Since she can remember, Mar always wanted to drive a truck. She managed to fulfil that dream only in her thirties. Mar González talks about her passion, challenges and combining work behind the truck wheel with family life.
A Spanish transport website solocamion.es tells the story of Mar González, a 38-year-old citizen of Hellín (Albacete province, Castilla-La Mancha), who unexpectedly faced the chance to make the greatest dreams come true.
She has been fascinated with a profession of truck driver since she was a little girl. She curiously admired the drivers driving through her home town. She used to observe their faces, which showed tiredness, but also a spark of joy and fulfilment.
This fascination lasted over the years, though Mar failed to turn it into reality. Only five years ago, at the age of 33, the woman was confronted with the lifetime opportunity. From time to time she would go to the parking of the transport company, where Francisco, her partner at that time, was employed. There she could admire the trucks in silence with undisguised joy…until she got caught “red-handed” by the company owner. The man challenged her: “Can you do it? Get the papers needed and we’ll talk.” Mar soon returned to the company with the required qualifications and started her dream job.
As you may guess, the beginnings were not easy, but Mar perceives the obstacles as challenges, not problems. She started with the national routes from Almeria i.e. to Zaragoza or Madrid. Later she was driving the cooling rode with another driver – from Morocco to the south of France. When the love between Mar and Francisco was gone, she left the transport for a while, yet she came back to it soon afterwards.
Currently, the takes only the routes in Spain. After a week she goes back to her children, Rocío (8 yo) and David (11 yo). Mar, called by her colleagues La Chica Scania (trans. the Scania girl), really loves her job. Although it is not easy and Mar sometimes meets with disrespect from men, she is satisfied with her everyday work. In her Scania G440 decorated with souvenirs from her family and friends she always looks perfectly… and very feminine. She does not wear trousers and t-shirts as other women behind the truck wheel and as she states “the professionalism in this job is not measured by the appearance or dress.” She is proud of what she is doing and grateful for the opportunity she got.
