The wheels on the bus...

I would love to write a book about the ridiculous bus rides I've taken in my life-- all so different and all so ridiculous. I don't know why I keep doing it to myself-- oh yeah, because it's the cheapest way to go, by far. Or sometimes it's the only way to go. When you have time rather than money and you're supposedly young and able then you just gotta do what you just gotta do.

Let's travel back in time to 2005 to 2 memorable ones. You know you're in for it when the guide book says don't take the bus tours crossing from Bangkok, Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia. But then you ask yourself what are my other options of getting there? Some highlights of the journey were getting ripped off at the border, of course, watching drivers crossing the border figure out when to switch to the other side of the road-- left side driving in Thailand, right side driving in Cambodia. Finding that Cambodia's roads were unpaved and pockmarked with crater sized potholes, leaving one to wonder how many mines might still be in the ground 25+ years later. A dazzling 2 hour lightning display in the distance, adorable begging children throwing bracelets at you and manipulating you to give them money. Passing another bus of tourists just like ours that had broken down at night in the middle of NOWHERE, and villagers removing planks from their bridge to force the bus driver to pay them to put them back and the strong willed bus driver driving on anyway, the bus lurching from plank to plank, the locals banging the sides of the bus in warning. Easily the most dramatic of all bus experiences.

Australia 2005, leaving Dingo where I was a bar wench for outback coal miners and loggers. One of the loggers had a big rig driver taking a load of huge logs up north drop me off 14 hours later in Cairns. That is one of my favorites- no stress, beautiful scenery-- as with all of them actually, and I got to sleep in the little compartment behing the driver's seat. I'd always wanted to do that ever since I learned they had them when I was a kid!

Recently in India, 14 hours on a local bus, a rickety contraption form the 70's that probably hasn't been cleaned since then, and being stared at literally in my face or inches from it by the men who would fill the seat in front of me one after the other. I had to ride with a shawl over me for most of the journey like a bright shroud. And despite how many stares that would get in the US, it doesn't turn a head in India.

The 36 hour bus ride from Bogota, Colombia to Caracas, Venezuela of course brings new offerings to the table. A ride with an eccentric gypsy family past 100's of a dictator's checkpoints throughout the night. This family is a world unto itself, completely free from the shackles of reality that the rest of us are obviously being held back by. And though I don't intend to mock them because they are of course very nice and fascinating people, I wont be able to refrain from doing so. I have never seen anything like them. After 5 weeks of being in Colombia, the land of stylish, clean and presentably dressed people we're waiting for the bus at the Bogota terminal and along comes the dirtiest family I've ever seen. Dirtier than homeless parentless beggar children who live in shanty huts on India's train tracks and bathe themselves in polluted ditches of sewage and rain water, well maybe about equal. The mother and children's fingers, feet and faces were caked in brown trails of dirt and their clothes looked like they hadn't been changed in a month. With them they had tons of luggage and an adorable little puppy. I thought they were a gypsy family and said so within earshot of them safely assuming that people like that wouldn't have access to learning English. Their luggage though struck me as very odd, 2 of their many suitcases looked dirty but new, brightly colored and well made like designer luggage. Well of course this family turned out to American! with a Colombian dad-- which was a shocker for big mouth Manali. And guess where they live-- the Berkshires, Massachussetts. For those less familiar with the East Coast, that's one of the most upscale towns in New England, think mansions galore. Who knows if they live in a mansion or not, I'm willing to believe anything with this crazy family. All that said, they were very friendly and interesting company on the bus for 36+ hours. It was cute when the 6 year little girl developed a crush on Hernando for playing with her for an hour and spent the rest of the journey tapping, prodding, poking and eventually head-butting him. Though their labrador puppy they picked up in Colombia and are taking with them on their overland voyage to Trinidad via Venezuela, before they make it home to the Berkshires was of course not potty trained so there were a couple of accidents during the 36 hours. Without them the bus ride would have been a little less stinky but undoubtedly been much more dull. Until of course we reached Venezuela which makes sure to keep you on your toes.

Ah, Venezuela home to the most brashly outspoken dictator currently in power that I can think of. He's very fond of his military roadside checkpoints you know, pulling over buses at random throughout the night. We were stopped at least 6 times, for the military police to come on the bus and check all our passports and ID cards. And I'm sure I showed each one of them their first British passport, throwing one drunken one for a loop, wishing to cross reference it with a local ID as well. Silly confused 18 year old military police man with a small machine gun, drunk off the liquor seized from the last travelers bags he rifled through. And yes, not once but twice at different check points we were stopped and had all our bags removed from the undercarriage for these very official officials to inspect and remove the alcohol from for their little on the job parties. After a night of travelling in this fashion we finally made it to Caracas.

Being here though is really just about seeing Hernando's friends and family, otherwise it's kinda like being in the Detroit of Latin America but way worse than that. Did you know that Caracas sees more homicides than Baghdad? yeah... however it does have one saving grace. It's proximity to beautiful Carribean beaches. We've already been once and we're going again this weekend- yipee!

a freezing waterfall and a hot jacuzzi

We recently spent 3 days and nights in the quaint tourist town of Villa de Leyva 3 hours outside of Bogota, where we had one truly awesome day. We both unexpectedly went abseiling or rappelling down a waterfall. And it was a total breeze I could have done it in my sleep, um just kidding. So being a bit proactive can bite you in the ass sometimes. I asked for them to let us practice a bit before taking off down the watery cliff edge, so they harnessed me up and tied me to a tree and taught me how to let myself down on the rope bit by bit. Great, easy, no big deal-- when both of your feet are on solid ground! Then being already fitted up they rushed me to the cliff edge had me stand in the freezing water and were like "ok, go for it." So I´m on the edge looking down and they´re telling me to relax, lean back and go and I realize it´s all moving a little fast for me. Their patience was failing as they screamed "Vamonos, vamonos, vamonos!!" and I saw an exit to chicken out into concerned Hernando´s consoling arms. Which turned the pressure onto him to be the first down. He hadn´t practised a bit and also couldn´t believe he was supposed to go over the ledge when he was all kitted to go but being a man, it was out of the question to chicken out so he went. And after that it was all fine. The hardest part is getting started, especially for the first time. He even went twice, the second time without a guide, entirely on his own. When I went (4th person out of 5) I was scared like all the rest but also really enjoyed it, but I didn´t go a second time, that was enough for one day.

Oh and I forgot to mention that we had a crowd. We were doing this in front a family of 10 locals who live on the hillside nearby and their army of as many annoying barking dogs. One of which, a chihuahua, nearly lost it´s life to the waterfall gods. It was literally teetering over the edge and when they tried to grab it, it flinched away from them and I was sure I was going to hear little dog yelps down to the very bottom. Luckily however the rat dog did not fall because that would have ruined our day.

And what a way to continue our day but to be invited to a friend´s fancy hotel, have a nice lunch and enjoy the pool, jacuzzi! and sauna. That was amazing. This is a friend of Hernando´s cousin who we met once before who was terribly sweet to invite us riffraff to enjoy the hotel´s amenities. And if hadn´t been for Laura we wouldn´t have gone rappelling at all, wouldn´t have known we could.

We spent the night drinking beer and aguardiente, the local favorite liquor-- horroble sambuca like stuff, in the main square with the other 2 rappellers from Ireland we had spent the earlier part of the day with.

That was such a highlight perhaps we´ll go white water rafting next. But don´t tell Hernando´s mom because otherwise she might chain us up in the house to keep us from leaving. Tomorrow we leave on a 36 hour bus for Caracas, Venezuela. We are hoping to see the world´s tallest waterfall in Venezuela and we´ll keep you posted.

Cheers,
Manali