Friday, April 20, 2007

bolivia pt III

What followed the next day was a bit of walking around the city of Santa Cruz followed by a bus ride of 10 hours to Trinidad. Called a Flota, this particular bus was a "bus-cama" version. "Bus-bed" meaning the seats went back a good bit and a bit folded out from the seat in front for the legs. All that to say that I managed to sleep quite comfortably for about 7 of the 10 hours. No complaints here. We did stop once at 3 in the morning for a pee break in the middle of nowhere. Half the bus got up, shuffled behind some wooden shacks to some home-made port-a-jons. To flush, you had to pull your own water out of a tub outside with a bucket. I was just glad I didn't have to sit down.

You may be wondering why it took ten hours. It wasn't that it was that far, just that there were a lot of holes in the road that would have put the bus out of action for a while if hit at speed. So for the second half of the journey, in a sort of weaving motion, alternating back and forth and occasionally leaving the actual road, the driver navigated us to our destination.

Trinidad was as far as the bus could go. Next up, a small two seater plane. Due to the flooding of the plains around Trinidad and beyond, it would be by air that we would arrive. You can see both the airplane and the state of the earth below in several pictures and videos. As I've already mentioned the plane I won't recount that particular part.

So with that we pick up in Baures, the ultimate destination of this particular trip. A place that has now taken hold of something deep inside of me, and so far, hasn't let go.

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