I wish I could write more about my stay in Bolivia thus far. But for right now, I only have this anecdote that I am copying and pasting off of a Facebook message that I deliberately wrote elaborately so that I could post it here and I wouldn't have to write something long in my journal tonight. Yay laziness efficiency. This happened in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Here goes...
The mall isn't that far from the house we stay in, and I thought it'd be easy to get back. I didn't feel like getting duped by a taxi driver taking advantage of our foreignness, so I decided we should be adventurous and take the bus. Julio's aunt did tell us we could take one of the green and yellow buses that go around the 4th ring of the city (which I didn't think was that big...lol), and it would stop right by the park near our house. Simple. Right? WRONG.
First of all, these are nothing like those buses you find in the first world. Lol no. They're small and crammed and if you're standing up, you can't really see out the window where you're going. Also, there are no defined bus stops, and people just kinda say "Stop please" and get off the side of the road. So I kinda kept having faith in the route and what Julio's aunt told us, and even as we drove past the supermarket close to his house and to the park, I thought we'd get to where we needed to go eventually. So we rode on, and when the bus became empty enough that we could see out the window, we realized we had no idea where we were and that we might have taken the wrong bus, so we freaked out and got off god knows where.
Next plan of action- we decided to walk back a bit of the way we came and then take a cab home. We walked past a lot of eateries, dirt driveways, and at one point walked past a group of musicians sitting together with brass and drums playing loudly as we walked by. I figured it would be logical to cross the street (which is already precarious enough as it is, considering the canals and roundabouts that are so abundant in this city...) and take a cab from the other side to drive us directly home.
Just before we were about to cross the street, another green and yellow bus stopped by us. It very clearly said "4th ring" on it, so we figured we could just ride it around until it reached the park. Based on a split second decision, we boarded it. And thus commenced a bus ride that will stay engraved in my memory.
We somehow still had faith it'd get to the park, even as it drove further and further away from what was familiar. (Though really, so many things look the same, it's hard to tell.) I wasn't freaking out too much. I was having fun, actually, because you don't get experiences like that in developed countries LOL. At one point I was sitting on the ground next to the driver (who needs seatbelts?) because I gave up my seat for a lady with a baby, and the baby would look at me and just smile and try to reach out to me while laughing. It was really adorable, and I was quite entertained. Anyway, that little anecdote aside, we ended up staying on that bus for almost two hours. I was fascinated watching people outside and in the bus, and I was honestly in awe at how huge the city was. The traffic was crazy at times, the bus was stuffed beyond its capacity at times with people whose lives I couldn't fathom, and some people stayed on for a really long time, but the entire time I was just taking it in and experiencing the situation for what it was. Honestly, I would never do such a thing in the Philippines and take the public transportation there (and a Bolivian friend from this city told me the same and called me crazy when I told him this story), but somehow I felt compelled to do it here to see how so many people got around. I had no idea how people knew exactly where they were going, or how they knew the bus's route and where it would stop. The chaotic inner workings of a city like this blow my mind.
Eventually it got dark and I was starting to feel a bit concerned, because it was hard to see where we were. It did get to the point where we ended up back where we started, at the mall, but we decided we were already in the bus and we might as well keep going. So we kept going and went past the supermarket again and still didn't get off, before I realized we were heading the same way we were earlier and gave up on the idea of the bus stopping by the park (because at that point it was inutile to keep hoping and having faith in what I had no idea about, eg the route and validity of Julio's aunts instructions) and said screw it, let's get off and get a taxi.
So we got off, and I had the idea at first of walking back to the supermarket so we could maybe find the park, but it was on the other side of the street and we had no idea where to cross. Julio was getting really irritated, so we stood at the side of a road and a taxi magically appeared. We got in it and finally went home, and he charged us more than he should have. Well, it was still like less than $3, but the taxi drivers don't really use meters so there isn't a reliable and consistent measure of fare.
In the end, we did end up getting duped by a taxi driver taking advantage of our foreignness. But it was worth it.
The mall isn't that far from the house we stay in, and I thought it'd be easy to get back. I didn't feel like getting duped by a taxi driver taking advantage of our foreignness, so I decided we should be adventurous and take the bus. Julio's aunt did tell us we could take one of the green and yellow buses that go around the 4th ring of the city (which I didn't think was that big...lol), and it would stop right by the park near our house. Simple. Right? WRONG.
First of all, these are nothing like those buses you find in the first world. Lol no. They're small and crammed and if you're standing up, you can't really see out the window where you're going. Also, there are no defined bus stops, and people just kinda say "Stop please" and get off the side of the road. So I kinda kept having faith in the route and what Julio's aunt told us, and even as we drove past the supermarket close to his house and to the park, I thought we'd get to where we needed to go eventually. So we rode on, and when the bus became empty enough that we could see out the window, we realized we had no idea where we were and that we might have taken the wrong bus, so we freaked out and got off god knows where.
Next plan of action- we decided to walk back a bit of the way we came and then take a cab home. We walked past a lot of eateries, dirt driveways, and at one point walked past a group of musicians sitting together with brass and drums playing loudly as we walked by. I figured it would be logical to cross the street (which is already precarious enough as it is, considering the canals and roundabouts that are so abundant in this city...) and take a cab from the other side to drive us directly home.
Just before we were about to cross the street, another green and yellow bus stopped by us. It very clearly said "4th ring" on it, so we figured we could just ride it around until it reached the park. Based on a split second decision, we boarded it. And thus commenced a bus ride that will stay engraved in my memory.
We somehow still had faith it'd get to the park, even as it drove further and further away from what was familiar. (Though really, so many things look the same, it's hard to tell.) I wasn't freaking out too much. I was having fun, actually, because you don't get experiences like that in developed countries LOL. At one point I was sitting on the ground next to the driver (who needs seatbelts?) because I gave up my seat for a lady with a baby, and the baby would look at me and just smile and try to reach out to me while laughing. It was really adorable, and I was quite entertained. Anyway, that little anecdote aside, we ended up staying on that bus for almost two hours. I was fascinated watching people outside and in the bus, and I was honestly in awe at how huge the city was. The traffic was crazy at times, the bus was stuffed beyond its capacity at times with people whose lives I couldn't fathom, and some people stayed on for a really long time, but the entire time I was just taking it in and experiencing the situation for what it was. Honestly, I would never do such a thing in the Philippines and take the public transportation there (and a Bolivian friend from this city told me the same and called me crazy when I told him this story), but somehow I felt compelled to do it here to see how so many people got around. I had no idea how people knew exactly where they were going, or how they knew the bus's route and where it would stop. The chaotic inner workings of a city like this blow my mind.
Eventually it got dark and I was starting to feel a bit concerned, because it was hard to see where we were. It did get to the point where we ended up back where we started, at the mall, but we decided we were already in the bus and we might as well keep going. So we kept going and went past the supermarket again and still didn't get off, before I realized we were heading the same way we were earlier and gave up on the idea of the bus stopping by the park (because at that point it was inutile to keep hoping and having faith in what I had no idea about, eg the route and validity of Julio's aunts instructions) and said screw it, let's get off and get a taxi.
So we got off, and I had the idea at first of walking back to the supermarket so we could maybe find the park, but it was on the other side of the street and we had no idea where to cross. Julio was getting really irritated, so we stood at the side of a road and a taxi magically appeared. We got in it and finally went home, and he charged us more than he should have. Well, it was still like less than $3, but the taxi drivers don't really use meters so there isn't a reliable and consistent measure of fare.
In the end, we did end up getting duped by a taxi driver taking advantage of our foreignness. But it was worth it.
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