December 24, 2009

540 minutes, a stolen magno, and the colombian bus system´s scare tactics

Merry Christmas!

Well, here I am arrived safe and sound in Pasto, Colombia. The bus ride here, while 9 hours (aka 540 minutes) long, was absolutely gorgeous! Photos to follow when I return to Cali. I slept a lot and played a lot of ipod Solitare but inbetween naps I took some gorgeous photos of the Andean countryside and the mountains as we climbed up into Pasto. Daniel met me when I got to Pasto, and everything worked out fabulously!

Today we are celebrating Christmas with his mom and some friends. Should be interesting to spend Christmas in a new place...

Soo....let´s just talk about the bus, shall we? Random story 1: I get out my pre-cut mango for a snack. I decide to take a nap first. I leave the mango next to me. I wake up. My mango is no where to be found!! I searched everywhere, checked to see if it fell on the floor...NOTHING! Apparently there was a mango thief on my bus - extremely disappointing. Good thing I packed like 50 other snacks.

Random story 2: So I am on the bus somewhere between Popayan and Pasto, like 4 hours into the ride, and they put on a movie. Awesome, right? A little entertainment to pass the time, love it. The movie comes up and the title is in Spanish so it takes a minute for my brain to process that they are showing us Taken.

I'm sorry - WHAT?? Taken is about a girl who gets kidnapped when she is on holiday in Paris with her friend! They are kidnapped and sold into prostitution! And you are showing me this on a bus ride through southern Colombia while I am traveling alone??? I saw this morning over spring break 2009 in Florida, and I have never been so terrified to travel...and now I am watching it on a bus. Needless to say I tried to focus on ipod Solitare. Ridiculous.

After a brief lunch stop we are back on the bus and a new movie is started. Great, I can watch this one... After about ten minutes of Spanish interpretation I figure out we are watching Flight of the Phoenix, also known as the Dennis Quaid movie where he flies a plane, crashes it, and they wind up in the middle of the desert with no options but to turn to cannibalism. Perfect. Now we are rolling along on the road that lines the Andes Mountains so this is clearly a perfect movie choice. Really Colombian bus systems?????? Were they all sold out of Love Actually or Finding Nemo at the video store? Nothing with a happy, feel-good nature available??

Thus ended my bus trip, with bad movies and stolen mangos. However, I arrived in Pasto safe & sound and all is well.

Missing everyone from back home and wishing you a fabulous Christmas!!!!!

1 comment:

Sergio is Somewhere said...

ha ha! my movie selections here in peru haven't been much better thus far: "casper" (w/ christina ricci), "scooby doo", "norbit", and some terrible nicolas cage movie called "knowing."

Related Posts with Thumbnails