greatest time of the month for four girls to be traveling together).

Basically God was watching out for us and put Juan in our path at just the right time. I have no idea what we would have done if he hadn't been on that bus. As Caroline said, after the trip, "Then God said, 'Let there be Juan.'"


Yay for nice Columbians!!!


More to come on the Switzerland trip later.