Sucre to Cochabamba -15hrs in the back of a truck
Trip Start
Aug 26, 2005
1
32
126
Trip End
May 26, 2008
Cochabamba,
Bolivia
Saturday, May 6, 2006
Tonight, at 5pm, we have a truck, (we being, me and John, my English mate)
The massive truck is hauling concrete 15 hours north to Cochabamba. For 30 Bolivians (5 Aussie bucks) we organized with the driver to take us with him.
Problem is we have to sit in the back, on top of bags of concrete, in the open air of the Altiplano at an altitude of over 3400 meters for 15 hours in the cold, the wind and potential rain, freezing our asses off to get to Cochabamba, which is home to Bolivia's second largest coca plantation.
2 Hours outside Cochabamba is an animal sanctuary where I am considering spending a month looking after Pumas, Jaguars and other big cats.
The Truck ride was the most amazing form of transport I have ever taken. We left Sucre at the Bolivian 5pm, (9pm) and traveled North. There were 20 odd people in the back. We were the only 2 Gringos and drew unwanted attention from our impoverished traveling companions. It was an interesting first 2 hours, firstly, we decided to stake our territory, making ourselves as comfortable as possible on top of the bags of concrete in our confined space. We had only driven 30 minutes before the truck pulled over and asked as many people as possible to get into a minivan in order to pass through a checkpoint. We were not willing to leave our bags, and jump into some random car, so we stayed put. We drove for about an hour, with just the 2 of us in the back of this truck. Regretting not getting into the car like everyone else. Feeling even more venerable now. But we eventually met up with the minivan and the 20 Bolivians jumped back in and we continued on our way, spending the next halve an hour finding our positions amongst the crowd of smelly Bolivians. Once again, we didn't make it far, and we came to a stop beside another truck, which was loaded with Blue Hessian bags. We had no idea what was going on but before we knew it, all the Bolivians had once again jumped out and were helping unload the other truck.. throwing all the bags into our truck now!
We scrambled for our stuff and stood back, watching our truck fill to the brim with blue Hessian bags that smelt like mold and mildew.
After 30 minutes, our truck was full to the brim with blue bags and nowhere for us to sit.. then the 20 Bolivians climbed aboard and we were off! Every corner we had to hold on to stop from being thrown over the side. We re arranged some bags and made a trench to sit in, finding a comfortable position, we settled in for what was already an interesting ride, and we still had at last 13 hours to go.
The blue bags began to smell after a while, so curiously,. we cut one open to find some kind dried mushroom looking stuff. Nobody on board knew what it was, and being Bolivian, they didn't really care either.
Over the next few hours we twisted our way through some amazing canyons and valleys, up some high mountain passes with no form of safety railing but the scenery was magic. As the night crept on, the temperature dropped. We scavenged all the warm clothes possible from our bags and in no time, we were decked out and wrapped tight in our sleeping bags.
The nights entertainment was provided by the 2 lone gringos, who foolishly tried to play the chorango (a traditional Bolivian instrument, very small guitar) and sing to the bewildered Bolivian crowd. eventually the Bolivians took hold of the Chorango and were all singing and clapping, making us look foolish at our earlier attempts.
The stars came out, and we looked up through the condensation in our breath in the cold night air and saw satellites and shooting stars in the perfect night sky. The ride was bumpy, and the twisted roads made it all but impossible to sleep. Or so we thought, until we remembered our little friends, in the form of pink pills called VALIUM. We popped a few pills each, and slept through the whole night, undisturbed.
The night blasted by and we were shaken awake by the impatient driver. Opening our eyes we saw that we were the only people left in the back of the truck. A slight panic set in that our bags were gone also, but we found them under a few bags of concrete and mushrooms. We tried to shake off our drug induced sleep and found that we had in fact made it to Cochabamba. We slept the whole way!
Cochabamba was far from impressive. We passed 2 days eating pizza and ice cream, playing 10 pin bowling and hanging out in the plaza, being continually harassed by shoe shine boys. We wore flip flops the second day to dissuade them, it worked a treat.
I'm now on my way to an animal refuge 5 hours outside Cochabamba in a town called Villa Tunari.
Check it out:
http://www.intiwarayassi.org
