Quite The Bus Ride

5/25/11
Early yesterday morning, left the hostel to take the bus back to Cochabamba. We of course get there early just in case, but there’s a need for that here – on time is plenty early. The bus was less crowded this time with fewer people and things in the aisles and there were seven foreigners on the bus, most of us sitting together. The bus sputters along, the engine chugging and making awful noises. About half way through, out in the middle of nowhere, we come to a stop at the bottom of the hill and some of the guys get out and mess with the bus a bit before we grumble our way to the top. This happens again at the next hill, and the next. Finally, the bus just gives up and dies. The road is really narrow with a ridge on one side and plants on the other, so there was a huge build up of cars and another bus behind us. We didn’t really know what was going on but sat there for over an hour, unsure of what was going to happen. I stuck my head out the window and caught bits of pieces of what was going on – siphoning gas or some other fluid into the car, people getting out stools and just sitting on them outside, the driver trying the engine over and over to no avail. We thought we would be stuck there much longer, but eventually the bus started moving and kept on going even with steep hills; it was apparently some sort of mechanical problem related to the diesel. I kept thinking that we would have to stop again at the next hill and was confused when we suddenly stopped and people started shouting in the middle of a downhill stretch. A few guys sprinted off the bus and ran back towards where we had come, and we noticed that one of the luggage doors underneath us had swung open. I was expecting them to come back with a suitcase or two, but instead, they ran back holding two sheep on a rope. Apparently they had been riding with the luggage the entire time and took the opportunity when we started moving to escape. It was an amusing yet sad site to see the sheep being shoved back under the bus. From there, though, the bus ride went smoothly.
Got lunch and spent the afternoon with a few of the others from the bus, and then headed off for my overnight bus to Sucre. We stopped for dinner along the way and I got huge-eared corn with a big piece of soft cheese, a quick dish that most people were buying. It was an uneventful bus ride and I somehow slept most of the way on the bus, aside from when I really, really needed to pee. The driver compartment was closed off from the passenger area so I kept banging on the door to ask them to let me out. The door was eventually opened and they said we would be in a town in 5 minutes. I said all I needed was a tree, but they just closed their door and kept on driving. Ten minutes later, I banged on the door again and after another five, they stopped in a town to let me out. I asked where the bathroom was and they just pointed into the lighted street – why head all the way there when there were plenty of trees on the dark roads? Grr. Another fifteen minutes later, we stopped at an actual bathroom. Oh, Bolivian time.
Arrived at the station at 5:20 this morning but it was too early to head to the house. There was somehow free wifi there, so used that for a bit, took a taxi, and am sitting here now waiting for others to wake up so that I can find out what I’m doing and where I can find some breakfast.