The bus ride

It wasn't our first choice. 

We weren't expecting to stay in La Paz. Our first choice in Uyuni had no bus services. Our second choice in Potosí had all buses sold out. We went for broke and decided for the border at Villazón. There were 2 seats left. The ticket lady said it would be a 16 hour trip. We checked our bags below and boarded at 7 pm on Friday. 

It should have been foreboding when I needed to use the restroom at the bus terminal, but the men's was under construction. I decided to wait for the bus, as surely an overnight bus for 16 hours has to have a bathroom, right?

Wrong. 

Before too long Meredith had to go too. We debated about how a bus could have no bathroom, then it must make frequent stops, right?

Wrong. 

It was 11 pm before we saw two men making for the exit. We both knew in other countries we'd been too, we could ask the driver for a moment. So we followed the two men to the exit.

Now this bus setup was strange. All the passengers sat upstairs, while the driver was in a separate cab below. The two men approached the drivers window to pay. Then the bus started to move with me outside and Mer at the door. 

I ran to the window yelling, "Esperése!" (wait) The bus stopped again and I asked if we could wait a moment to pee. The co-pilot asked the driver. Then the driver said something I didn't hear and then started to take off again. As the bus moved, the sliding door to the passenger stairs started to close with Mer standing in between. 

I had to run. Mer had to hold the door. She kept her body between the closing door so I could run and grab the railing inside. 

We both made it. 

We climbed the stairs and made it back to out seats. Confused, scared, wondering what happened, we held each other arm in arm and sat silently. 

I dealt with the discomfort by forcing myself to sleep. Mer wasn't so lucky. 

Around 1 am, I woke up with Mer wide awake. We discussed ermergency options. Would the bumpy road allow the use of a bottle? Finally, it looked like we were entering a city. Would we stop?

We pulled into the street next to the Oruru bus station and several other passengers stood up. We knew this was our chance. We got off the bus and looked for the bathrooms. That's when Mer noticed the other women heading for a storm drain in the street.

"Are we … ? " Mer asked. 

Yes we were. 

Between the cold, the night, the street, and the public location, it was hard to go despite our desperate need. 

Then the bus started moving again. I got myself together and ran and got Mer. Turns out the bus was just backing into the station.  

Neither of us had gone completely, so we returned to a place behind a closed vendor's stand and took turns, one guarding the other. 

Relief at last. We went back to the bus and fought our way among the newly boarding passengers only to find someone in our seats. In our daze and tiredness, the words came that he was in our seats. Begrudgingly, but obediently, he got up and moved his things. The bus then filled up with more passengers (some fights ensued as new passengers who purchased seats were relegated to the aisle.) Eventually, the bus rumbled on as both Mer and I were able to sleep. 

Then the "ganas" came again. Around 4:30, the bus stopped for gas. She and I both had to go again and didn't know our next opportunity. Again we found ourselves out by the poorly lit highway among other passengers answering nature's call. It was so cold at this point, it was hard to go, but go we did. The bus horn blew so we went back and boarded. 

The sun rose around 7 am. I was awake as Mer caught up where I could previously sleep. I did get our first picture of the episode of the scrubby, semi-mountainous desert conditions of central and southern Bolivia. 

There were not many people or villages here. Nor did there seem to be much traffic. It felt like a solitary bus heading to nowhere. 

Mer did wake up a few hours later, but it's not like there's much to do but sit. We both read a little. Tried to play word games on the Kindle. Otherwise, back to sleep. 

Around 10 am (hour 15), we stopped for breakfast. The nicest part was free bathrooms. We ate our snacks and took advantage of the time to stand up. The bus horn then honked after 20 minutes, and we all scrambled aboard. Back to sleep. 

At 12 noon, we rolled into another bus terminal. This one was Tariza. A few people got off, some with several large packages. I got one picture, but the camera only focused on the dirt on the window. 

And thus we went back to sleep. At round 2 pm (19 hours after leaving La Paz) we finally arrived at the border town of Villazón. We collected our bags and tried to get oriented. We had long ago decided we needed a break from from buses. We needed a real bathroom and a nice, warm shower. 

It was not to be found in Villazón. After striking out on our first hostel attempt, our second proved decent enough. Although our private bathroom had no toilet seat and (to our dismay) no hot water, the shared showers did. We dropped our bags headed for cleanliness. 

Our room was nothing fancy, in fact extremely cold as it was down a hallway with no contact from the sun. However, it had a bed with which. we could stretch our legs out. 

We went for a walk in town, not only to stand up but also to warm up in the sun after a luke-warm shower. 

We found an Internet cafe to at least check on our next destination in Argentina (although email barely worked and attempts to reserve hostels didn't work). I also found no news, in English or Spanish, as to what was happening in Uyuni. We left and eventually found a chicken dinner with soup. Then we returned to our hostel, snuggled in bed for warmth, and played Ticket to Ride on our phones under the sheets to avoid the freezing chill. Around 8 pm, we called it a night. 

Despite this blog post, we haven't really dealt with the trauma of that bus ride. It truly tested our grit, patience, language, and prayer life. We only say, "Thank you God, anyway." Perhaps we will learn the real disaster we were spared. Until then, we count our blessings and look forward to our next steps in Argentina.