aupaalaves
Striker
Part 2 of a disastrous journey was when travelled from Arica, Chile to La Paz, Bolivia again, ended up there twice.
The locals in Arica were warning me and my mate to take some altitude sickness pills as to go from sea level to over 3,000 metres above can be quite breathtaking literally.
We ignored their advice, laughed it off and said we'd be alright.
It was only just after we crossed the Bolivian boarder that suddenly I found myself fighting for breath. It was one of the most horrible feelings I've ever experienced.
Eventually, it settled down and i started to feel better.
It was getting dark and suddenly the bus stopped. Everyone looked bemused. The driver seemed to be shining a torch at the front of the bus. If the bus was fucked, it wasn't the best place to break down as we were in the middle of nowhere.
So, the driver gets on and says the headlights are fucked. We've got two options stay on the bus and wait until they fix it the day after or wait for a vehicle to pass and follow its lights in the dark. It was a majority vote for option 2.
I've never been on a bus that's gone off road so many times and have so many near misses with oncoming traffic.
At one point, everyone at the front of the bus got up and walked to the back seats. Me and my mate looked at each other when suddenly a bloke tells us, if I were you, I'd move to the back of the bus because if we crash, you've got more chance of surviving. So we got up and joined the others at the back while the bus driver was peering out into the darkness trying keep up with the car in front.
Anyway, so we managed to get to the outskirts of El Alto which is the town before La Paz when suddenly the bus driver stops again. Here we go again we thought. He told everyone to get their stuff and get off and find our own way to La Paz.
He said that police checkpoints usually start a few miles ahead and that the bus driver and all the passengers would be fined for travelling on a bus with no headlights.
So we got off in a shitty little town with rats running everywhere at 10pm at night and around 2 hours from La Paz.
We flagged a few cars down and asked for a ride to La Paz but they wanted silly money. In the end we just stood in front of an oncoming bus in an act of desperation and offered the bus driver the 20 bolivianos each we had on us and luckily he accepted.
So we arrived to La Paz just after midnight, got some more Bolivianos and got in a taxi to the hostel. Our bottoms hadn't even touched the back seats when he was trying to sell us a packet of cocaine to which I declined. Bienvenido a La Paz muchachos he told us.
The locals in Arica were warning me and my mate to take some altitude sickness pills as to go from sea level to over 3,000 metres above can be quite breathtaking literally.
We ignored their advice, laughed it off and said we'd be alright.
It was only just after we crossed the Bolivian boarder that suddenly I found myself fighting for breath. It was one of the most horrible feelings I've ever experienced.
Eventually, it settled down and i started to feel better.
It was getting dark and suddenly the bus stopped. Everyone looked bemused. The driver seemed to be shining a torch at the front of the bus. If the bus was fucked, it wasn't the best place to break down as we were in the middle of nowhere.
So, the driver gets on and says the headlights are fucked. We've got two options stay on the bus and wait until they fix it the day after or wait for a vehicle to pass and follow its lights in the dark. It was a majority vote for option 2.
I've never been on a bus that's gone off road so many times and have so many near misses with oncoming traffic.
At one point, everyone at the front of the bus got up and walked to the back seats. Me and my mate looked at each other when suddenly a bloke tells us, if I were you, I'd move to the back of the bus because if we crash, you've got more chance of surviving. So we got up and joined the others at the back while the bus driver was peering out into the darkness trying keep up with the car in front.
Anyway, so we managed to get to the outskirts of El Alto which is the town before La Paz when suddenly the bus driver stops again. Here we go again we thought. He told everyone to get their stuff and get off and find our own way to La Paz.
He said that police checkpoints usually start a few miles ahead and that the bus driver and all the passengers would be fined for travelling on a bus with no headlights.
So we got off in a shitty little town with rats running everywhere at 10pm at night and around 2 hours from La Paz.
We flagged a few cars down and asked for a ride to La Paz but they wanted silly money. In the end we just stood in front of an oncoming bus in an act of desperation and offered the bus driver the 20 bolivianos each we had on us and luckily he accepted.
So we arrived to La Paz just after midnight, got some more Bolivianos and got in a taxi to the hostel. Our bottoms hadn't even touched the back seats when he was trying to sell us a packet of cocaine to which I declined. Bienvenido a La Paz muchachos he told us.
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