Bus Ride From Hell!!!

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Ok, I HAD to tell ya´ll about this crazy crazy bus ride that we thought would NEVER end.
So Im travelling with a girl from Philadelphia... she´s such a beautiful hippy; super tall - we actually both are EXACTLY 182cm tall - we measured, has these looong dreadlocks, sells jewlery on the street and is an outward advocate of Chavez (you´ve heard me mention him and his crazy politics... he´ll get himself re-elected, even if he has to pull a Bush and cheat to win. kinda ironic, no?). Anyway, she´s 25 and in her 7th or 8th month of travelling and is just a kind and gentle and warm person. We met while we were both staying at Rebeca´s place, and it was just kinda logical for us to travel together as it seems that there are NO other travellers in Caracas. I have never been in a place where there is such racial homogenization--- well, i guess that´s a lie... there are Spanish, black, indigenous and mixes of all the above, but not really any asian, european, or North Americans to be seen anywhere!! (In Caracas,at least, what I hear is that most people fly in here and GET THE HECK OUT ASAP!! It´s just too crazy).

anyway, back to my story... we bought bus tickets for the 12 hour direct NON STOP ride to Mérida on Friday morning. Bus left at 6:30, so that gave us time to get back to Rachel´s and inlist the help of her kids to bake her a birthday cake for her 35th bday, eat really quick, and then get back to the station to get in line. We got there 45 minutes early and there was already a MASSIVE line... we finally got on our bus at about 6:15 and thought we had SCORED the jackpot... two sets of seats in the back had been converted to a bed. Ahah, of course we hopped right on and got comfy. Oops. Apparently those beds are for the drivers who switch on and off. We got yelled at by the most grumpy driver I´ve ever met to get off the bed and find a seat. Just because we were foreign didnt make us any different than the other people on the bus. Yikes. Waita pull out the racial card, buddy! So properly chastised we found seats.

Now, imagine the coldest you´ve EVER been in your life. Now, multiply that by about 7, and then stay like that for 18 hours. They absolutely BLLLLAST the airconditioning soooo hard. It got to the point where Rachel and I were cuddling up together, both wearing whatever warm clothes we had and trying not to cry... she took out the piece of velvet that she spreads her jewlery on and we tried to wrap ourselves up in that! A few of the locals on the bus even asked to have it turned down, but the grumpy-pants wouldnt. (we figured if we had asked, he probably would have turned it up even higher, as he kinda hated us!)... so we suffered for the ENTIRE journey... which wasn´t 12 hours as planned, but 18... and it wasn´t non-stop as we were told, but stopped in EVERY town along the way.

That wasn´t even the worst part - they were TERRIBLE drivers. At one point he slammed on the breaks and stopped on the highway. Without saying anything to us (and locking us in the bus!!!) both of the drivers got out. 20 minutes later we were wondering if they were gonig to get us robbed, or were taking our bags out of the bottom, or if we had hit something (that´s what the crazy guy beside us was like - that we had hit a car and they were trying to see if the people were still alive), or if they were just hanging out. All of the passengers started rocking the bus and banging on the windows and yelling at them. Finally they came back and there was a huge fight where one of the drivers was threatening to kick people off the bus in the middle of nowhere!!! Turns out they had stopped ´cause one of their friends´ buses was having mechanical problems and they wanted to hang out with him until the towtruck came. Arg. It was sooo frustrating, and the whole time we were there the flippin airconditioning was blasting in our faces!!!
I eventually managed to sleep on and off... but kept waking up to the sound of the bus wheels grinding against the rumble strips on the side of the road. I know you´re not going to believe this, but the stupid ass of a driver was passing on a hill, at a blind corner, and along came another big truck the other way... we actually HIT the truck, and busted our side mirror RIGHT OFF. I was so scared I was shaking! This guy was actually suicidal. I kept waking up from dreams of driving off a cliff and that being the end of it. My nerves were frayed by the time daylight came.

Needless to say, we made it to Mérida ok. aha, I know that´s not really that comforting, and I´m not writing this to scare you, believe me, I was scared enough for everyone and then some! It´s almost funny looking back on it. Almost, but not quite!!!

Ok, one more thing... for all you crazies who have cars - guess how much gas is here? I´ll give you a hint. NO WHERE NEAR IN NORTH AMERICA!!! It´s 3.5CENTS for a litre. Seriously, you can get about 1/2 a tank for about a dollar. wouldnt that be nice? Thought that would make ya´ll feel good!

Much love to everyone! Thanks for the emails and the comments - good to know that I´m not just writing this for no reason!
Cuidanse muchisimos!

Callie

gas prices

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Comments

[Theresa]

yowza
Insane! haha, I've totally had the freezing bus experience, in Mexico...1st class buss my ass, I was covering myself with a garbage bag trying to stay warm, then finally sucked it up and went to the back of the bus where it smelt like shat from the bathroom but at least there was some heat hahaha ewwwwww take care. Love ya:D