leaving putre

After packing up we went out to dinner, then caught the ride we arranged to “Putre Alto”, the highway intersection where our bus is supposed to pick us up.

We arrive there around 8 pm and wait under a street lamp. The night before we were dropped off by the bus around 8:45, we figure things at customs should go faster today, so we show up early, in defiance of all the lessons we have learned about Bolivian time. After 5 minutes I am already bored of waiting and make a rock pile. (We have seen many rock piles, I still don’t know what they mean though)

In the distance, we can see the lights of trucks creeping down the mountain, coming from Chile. We can tell by the length and light placement whether there is a bus coming or not. We begin a discussion on truck length and wheel-count. How many wheels do trucks have? What exactly is an 18-wheeler? Are there 18-wheelers in Chile? Where do the wheels have to be and how many sets does it need to be an 18-wheeler? Do they have double or triple sets of tires? I begin counting the wheels on all the trucks going by (there was not a single 18-wheeler), there are a lot, they are all getting in their border-crossing before customs closes at 9:30 pm. Many of them flash their lights, meaning they would be willing to pick us up, so we are assured of hitchhiking possibilities. After an hour, we are starting to think that our bus was actually on time/early, and that we missed it. I have not yet given up hope, since everything in Bolivia was late, it’s safe to assume that our bus is late, not early. We begin debating the pros and cons of hitching.

At 9:15 we give up and agree to hitch on the first thing that stops and get as far as we can. We are freezing and tired. But! There’s a miracle! The next thing that comes is our bus! And it actually stops for us too.

Unfortunately, this is another one of those buses without heating, and there is only one blanket left, so we have to share it. It takes me hours to warm up.

Word of advice: never take a Bolivian overnight bus if you can help it. Other than that, Bolivia  is great.