I left at 1pm yesterday. It is now 5pm the next day and I am still traveling, destination Corrientes. This sort of travel in a bus is not fun at the best of times, and on your own even less so. When I left Corrientes back in March this year, some of my stuff remained there and I am heading back to pick it up and to catch up with my friends.
In total I will have been traveling for more than 32 hours to arrive at my destination. Two days there and another 32 hour return journey adds up to around 3.5 days of travel, for a 2 day stay. Does all of this sound crazy to you? It sounds crazy to me too. Maybe a flight would have been better.
Looking down the bus from my seat.
So what do I do during a journey like this? Having left my phone back at Puerto Madryn by accident, and forgetting to bring my mp3 player has certainly cut down on my options. But I have brought a great book and my Bible to read, a daily diary to write, and the occasional movie that is shown on the bus. Some hours are also easy to pass, by watching the changing countryside as it moves by my window.
During the early days of traveling, be it by bus or by plane, I used to simply sit and stare out of the windows until I was too tired to stay awake. I still enjoy watching the world go by, but am learning to make my travel times more productive. Carrying my laptop gives me almost 2 hours of time to write a story or perform some other activity, but that is only a drop in the ocean compared to most journeys.
The never ending road that stretched out before us for 32hrs.
Sleeping is not always easy either. Air conditioners that are too hot or too cold, noisy passengers, late night movies blaring, and streetlights flashing through the windows all work against a good nights sleep. Not to mention the positions needed to try to be comfortable without crinking your neck and yet be in a position where you are not rolling about with every corner. The odds are stacked against a decent sleep.
Last night I was fortunate to have an empty seat beside me where the armrest moves out of the way. Somehow, my whole torso fit into the space of these two seats, giving me the luxury of some form of "bed." It afforded me a better sleep than any previous bus trip. The only trap to this is that people can board at crazy hours during the night, causing a further disruption to sleep. Most trips the seat remains occupied.
Watching the last sunset as we race along the road.
My seat looks as though it will remain empty for the entire journey though, which is a luxury. At 9.30pm my bus arrives in Corrientes. It has been almost 6 months to the day since I left the YWAM base there on my Siambretta motorbike in search of adventure. One month in Bolivia, two in Australia, two in Peru, and the remaining weeks in traveling between each place. Time flies.
Unless you are in a bus 32 hours non-stop. :-)