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The Lonely Planet South American guidebook aptly describes the bus service from Paraguay's capital to Santa Cruz in Bolivia as "Experimental". Straight forward "mental" would also be a fitting description. Presented here is a diary extract detailing an overnight bus trip that turned into a three day epic from Sunday 18th to Tuesday 20th July 1999.

Off the Bus - Paraguay/Bolivia [1]

Matthew
2004-03-05 23:55:34

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The Gringo-Boneshaker to Santa Cruz [Jul 18th 1999]

Asunción's bus terminal, lined with small shops selling useless tacky plastic gifts, was full of people; the majority of which (I'm sure) weren't waiting for a bus. Brazil were playing Uruguay in the Copa America final and as an example of the obsession this continent has with "the beautiful game", locals had filled the lines of plastic seats to watch the match on the televisions at the station. (Q. What's the most popular sport in South America? A. Basketball - football's not a sport, it's a religion.) Our bus was soon to leave so we stepped outside into the slightly chilly evening to look for it just as Brazil went 3-0 up amidst much cheering.

Of the many buses lined up outside the terminal, two belonged to the company through which we had booked our tickets and these were parked next to each other in exaggerated stark contrast. One was old, rusty, and filthy and had all manner of junk piled up on the dashboard (old newspapers, plastic cups and three or four grubby dented thermos flasks). It was the complete opposite of the other vehicle, which was clean, shining, modern, and roomy, had a television and looked fresh out of the die. A chubby looking man with glasses was loading luggage on to the decrepit bus and as Jayne walked over to ask him which was our vehicle an imaginary coin was being tossed in my head. - Heads it's the leg stretch luxury, video entertainment cruise to Bolivia, tails it's the Gringo-Boneshaker. As she turned round towards me, the look on her face said it all - it was tails.

Getting on the bus was a real scramble, for once we felt like we were carrying very little as the people around us crammed the shelves and seats full of bags, blankets and boxes of food. The space on the shelf above our seats had already been taken so Jayne placed her daypack on the shelf in front only to discover ...