Roadblocks Made of Sticks and a Moto

Tranque: in English tranque is basically a roadblock due to a protest. Usually you do not know there is a tranque until you are 100000 cars backed up in a traffic jam. Setting up these tranques is a way for the protesters to be heard. Here in Nica, tranques are put on usually by taxi drivers, sugar plantain workers, ex-military members etc…They are awful. (the tranques, not the people) Who knows how much money is lost during these tranques due to trucks not able to deliver their products or people not able to get to and from work. Unfortunately and out of the blue, I and a few friends got stuck in a tranque that was set up between Chinandega and Leon. This was our only way to get to Leon so we headed out in the car of a friend, not knowing what we were about to encounter. We started out great; classic NSYNC and Backstreet Boy songs playing, AC blasting in our freshly washed unsweaty faces…we were completely oblivious to what was to come. And then we hit it. Bumper to bumper to bumper traffic for 20 or so kilometers (on our side of the tranque, plus another 20 Ks on the other), they were mainly 18 wheelers attempting to deliver their goods. We alternated between sitting in the hotbox of a car and standing outside in the shade, jumping back in everytime a car inched forward, hoping that they had come to an agreement already. We played that sitting and standing game for 2 hours and then gave up. We decided to hop in a pedi cab to see how far we’d make it. As we were 3 people with 5 bags on a hot day, traveling uphill, we did not make it very far before our driver basically asked us to get out and walk. Finally after walking the majority of our triciclo ride, we paid our man, grabbed our bags and continued walking. And walk we did-3 kilometers (yes, that is only a little over a mile, but when you’re carrying 2 heavy bags under a hot sun on a day when you’ve already been in traffic for almost 3 hours and have switched modes of transportation 3 times, 3 K is a lot). So we continued walking until we hit the tranque. I had never seen, nor crossed a tranque before, but in my mind I pictured massive walls of people angrily shouting and waving burning sticks so as to actually block the road. Instead we came to a couple of people holding signs, some taking naps in the shade, while some small branches and a motorcycle were used to block the road. It almost seemed comical as I stepped over the branch to cross the tranque. This is why it took us 3 hours to get 8 kilometers? With a shady spot to rest up ahead, we continued on, hoping to find a bus on its way to Leon or Managua that would drop us off. With what seemed to be our first stroke of luck all day, the second we got to the shade, an empty bus pulled up. Acting in true Nica style, we used our bags and our butts to worm out way onto the bus and into seats. I don’t remember pushing any old ladies out of the way, but honestly it had been a really long day. Anything is possible. And we were on our way. We passed by hundereds of trucks, cars and bikes stopped on the other side of the tranque. We later found out that the private car that we had left Chinandega in was still parked in the line of traffic waiting to cross the tranque 10 hours later. And he was nowhere close to crossing it. My boss spent 16 hours on a bus waiting to get back home. 2 people died during the tranque: one due to an ambulance not being able to get out of traffic and to the hospital quick enough and one who lost control of his bike in the commotion of the traffic and rode off a bridge. The tranque definitely was effective in getting the attention of the company owners, the government and the entire country, but at what cost?