Sabbath, 1/26/13
Time
to head back to Familia Feliz. The vacation was fantastic, but I look forward
to see the kids again.
We
sleepily crossed back over from Brazil to Bolivia and boarded our bus. Compared
to the first trip, this ride was ten times less comforatable and less eventful.
It
was raining, which slowed us down a bit. The bus leaked of course, so some
unlucky passengers got drenched. Ali and Chad were getting sprinkled by the
rain. I was okay in the isle seat. The seats seemed to have metal spiked poking
at our backs and Chad’s seat was not bolted down so he bounced up and
down the whole time. We tried to sleep as much as possible to avoid the misery.
As
sunset approached, we made a bus stop to refuel. They had ice cream, so being a
New Englander, I wanted some. Here is how the conversation went between the ice
cream vender man and myself:
Me:
I want the chocolate chip (as I pointed to the picture on the poster). Do you
have it?
Old
man: Yes.
Me:
How much?
Old
man: 2 Bolivianos (as he dug in his cart and submerged with an ice cream bar).
Me:
This is chocolate chip?
Old
man. Yes, yes. Chocolate chip.
(I
took off the wrapper and beheld an orange cream-cicle)
Me:
Oh really, this is chocolate chip, eh?
He
slightly hesitated, and with a twinkle in his eye said: Yes, that is chocolate
chip. I burst out laughing and so did he and Chad. He thought he could fool me
cause I was a gringo and we were all amused that it did not work. Ahhh, good
times. Yes, I happily ate the creamsicle.
We
were rudely awakened to see a bus in front of us—stuck in the mud. We all got out so that our bus
could pass by the muddy part with less weight. We took a deep breathe s the bus
slowly creeped by the other bus and almost hit it. It made it though without
any problems. We got back on and slept some more.
Around
midnight, we all got out again at another bus stop. We sleep-walked to the
nearest bench and plopped ourselves down in exhaustion. Then, I left to find
the latrine. Apparently, I was good adult supervision because things got “out-of-hand” when I left. I returned, and found Chad staring
straight ahead like a deer in headlights while holding what looked like coca
cola. Ali was laughing next to him. Well, the guys on the bench behind us had
tricked poor ol’ Chad into a glass of coca cola with a little
bit of spirit. Vodka to be exact. Chad of course, stopped drinking after having
his mind blown. We could not wait to return to the safety of our bus seats.
We
arrived back to Familia Feliz around 7 a.m. after a 22-hour drive. I guess it
was more memorable than I first thought.
**Keep
adventurizing!...I know I will!**
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