xsábado a lunes x

D L M M J V S
Destino: Buenos Aires
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 28,29,30
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 de Modo: Bus, Bus y Más Bus
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31 diciembre Distancia: 2,118 kilómetros
La Paz, Bolivia a Buenos Aires, Argentina

I woke Saturday morning still feeling the effects of the altitude.

Understandably, I was glad that I would step on a southbound bus that
afternoon which would take me away from the disorienting Cordillera
Tres Cruces and onto lower ground. After a late check-out at the
Sagárnaga, I browsed the kiosks around the hotel, bought a few alpaca
garments for friends in the States and eventually stopped by LAVERAP
to pick up my laundry. While I could have easily stayed in La Paz for
another week, the reality was that I had to be home in the U.S. in four days.
The Panamericano bus left La Paz at 16:00, and
once on board, I was anxious to get home. The next
sixty-four hours would not present much in the way of
memorable events or verbal exchanges. Blistering hot
days spent on half-empty buses struggling to make it around mountains,
across deserts and over unpaved roads would be a fairly accurate
summation. Bolivian towns like Oruro, Challapata and Potosí came
and went at hourly intervals, and frequent stops for food and bathroom
breaks were greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, video footage would no
longer be an option. I opened my pack on the first night and found my
camcorder lying at the bottom in two dozen pieces, presumably another
casualty of the sudden shifts in altitude. Without the high-tech gadgetry
necessary for digitally documenting the journey south, I opted to fight
the travel sickness and catch up on some sleep.
Day two found us traversing the winding mountainous region of
Tarija in southern Bolivia and changing buses in Yacuiba at the Argentine
border. The town was seemingly uninhabited and unbearably humid.
The third bus was a little bigger and a lot faster than the previous two.
On day three, we were flying through provinces like Salta, Tucumán
and Santiago del Estero. Early Monday evening, we crossed the Sierras
de Córdoba and the rest of the journey was, geographically and
metaphorically-speaking, all downhill. Close to midnight, we were headed
east toward Rosario and the Paraná River, and I could sense Nuestra Señora
de la Santísima Trinidad de los Buenos Aires somewhere on the horizon.
178
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Location: 16:31:01
16:31:01SS 68:10:59
68:10:59WW

x
Location: 34:20:00
34:20:00SS 58:30:00
58:30:00WW

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