We Missed the Bus

So….there has been this ongoing joke among some of my friends and I that I have this floating sign above my head that says “CRAZY STUFF HAPPENS HERE!” And I’ve always laughed it off, thinking it’s not true at all. But these past few days have made me question that particular belief.

It all started when I decided to bring my entire room with me to Bolivia. Okay, not really, but I brought a lot. I mean, I’m packing for nine months! This resulted in two huge suitcases and, well, a whole lot of carry-ons. And one of those carry-ons happened to be a giant duffel bag, which was probably close to two million pounds and about three times the size of me.

Somehow I got by with it. The airlines just had me drop it off before I got on the plane and then I’d pick it up after I got off. I just had to take a break every few steps while walking through the airport so I could breathe and stuff. Well, long story short, in Orlando I was told to pick it up at baggage claim in Peru, but at Peru I was told several times it was going all the way to Santa Cruz. But low and behold when we got to Santa Cruz it was not there. And so I filled out paperwork and blah blah blah and eventually my bag showed up but they required me to go back to the airport because I had to be there when it went through customs.

OKAY. So fast forward to this past Sunday. Everyone got to go ahead and leave Santa Cruz and head to the orphanage, except I had to stay behind because I had yet to get my suitcase. And Andrew stayed with me. What a trooper.

So basically the plan was for Andrew and I to head straight to the airport, pick up my bag, then head back to the hotel where we would meet Omar, one of Miguel’s friends. Omar would then take a taxi with us to the bus station where we would buy tickets and take an overnight bus to Trinidad. Then the next morning we would meet with Steve, a pilot from GMI, who would fly us in his adorable little five-passenger plane to Rurrenabaque where we would meet Miguel who would drive us to the orphanage.

And that’s exactly how it went. HA! JOKES.

It went a little more like this:

Andrew and I caught a bus to the airport and got my bag. That actually ended up going pretty smoothly. Then we caught a bus back, hung out around town for a bit, and then went to the hotel to get our stuff together so we could meet Omar. Keep in mind our rooms are literally four flights of stairs above the lobby. Andrew and I should probably get about five and a half awards for the amount of stuff we carried down all those stairs in one single trip. Like, I’m talking if you put all the stuff you own together with all the stuff in the world it might just about equal all that we carried. Impressive, I know.

We met with Omar who got a taxi to take all our stuff and us to the bus station. Now I’m going to try to explain this bus station to you. Just imagine a really giant building and stuff it with tons of people. Okay now make it super late at night and make everyone speak a foreign language. Also make sure people are screaming and babies are crying and everywhere you turn someone is trying to sell you something. Basically thank God Omar was there because otherwise we probably would have taken a bus to Madagascar.

So Omar helped us buy our tickets and the people at the counter told us to wait at the sign that said 30. They said a bus was already there and not to get on that one but the bus that came afterward.

So we stood around, waiting for our bus that was supposed to leave at ten. Omar only speaks Spanish so we tried to make conversation and were actually pretty successful. And by we I mean Andrew. Oh also, I had to use the bathroom and so we walked over to this little place and I paid for using the bathroom for the first time in my life and that was pretty exciting.

Time was passing and we were still waiting around for the second bus.

Time was passing and we were still waiting around for the second bus.

Time was passing and we were still waiting around for the second bus.

Pretty soon it was 9:50. Then 10:00. Then 10:15.

And then lights started going off. We looked around, and low and behold the people were gone. The gates started closing and Omar went running into the bus station, frantically asking people where our bus was.

Yeah. We missed the bus.

Okay so now we like freaked out for a few minutes and then Omar came up with the genius (I mean that sincerely) idea of flagging down a taxi and chasing down the bus.

So I don’t know if you have ever been in Santa Cruz in a taxi, racing down the highway, running red lights and swerving cars and motorcycles, but if not you should try it. It’s rather exhilarating.

Like that’s one of the more interesting things I’ve done.

We passed a whole lot of things but not a whole lot of buses. And those we passed weren’t ours. I don’t know who gave up first, Omar or the taxi driver. But I’m assuming it was the taxi driver. He pulled over and we paid him and got out.

Okay so now we are stranded on the side of the road by a toll booth. No bus. No taxi. We found a dog. That’s about it.

Andrew and I stood around for about thirty minutes while Omar talked to the toll people and looked desperately down the road, hoping to see our bus coming. But it didn’t.  Poor guy. He felt awful and it wasn’t his fault at all.

So then we waited for a taxi that was going in the other direction to take us back where we started.

We waited.

And we waited.

And after waiting some more we realized no taxis were coming. So we caught a taxi going the opposite direction and got a hotel for the night. Then the next morning we went back to the bus station and bought tickets for that night instead.

We spent the day with Omar and his family. We shopped around downtown for a motor and Andrew told me a whole bunch of stuff about cars. Basically the motor and transmission do some stuff that makes something happen with a piston and an axel that makes the wheels turn or something. I’m thinking about going into auto mechanics.

Well, in the midst of all this Miguel contacted us and told us that instead of taking the bus that night we should take a plane to Trinidad ASAP. See, here’s the thing. We could have potentially flown straight into Rurrenabaque where the orphanage was, but all our stuff was in Trinidad. Because although the bus didn’t have us on it, it had all our stuff.

Cute.

So basically we bought two tickets each. And used none of them.

We paid a whole lot of money to inconveniently ship our stuff to Trinidad.

So then we said goodbye to Omar and his family (who are so very wonderful) and caught a plane to Trinidad where we met with Steve who is a pilot for GMI. We went to the bus station and got our stuff and then ate pizza downtown. Afterward we each took a motorcycle taxi (so cool) back to the hotel where we stayed for the night.

So I kid you not, at night I’m pretty sure that hotel turned into a full on marketplace. There was so much talking and screaming and banging outside my room that I’m pretty sure I slept a solid two hours. But all the bug bites I woke up to made that seem not so bad.

And then this morning Steve flew us in a five-passenger plane to Rurrenabaque. The awesome news is we turned the five-passenger plane into a six-passenger as a few other missionaries came with us as well. We basically played the game how much stuff and how many people can we fit into this plane? We won.

 It was the coolest flight I’ve ever been on.

And, well, then we landed and Miguel came to pick us up in the orphanage’s new truck thanks to an extremely generous church. And now Andrew and I are sitting at Narguilla’s drinking a coke and a fruit smoothie. And the goal is to be at the orphanage in the next thirty minutes or so.

But you know, at this rate, we might get there next month.

Cheers to adventure.