Stupid Train Left Me in the Mexican Jungle

So I was on the train from Mexico City to Veracruz. The day before I had decided it was necessary to flee the city because the smog was terrible. I mean really bad...if you licked your lips it felt gritty. Yuck. I was 21 and visiting my mexican girlfriend at the time. Yeah, she was hot. Anyways! Taking the train overnight to Veracruz seemed like a good idea. The mexican peso was so screwed back then, that I had an old Pullman sleeper cabin to myself for less than 40 bucks. Two bunks and a toilet...still, not exactly luxury!

It was the next day; I had woken up and we had come through the mountains overnight and we were now in the lowland jungle. The train was pretty slow because people were always walking on the tracks. We come to this little one horse town, and I ask the guy in my decent spanish how long we'll be stopped. '"Two hours", he says. I figured it was a good chance to go check out the town, so I walked around a bit, stopped by a store and chatted up a couple of girls. This guy working in the store with the girls invites me over to his folks place for lunch. People sure were friendly in that place! Anyways, after lunch I bought the guy a couple of beers at the brewery where he worked (good beer too) and headed back to the train. Yeah the train. What train? I got to the platform and it was gone! Oh was I pissed....the train had left without me, and all my stuff (video camera etc) was still on the train!

Yikes. I told a guy at the ticket office what happened. The train had just gone up a siding a few miles nearby to wait. But it was not going to stop in the town again.
Now this is where something happened that would never happen at home....the ticket office guy radioed the train, and it stopped in the town again just for me!
Wow. What a break...

That kind of thing is typical of most of my travels stories - a lot of people you meet are really friendly and helpful. International Travel is truely one of the greatest adventures in life.