So This is How it's Going to End?!?!?!?!?!

Finally the day arrived that we would take the bus from Purmamarca, Argentina to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The day started out well, nice weather, a little walk to the bus stop and the bus arriving on time. I was a little worried about the long bus ride through the Andes because I get car sick so easy. But I've been doing really well on the bus rides, so I hoped this one would go smooth as well. The first half hour was uneventful until we near the top of the first pass when the bus stalled and started ROLLING BACKWARDS people! It was only for a few seconds, but I am serious when I say there is NO WAY we could have done anything except plummet to our deaths if the bus continued to roll backward. Gracias a Dios we stopped. The driver restarted the bus and we were on our way...for a few more minutes when it stalled again and we started ROLLING BACKWARDS AGAIN people! This time for longer...really, probably for only 2 or 3 seconds, but when you are truly seeing your life pass before your eyes, time moves a little slower.

Well this time when the bus finally rolled to a stop, 2 of the other employees ran outside and put large rocks behind the tires. Yeah, this made me feel really safe (italics = sarcasm). Next the driver walks down the isle and right near our seats, opens a panel on the floor and starts working on the bus. The two other guys are underneath the bus at this time. Which actually gives me a tiny bit of comfort as I think to myself 'OK, if these guys trust the rocks behind the wheels enough to be underneath the bus, then maybe I should calm down'. But then I also think to myself 'well...think about all the other things you see in Latin America...the family of 4 (or 5) on a mopehead, the town full of people packed into the back of a pickup truck, the most recent oddity, a man pedaling a bicycle with his 'woman' riding side-saddle on the middle bar while breast feeding her child (honest to God) in the middle of rush hour traffic...so maybe the rocks behind the tires aren't going to keep us from plunging off the side of this cliff'.

So, I start to get a little anxious. I feel like I would be safer waiting outside of the bus. But am a little afraid to pass the man in the isle working on the engine. Not only is he mad at me for taking a picture of them fixing the bus (I guess there was a brief moment where the anxiety faded enough for me to realize that if I ever make it out of this situation alive, I definitely need a picture for my blog...see photo at left), but I also don't think he'll be too happy to have to move in order for me to go outside. So I sit and I wait. And Lies (Liz) tries to help me relax.

At this point the guy is now sucking on the end of a tube. Maybe the mechanics out there can tell me what the problem might have been because they certainly didn't give us any information. After a while I assume the 'problem' was 'fixed' because we started going again.

We made it up the pass without further incident. However, I don't know if they were trying to make up lost time or what, but once we reached the top of the pass, we started hauling serious ass. Really, we were going WAY too fast (in my humble, paranoid Gringa opinion). You could feel pretty strong G-forces as went went around the corners. I wondered if they had perhaps lost the lower gears and couldn't use the engine brakes to slow down. Lies and I sat there clutching the armrests with white knuckles (notice 'white knuckles' is not italicized because I'm not using sarcasm here folks, our knuckles were literally white). At one point I looked at Lies and said in a loud, terrified voice, 'WHAT THE F%$# IS THIS GUY DOING?'. It was about this time when I thought to myself, 'so this is how it's going to end...'

Well, obviously we made it out of the Andes alive to tell our harrowing story and post the picture of that grumpy bus driver. And, I must admit, I don't think the other people on the bus were as afraid as we were. At least I didn't hear them shouting profanities or anything of that nature. But still, when one comes to the conclusion that this is, in fact, how 'it' is going to end, one doesn't take the time to look around to see if everyone else in the bus feels the same way.

San Pedro de Atacama was amazing. It's a small little pueblo in the Atacama Desert...which is the driest desert on Earth. I thought Utah was rough on my nasal passages until I got to Atacama. Within 2 days my nose was worse then it had ever been in Utah. Luckily we are now at the beach and the nose has recovered fully! :) We visited the dessert, Death Valley where we ran down the sand dunes, and Valley of the Moon where we watched the sun set. The next day we also toured the geysers there. It wasn't as spectacular as Yellowstone, but still really beautiful (although very cold...below 0 temps).

Links to pictures are below. Don't forget that even though I'm out touring the world...I still like to receive emails from the 'litte people'. :)

Miss you all...Cori

Pictures: Atacama Desert (Chile)

Pictures: Atacama Geysers (Chile)

Pictures: Salinas Grandes (Argentina)