Day 23

OK, I should start by saying that we are in Rurre, finally.

We went out in service in La Paz a few times, but since it was in the city, it was a little like the States, because people were busy or very short with you.

We spent a whole week in La Paz because there was so much flooding in Rurre and they were without running water. Then the road to Rurre was closed and impassable because of washouts and stuff. So we waited, and took advantage of our time there. Two brothers from La Paz drove us 2 hrs to Lake Titicaca (yes that's right) and then we took a 2 hour boat ride to Isla del Sol. It was beautiful. The lake is huge, it is in both Bolivia and Peru. And Isla del Sol is a small island in the lake, with an indigenous population and very pretty views. So we walked up fairly high on the island and got some good views and pictures before setting off on the boat and back to the mainland and then home, it was quite an adventure with a lot of laughs.

Then on Super Bowl Sunday we went to a soccer game, and got to get the experience of what the die hard soccer fans are like. After the game we went over to the house of a brother who had the super bowl on TV and had invited a bunch of people over. That was lots of fun and we got to watch the super bowl, which was interesting because I'm with one Seahawks fan and two Broncos fans. (Sad day for the Broncos fans). We got to listen to the game in English which was nice, but the commercials are just local, so we didn't see any of the funny ones.

The next day we all really wanted to get to Rurre but weren't even sure if the buses were going through yet. We called the company and they said they were, so we got all our luggage (between the four of us it was a ton) and headed off in a taxi for the bus station. When we got there, they said, no a bus isn't running to Rurre. So we were all very frustrated and didn't know what to do. A bus was headed to a town four hours shy of Rurre. Since we had gone through all the effort just to get to the bus station, we decided to get that bus to the closer town (Yucumo) and figure it out from there. We all thought it was our best option and pretty reasonable. If only we knew, haha.

So the bus took off from La Paz at 3 p.m. Monday afternoon. Hour 1 of 55. Wow. Just a side note, the bus ride to Rurre takes about 20 hours in good conditions.

So we head out of the city and up up up into the Andes Mountains. We cross a mountain pass at a high of about 15,000 feet. It had some beautiful mountain views and spectacular rocky cliffs. Then we started going down the other side to begin our stretch on Death Road. Yep. Deadliest road on earth. If you don't know much about it, Google it, or don't, that's probably better. It is a narrow road that winds along the side of the mountains with a steep cliff straight up on one side and a steep cliff straight down on the other. Honestly though, the first major chunk of it was not so bad. They have made great improvements by widening the road and paving it. So it really was not that bad and we just drove along, no big deal, until we got to stopped traffic where we stopped and the bus turned off, bad news right there. So we get out and walked ahead to investigate. Around the curve of the road, there is an active landslide (1 of 4 of the trip). Rocks are falling down the cliff and blocking the road. Traffic is backed up in both directions. So of course they have to wait for the rocks to stop falling even before they can clear the road. So we waited in the bus for 6 hours, eating and sleeping. Then finally around midnight Monday night we can go through. As we were about to drive under the landslide the driver told the passengers to close their windows because a few stray rocks kept falling, comforting. But the driver booked it through that area and we made it through fine but just as soon as we made it through, we got stuck in traffic. The road became the Death Road I had heard about. It was all dirt and only wide enough for one vehicle at times. And there is traffic going in both ways trying to pass, but of course they can't. So we would wait and then drive precariously around stopped trucks and buses, only inches from the edge. And we did this for a couple hours, driving so close to falling over. But we didn't. And as it became morning of Tuesday we got off the death road section and drove on more manageable road, until landslide number two. There we stopped and had to wait for about an hour for tractors to clear the road and then we went on our way until landslide number three. This time though, it was huge. And again we waited for hours for the trucks to clear tons and tons of fallen mud and rock. It was finally cleared but it was extremely muddy. The bus driver did pretty good until about the middle and we finally got stuck in the mud. One of the tractors clearing mud had to attach a rope to our bus and pulled us out of the mud. So we continue on our way until sunset of Tuesday evening and we get stopped again at landslide number four, but only for an hour or so. Then again we continue on our way. Until about 10 p.m. Tuesday night we finally get into Yucumo. We have to get off our bus because it is going on to another town. Fortunately, a different bus is there that is trying to go to Rurre. But the road is really bad as a result of lots of flooding, so they decided to sleep on the bus Tuesday night and head out Wednesday morning. So we slept pretty decent actually on a bus and left the next morning at 8, on what should be a four hour drive. Very quickly we are stopped by a section of road too narrow for the bus, washed out by rain. It should be mentioned that we were the first bus to go through this section of road since the flooding, so roads were not OK for big vehicles like our bus. So anyway, the male passengers on the bus get out and literally help build the road wider by moving rocks. They made it just wide enough for the bus wheels and very carefully drove over the road. We waited outside the bus for that part, just in case. But miraculously it made it through and we continued until the next stretch too narrow for a bus. This one was a little worse and again passengers are moving rock and a tractor is helping move dirt. It took a little longer than the last one, but again, it was just wide enough for the wheels. So we continue until again we get to a bridge where the road has been washed out beside the bridge and there is a gap. So we waited there for about 5 hours for tractors to dig up fallen trees and move them to bridge the gap, interesting solution, but it worked. And we continued on into the dark Wednesday evening and had to cross a little stream where the bus got stuck on rocks. The driver kept backing up and trying to go forward, and the bus was rocking like crazy. It felt like we were going to fall over, so all the passengers got off the bus as the driver managed to carefully get across. So we keep going until finally we get to a river and a bridge where the road had been washed out so bad, there was no immediate fix. The bus was not making it across. But, there was a rickety little wooden foot bridge built to walk across. We were only 45 minutes from Rurre, we just wanted to get there so bad. So we grab all our luggage and cross the scary bridge in the dark and on the other side taxis are waiting, which we took to rest of the way to Rurre. We make it in at about 10 p.m. Wednesday night, hour 55. Imagine what we smelled like after all that time without showering. Yeah, it was the craziest bus ride of my life. Tabitha, the sister we are traveling and staying with, who lives in Rurre and takes that bus ride all the time, even said with was the longest she's ever had. But we are here finally, and I'm so excited.

We are staying with Tabitha til Tuesday and her roommate is an 18 year old sister from Denmark. The neighbors are 2 sisters visiting from Denmark and 3 sisters from Wisconsin (yeah!) Next Tuesday the two Danish girls are leaving and me and Courtney are going to stay with the Wisconsin girls. The town doesn't have running water but they are collecting rainwater and using that for shower and stuff, so it's a little rough, but very doable. It is going to be a lot of fun, I can tell!

Again I have to apologize about pictures, they won't transfer onto my computer. Sorry, I'm working on it!