Home » Paraguay Bolivia » Off the Bus - Paraguay/Bolivia [2]

At 1:00am I remember stopping at a grimy Esso petrol station where I got off to use the toilet. This was unlike the rest of the men on the bus who stepped off and urinated where they felt like it. A bush, a tree, the gas station forecourt...

Off the Bus - Paraguay/Bolivia [2]

Matthew
2004-03-05 23:57:14

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Sliding through the Chaco [Jul 19th 1999]

At 1:00am I remember stopping at a grimy Esso petrol station where I got off to use the toilet. This was unlike the rest of the men on the bus who stepped off and urinated where they felt like it. A bush, a tree, the gas station forecourt, the wall of the pay booth or, "hang on, how about that petrol pump" - yup, that'll do. Returning to the bus it looked like the interior had turned into one big bed. There were snoring bodies everywhere, most were slumped back in their seats, others had their legs stretched into the aisle, some covered in blankets and nearly all with their mouths wide open. Everyone was bathed in a faint blue glow emanating from the annoying strip light. I clambered over the legs and luggage back to my seat and tried to join in the group slumber.

The next thing I was aware of was around seven in the morning, we were on a dusty track that stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction. On both sides were yellow grasses, bushes and dry looking scrub but most notable of all, an assorted array of particularly spiky looking cacti. This is the Chaco, a vast plain that encompasses most of northern Paraguay with almost no striking characteristics. We were in the high Chaco made up of drought-enduring scrub and thorn forests. There was nothing else, no electricity poles lining the road, no lights in the distance or houses just tyre tracks from previous vehicles that had used this route. I looked around to see a few of the female passengers clambering awkwardly from the bushes having relieved themselves whilst the men did the same in full view of everyone. Perhaps in a couple of day's time this section of the route will boast a few patches of lush vegetation?

At 10:00am we pulled up to a large shabby, bare-looking one storey building painted white and with no glass in any of the windows. There was a dirt volleyball pitch ...