South America boasts such a thing as a semi-cama bus, which is a bus with gloriously cushy seats that recline back like a lazy boy. It is a great way to snooze your way through a long trip, which is what I mostly did.
Every once and a while I would emerge from my rock-a-bye, gravol induced stupor to watch the world pass by. Of course it wasn’t the world that was moving so I am not at all sure the phrase fits. I find that bus travel somehow makes viewing the scenery a “once removed” kind of experience. By car it seemed closer and more tangible.
As you may remember, I travelled this road last year by car and found it compelling. With its twists and turns, and incredibly lush tropical flora it leaves me searching for the appropriate words to do it justice. This year it is as compelling, however the sky is overcast with heavy thick clouds and they mute the colours around me. There is more of a khaki tone to the greenery, and in the distance a bluish tinge paints the mountains which has the effect of making them seem more intimidating… perhaps the word sinister fits as I look into the wildness of the growth.
Until the sun breaks through here and there, and I am delighted to see the multitude of intense greens sparkle. Gives me goosebumps it is so pretty.
Road conditions were as bad as I had thought they would be. The rains have been heavy on the eastern slopes of the Andes lately, and this always takes a toll. There were washouts all along the road, and many places where you could see cracks in the pavement where a washout was pending. It was slow going through all the areas that the crews had managed to re-open to single lane traffic only.
The road itself… this snaking marvel carved through the jungle filled mountains, is two narrow lanes, with one foot shoulders. There are culverts hugging up against the walls of the mountain on one side, and on the other it is a very short few inches to a very deadly plunge down to, oh wherever your vehicle gets stuck in the vegetation WAY DOWN THERE. Not much room for driver error.
Makes for some difficult driving for a supersized, overloaded, lumbering bus. Most curves required that it be driven into the other lane before being able to manoeuvre the curves. And there is a fair amount of traffic coming in the other direction so there ensues honking and braking as a frequent occurrence. I amuse myself by watching the small compass I carry swing around and back as we take the curves. S. no W. no wait. N. no. W..S..E. S. W.. on and on. You are now aware of why the gravol was necessary.
The bus is huge, designed for long distance travel with few stops along the way. I am riding only part of its route, from Tarapoto to Pedro Ruiz, but it continues on its way for the 22 hour trip to Lima. At the terminal I watched the people as they handed over huge bags stuffed full… even a huge bag of rice that I won’t even guess how much it weighed. All of it was loaded into the cargo areas of the bus, and then all the passengers got on. They need a new term for the kind of full this bus was. Double decked, heavy, it’s whole frame sitting low to the ground, just making it out of the parking area seemed a chore, never mind over the Andes. But make it they do, as this is the main mode of transportation for the masses here.
And as we lumber along I see again the small homesteads that people have carved out of the areas next to the road. On land that is flat, rolling or steep, there they are having built lean-tos or small houses. There are women and children sitting on their porches, watching the traffic go bye. Sometimes there are large black tarps laid out with some kind of crop drying on them in the sun. Can you imagine an existence like that? What would you do each day after you have swept, done your laundry fed the kids… then what? Maybe if you are luck a neighbour comes to visit. They have the same 24 hours in each day that we do. ?
Many times the bus had to slow or stop for cows, chickens, pigs, donkeys or horses that had wandered onto the road. The dogs seem to instinctually know to get up and out of the way, but not the rest of them. Between these road obstructions, road construction, police checkpoints, cars parked on the road, and the occasional accident, I would say we were lucky if we broke 40 kmh most of the way. And just how many people do you think it is going to take to upright the truck that blocked half the road having tipped over onto its side after driving into the culvert? Oranges everywhere… in the middle of the mountains. I doubt that CAA comes calling this far south.
Eventually the vegetation on the mountains began to change as we got further west and into higher elevations. Less broad leafed jungle and now more of a grassy shimmer over mountains that appear to have been settled, like meringue on a pie.
So this trip was 7+ hours, and there are few among us that can go that long without needed to pee. Even severely limiting food and water intake I found myself needed to brave the bus toilet experience. And quite an experience it was. Way more interesting and challenging that on an airplane. I mean this bus was taking hairpin curves people. Just getting the door open and closed while remaining standing was a feat. Now try and get your pants down one handed (the other clinging to the support bar as I am being thrown from side to side, back to front), and then try and get the toilet seat down, and then try and actually get onto the toilet. Peeing while on a roller coaster is fun. Now repeat process in reverse and stumble back into seat. Wow. The bus ride was worth it just to find out how much fun that can be.
And so we got to my stop. I collected my bag and managed to find another person headed to Chachapoyas… a Spanish speaker that will find out all the info and get us to the right collectivo spot. And he does. So I hop into one of these kamikaze driven taxis, along with 4 other passengers and zigzagged my way along the river and then up into the clouds to Chachapoyas.
I now sit, settled into my hostel room, which will serve as my base for the next month as I write, teach, walk and explore. My room is very basic, rustic even, although I do have a shower with purported hot water (haven’t tried it out yet). There are wonderful old wooden doors that open onto the main Plaza d’Armas, and I am sitting in sunshine and warm breeze. What I need now is to get a small selection of munchies and fruit, a towel, toilet paper and maybe a toilet seat. Although I am happy enough just to have my own bathroom… All in all perfection for $65. For the month. Really.
Minor notes: I love Skype… really, what a great invention.
My mosquito net is mildewy, so I need to have it washed. Right now it is sitting in a pouch, having been sprinkled with laundry soap. Not a worry here because at this height, and being in town, mosquitoes are not a huge bother.
I love having my laptop, but will admit that having something to “secure” is a bother. Internet Wi-Fi is not very reliable (the signal doesn’t reach my room), so keeping in touch will be harder than it was last week.
I wonder if snake anti-venom is generic. This area is dotted with caves, and to get to them one would have to hack and crawl through brush. And there are probably snakes and spiders in there somewhere. So if you are bitten by a snake, is there an anti-venom for each kind of snake? The advice is always “try and kill the snake and bring it in so it can be identified”… why? You see the way my mind wanders?
I had coffee with the hostel owner this morning; he made it using tap water. Guess we’ll see how my tummy handles that one.
Hey… It is almost siesta time.
Talk to you later.
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