Best and Worst Bus Rides

The Most Exciting

In Ecuador, each city has a bus terminal from which all long distance buses leave. These are big, intimidating, dirty and allegedly dangerous places, packed with hundreds of tiny offices for all the bus companies, but we never have to wait more than about 10 minutes for a bus to wherever it is we're going. People approach and harrass us and seem to be intent on ripping us off but it turns out they are just showing us the way to the correct company. I guess they work for the terminal but it is hard to tell. One night, we turned up on a whim at about 7pm for a bus to Papallacta. The guide book didn't mention how many hotels were in this small village and we spent the 2 hour bus ride praying it was more than none. It was dark, there were no streetlights and we were going along a dirt road to complete the feeling of isolation. We couldn't see any lights anywhere and the bus kept stopping to let people on and off. Every time it did so we would breath in, then the conductor would call out a name that didn't sound like Pappallacta and we would breathe out again. Eventually we arrived, much relieved, in a place with lots of lights and one hotel that was straight out of twin peaks.

The Most Atmospheric

After soaking in the thermal springs we moved on to Tena the next day. The bus stopped for about two seconds for us to stow the big bags and clamber aboard with the rest. We fight our way to the back, trying to hold on to everything and bumping into everyone. There are no spare seats but the conductor conducts, children sit on mothers and we happily position ourselves on the worst seats on the bus. We start high in the Andes, the scenery is amazing cloud forest and we drive beside huge waterfalls, up mountains, along ridges and down valleys. Occassionaly the bus gets stuck where the dirt road is dirtier and steeper than usual and it takes a few attempts to get up. We stop frequently to let people off with the weeks shopping. Often there are no houses roads or paths to see and we wonder how long it will take them to get home. Especially caryying the food and, usually, about 12 litres of Coke. Later, we descend from the Andes into the Jungle and it gets steadily hotter. The rock, brush and trees of the mountains are replaced by lush, dense, sprawling vegetation. We pass many tiny villages and I have a strong sensation of discovery and immersion in the culture. It's a feeling, not a real thing but I enjoy it for the rest of the journey nonetheless.


Soaking in the thermal springs


The bus arriving at Papallacta


Typical Cloudforest scenery*
*Not a scene from bus journey described

The Comfiest

The most comfortable bus ride was also the worst to catch. In Chile, advance booking is necessary do I have to buy tickets in Santiago for a journey from San Fernando to Valdivia. The man draws a map and explains that the bus does not go into the terminal but stops at "Maggy". Three days later I still have no idea who/what/where "Maggy" is but we are told to take a taxi there. The driver will know what we are talking about, apparently. Its a long wait at the terminal and we're a little nervious so we investigate further and find out that "Maggy" is a factory. When we get there we find an encouraging looking bus shelter. It's by the side of a motorway and in a little triangle enclosed by entry and exit slipraods. The taxi can't take us all the way without getting on the motorway so we end up walking along the sliproad with our bags. Others cars take people all the way and then reverse back. The bus is due at midnight and we wait patiently by the factory (actually Nestle). It arrives at half past and we get comfy in our fully horizontal seats, waking up 10 hours later in Valdivia.


Our guest house in Valdivia. We spent ages walking round with the heavy bags to find somewhere that was not too expensive and not too shit. This place did the job. They also did our laundry but forgot to mention it wouldn't be dry in time for the bus we were going to catch. After some negotiation they promised that it would be ready and gave it back to us neatly folded up but still soaking wet. We took it to a laundrette only to find that it was closed between 12 and 3, so instead of having most of a day in Puerto Montt we just had one night. It was fun though, we stayed with a family who clearly needed the money to spend on the house, saw fireworks and had a bite to eat.

The Worst

The man tells me the 10 hour journey from Cusco, Peru to Copacabana, Bolivia will pass by in comfort in posh "Cama Cama" seats. He has pictures and a model of the bus. Apparently the bus will stop for an hour in Puno but we can stay on and sleep. I check everything very carefully as another bus company told me that there were no direct services. We almost miss the bus as it looks nothing like the pictures or the model. The seats are rubbish, the toilet is locked and one guy doesn't have anywhere to sit. The driver is locked away downstairs and the intercom doesn't work so we can't attract his attention. Someone takes the emergency hammer to the floor to get his attention. He stops the bus, comes up and shouts at us. The passengers return it with interest and things get very heated. We are all stuck on the bus though and all he can really do is unlock the toilet door, which doesn't really appease anyone. We get to Puno and find out there is a two hour wait and a transfer to a different bus. The bus is worse still and picks up passengers from many incoming services and quickly gets full. The rest of us get packed into a minivan. We complain loudly and vigourously but the native spanish speakers soon take over with louder, faster complaints and, I expect, more imaginitave insults. We get to the border and spend 2 hours getting across. The Peruvians were incompetent at the border with Ecuador and wanted to charge us for their incompetence when leaving. We got frustrated and managed to cause insult by our general attitude so they wouldn't deal with us. The Bolivians were much more pleasant (though more expensive) so we paid them instead. By this time the minivan had long gone so we got a shared taxi to finish the journey.


View from the "restaurant" in Puno. I was hopeful when I saw banana pancakes on the menu. When they arrived I was dissapointed to discover something best described as banana omelette.