When The Earth Sucks Around You, Look Up
The culmination of days' of discomfort was cracking Julie's sanity like the hairpins and switchbacks on the bus' gears; they seemed to groan and sigh as we steadily climbed to PotosÃ, the highest city in the world. The extreme cold, broken promises of agua caliente, lack of sleep, sunburned shoulders, restless legs... these seemed trite compared to the prospect of overnight travel in a broken seat, surrounded by annoying people.
The man behind Julie kept standing up and resting his elbow on her head rest, and sometimes her head. That was solved with a quick backwards head butt to his elbow... who said you need to know Spanish to communicate? There was again a child behind me, his minty chewing gum breath sickening my stomach, while his wet smacking noises and chewing sounds worsened it on a different level. Fortunately, by the time the bus left Uyuni, he had decided to sit down instead of hanging off the back of my seat.
Julie was tortured with discomfort; tossing and turning, and I was helpless, suffering a guilt for feeling quite comfortable and able to snooze on and off. There was nothing I could do but irritate her further with feeble offerings of my shoulder.
One source of distraction however, was the night sky. It was amazing out in the desert. I had missed witnessing the stars during the Salar De Uyuni tour, but Julie, who had woken at least once to brave the subzero temperatures, had reported their beauty. The lack of light pollution meant you could see the faintest stars and even the fine dusting of the Milky Way across the sky. Stars dotted every part of the sky, right down to the horizon.
The man behind Julie kept standing up and resting his elbow on her head rest, and sometimes her head. That was solved with a quick backwards head butt to his elbow... who said you need to know Spanish to communicate? There was again a child behind me, his minty chewing gum breath sickening my stomach, while his wet smacking noises and chewing sounds worsened it on a different level. Fortunately, by the time the bus left Uyuni, he had decided to sit down instead of hanging off the back of my seat.
Julie was tortured with discomfort; tossing and turning, and I was helpless, suffering a guilt for feeling quite comfortable and able to snooze on and off. There was nothing I could do but irritate her further with feeble offerings of my shoulder.
One source of distraction however, was the night sky. It was amazing out in the desert. I had missed witnessing the stars during the Salar De Uyuni tour, but Julie, who had woken at least once to brave the subzero temperatures, had reported their beauty. The lack of light pollution meant you could see the faintest stars and even the fine dusting of the Milky Way across the sky. Stars dotted every part of the sky, right down to the horizon.
Image from E&T Abroad website to illustrate the Bolivian night sky
Pobrecito you seem to always sit in front of a nino en the bus. Thank you for the new word as well. *Thumbs up!*
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