Sucre... Feliz Viaje (^_^)

Natalia and I boarded the bus. Actually, it took us about 10 minutes to figure out which bus it was. Our ticket said bus 1 (with normal seats) but we paid for bus 2 (semicama). This was my first time boarding a bus in this country on time, and it was difficult to figure out what is normal and protocol.

One of the many times we had to get off the bus. This time was because part of the road was dug-out.

The previous bus, the one I chased down in a taxi, provided blankets for everyone. This came in handy because the was no heat on the bus and the temperatures inside fell below freezing. When I walked onto the bus to Sucre, I noticed there weren't any blankets but this was definitely our bus. I walked off to ask the ticket lady if I could use a blanket... all I got was a confused and blank stare. There was NO way she was providing me with one. I figured, "okay, it is only an 9 hour ride. It can't be that bad, right?" I hopped back on, turned to Natalia and said, "At least there's no babies on the bus. I am pretty sure the last one I rode did and it cried for a couple hours. I can't really remember because I was exhausted." Famous last words because a young woman with two kids-- one two-year old, and the other no older than a few months-- sat next to her.

We departed on-time, and started out into the dark. Oh yeah, it was another overnight bus, leaving at 10 P.M., so we would arrive in Sucre in the morning. This would give us the day there before catching another night bus to La Paz. Not ten minutes into the trip, the bus stopped and the woman with the kids next to Natalia walked off. This didn't seem too weird because buses in Ecuador regularly drop-off and pick-up passengers on the side of the road in random places. Same thing? Despite the (extreme) cold, I managed to fall asleep after about 30 minutes into the drive. And then, the ride started to get strange.

Sopa de Mani! Thumbs up

The bus stopped abruptly around midnight, only two hours into the ride. I closed my eyes and tried falling back asleep, thinking assuming that we would get going soon and uninterrupted. However, just as soon as the bus would get going, the bus would quickly stop and wait again. The longest pause occurred about 1:30 A.M. The bus just sat, and waited, and remained stationary for the next hour. After the time commenced, everyone was instructed to get off the bus. GET OFF THE BUS. An indigenous woman yelled for all the jovenes to get off. The bus was stuck on a very short but incredible steep hill, topped with a raised railroad track smothered with large rocks. I shit you not, the level of confusion was at the greatest. A group of uniformed men were tossing some rocks under the tires and getting ready to push the bus a little. This went on for ten minutes before someone mentioned we were in Potosí. WE WERE IN POTOSÍ. The Potosinos carved the road to be too steep and covered the road in large stones. Those f*(@ing strikers were sabotaging our route, and we were witheld information that "directo a Sucre" still means going through Potosí!

A beautiful old church next to the central market.

For a total of 40 minutes, the bus tried and tried again to get over this hump. Meaning, 40 minutes of standing outside in the windy freezing cold. Our bus, as it turns out, was in the middle of a fleet of buses. By the looks of it, we were either the second or third bus, and there were at least two more behind us. At the end of this time, the bus was successful in climbing over the hump and we were allowed back on. The bus pulled ahead 20 meters and stopped, waited. I was fortunate that the guy sitting next to me offered to share his blanket to help me warm up my freezing legs.

Detail of the Metropolitan Cathedral

I fell asleep for maybe 20 or 30 minutes when the conductor got back onto the bus and said we had to get off again. We didn't even make it 100 meters before getting stuck on another pile of rocks used to fill a giant hole. At this point, I turned on my phone again. I had it off most of the time during my trip because I didn't have reception, but I obviously turned it on for pictures. I am surprised how long an iPhone can last when you aren't on it all the time. Imagine that. It was 6:22 A.M. when we got over this second hurdle. This means, we spent majority of the past 8 hours stuck on rocks. STUCK ON ROCKS. The bus got going and I managed to fall asleep, yet again. This time for about 1h30m... because, we were stuck again.

Dino Footprints

Dino Footprints

The pattern, of having to get off and then back on the bus, repeated itself at least 7 times total. Sometimes for rock piles, sometimes to cross flimsy tree-branch bridges, sometimes the road was dug up and the bus had to drive on an elevated path around the hole.  Finally, about 10 A.M. we stopped in a small town, Chaqui Baños, for food and bathroom breaks. I used it as an opportunity to purchase a new pen. At this point in the trip, I wrote 28 pages front-and-back in my journal notebook. I also got some bread, and started eating it in the middle of the street dirt-road walkway around the "plaza." This is when a policía walks up to me and starts asking me questions. I was super paranoid but it turns out that he just wanted to show me around his town.

It was in this town that I noticed the woman with two kids had been riding underneath the bus, in the baggage compartment, the entire night! That's why she got off! She didn't have money for tickets! We left the town, and we began the pattern of hop-on/hop-off for a few more times until we hit pavement. For the first time in 10 hours, we were finally on a paved road. The woman with the kids came up top and shared a sob-story about how she needed 20 bolivianos (barely more than $3 US) to pay for a ticket so she could sit in a normal seat. When the indigenous woman (from earlier, who said all the young people needed to get off the bus) started going on about how ridiculous it was for her to ask for that much money, the conductor came back. The indigenous woman and Natalia spoke up about how inconvenienced we have been this ride, how 20 bolivianos is too much for them to charge, how we are not responsible for having to pay for other people, etc. The conductor agreed to reducing the price to 15 bolivianos, and this is when they walked up and down the aisle for money from people. I was so tired and so annoyed that I was not about to give any money. On top of it, I brought as much cash as I thought I would need the entire trip. If I had to use my credit cards, my bank would charge me 23% interest. SOOOO, they get to me and ask for money. I am so proud of myself because I had to argue with them in Spanish why I wasn't giving them money. And I was successful with communicating all of my thoughts in Spanish (^_^) Yes, I get it... I should not be proud that I was not very kind in refusing to help at all, especially such a paltry amount of money. I should have been good to my fellow human, especially since the United States has abysmal foreign policy and relations with Latin American countries... and I don't want to be associated with that. However, my level of irritation with this ride was through the roof.

And yes, the United States does have a terrible foreign policy and relationship with Latin American countries, and it is embarrassing for me. Especially with Bolivia. During the final part of my trip, which is coming in the next blogpost, it was explained to us a little the history of the Coca Leaf. Yeah, the one that is processed into cocaine. Bolivia produces the third greatest amount of coca leaves. If you come to visit me, you will have to drink some mate de coca or chew on some coca leaves to help you with any altitude-related sickness. ANYWHO, the coca leaf has many historical uses in the Andes. Because the United States consumes so much cocaine and they regulate a lot of international activities act as world police, the history and culture of coca in the Andes has been affected greatly. ***Sigh*** Okay... getting off my horse, back to the story...

The Mirador at La Ricoleta

We continue driving for a couple more hours, and finally get to Sucre. A sixteen hour bus ride. The original plan Natalia and I had was to stay in Sucre for the day but then take a night bus to La Paz. Everyone else had that idea too as there were zero buses with open seats to get out of Sucre that night... and the following morning. The earliest bus with any open seats was 30 hours later (well, the bus had to connect through another city. The best option was to go to Cochabamba, and transfer to a different bus to get to La Paz). We found a hostel, showered, had dinner together, and went to bed. It looked like we would have a full-day in Sucre after all.

La Ricoleta

Sucre was pretty awesome. It is a very active city, despite a population of 200k. I could have sworn there were more people! One of the first things we did was go to the Mercado Central, where we walked around the neatly organized stalls, ate mondongo and sopa de mani. We went to Plaza 25 de Mayo. Observed dino footprints at Parque Cretácico. Sat in front of the  an elaborate, jewel-adorned statue of the virgin Guadelupe in Catedral Metropolitano. Walked uphill to La Recoleta for a panoramic view of the white city. It was truly a busy day in a beautiful city. It was a good thing after everything that we stayed in Sucre overnight. But it was time to get headed back to the terminal for our bus to Cochabamba.

La Ricoleta

Now that we were avoiding Potosí, we assumed our luck had finally changed.

ASSUMED. ... stay tuned.