Last night was a long night. We left Sucre on a fairly rickety old bus heading for the mountains. As darkness fell flashes of lightning showed a thunderstorm ahead. As the darkness closed in the lightning got brighter. The higher we climbed the flashes became more frequent. Sometimes the sky lit up in three different places simultaneously. Clouds which sat not far above the mountain tops lit up reflecting the lightning as if they were explosions. The lightning became so frequent it appeard as though a great battle were raging in the heavens. And we were heading straight for it. As we crested the top of a pass forked lightning began whizzing down nearby. Lightning strikes lit the interior of the bus so brightly you had to close your eyes. The thunder which accompanies these flashes exploded so loud as if a tear had ripped across the sky. You didn´t sleep through this storm.
We passed through the centre of the storm and sloly the lightning began to recede. An hour later at a roadsde cafe the storm lit up the sky silently, far in the distance. We stopped for 45mins. The toilets here were so bad most of us preferred to use a ditch. It was cold tonight, very nippy. Waiting for the driver to finish his meal and unlock the bus I chatted to the lad who had the seat next to me. I had to shuffle about to try to stay warm.
Back on the bus it was still cold. One guy kept a window open which flooded the bus with sharp cold air. Protests from others forced him to close the window. All the Bolivians had brought blankets with them, as they mostly do on overnight buses. Their blankets are always bright, colourful and warm-looking. I only had a light fleece which kept the worst of the cold off me but it wasn´t comfortable. On this journey I kept having premonitions that this would be the night the bus would be held up by bandits. It happens. In Lima I spoke to an Irish girl whose friends lost everything when they´re bus was held up. With such thoughts it was hard to relax.
Despite the cold and my premonitions I did fall into a light sleep but all the while at the back of my dreams I could feel the cold. I woke up when the bus stopped. The window was open again and people were peering out into the darkness. I couldn´t see anything but I could here voices in the distance and dogs barking. I though "Here we go". But nobody came near us. Another bus pulled alongside us for a few minutes. The two drivers spoke to one another and then the other bus moved on. We stayed put. Nothing happened. Everything remained quiet save for the barking of a dog. There was no explanation for why we were stopped. The window was closed. Everybody else settled down to sleep so I did my best to join them.
I woke up just as dawn as breaking. I was cold. The window as open again, some of the passengers were watching something. On my side of the bus people were walking through fields. I had to go to the toilet so I went outside. Looking around our bus wasn´t alone as I had thought. There were about 20 other buses around us, all parked up in a long line by the roadside. I was surprised. I hadn´t hard them at all during the night, thinking our bus was alone. We were parked on an incline which led down to a river crossing. On the far side of the river about 10 other buses coming from the opposite direction were parked up. Down in the river a lorry and bus were stuck fast. Recent rains had turned this crossing into a quagmire. Everybody was up now so there was quite a crowd watching, wondering what was going to happen.
The bus at the head of the line on our side starts up. Its bright now so the driver can try and pick out some solid ground to attempt a crossing. Slowly the bus moves forward. Everybody on our bus is now standing up, watching and commentating on the action. The bus slithers and stops, a gasp from the crowd. The bus begins to move again, a couple of cheers ring out. The bus gains momentum and makes the crossing, a round of applause. All the buses now start their engines on our side and one by one we follow this new path across the river. We make it across. Behind us a line of 15 buses slowly approach the river. We drive by the unfortunate passengers of the stranded bus, relieved we´re not on that one.
From here to Tupiza the road is one big mess. There are roadworks as a new surface is being laid down but the place is a mess. We drive through a series of canyons. Hills begin to appear. The bare rock is spectacular colouring of purples, pinks and browns. A blanket of cloud is draped across the hilltops. A river bank brings us into a small valley surrounded by these purple hills. On the far bank sits Tupiza.
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