La Paz to Uyuni...and a lesson in human nature...

The plan:
To get a bus to Oruro, then catch the twice a week train to Uyuni the next day. It is THE way to get to Uyuni. The other alternative is the bus - a nightmare 8 hour journey.

What happened:
I get to the bus station in La Paz as it starts to hail. I buy my ticket, show it to the driver who waves me on, and we set off.

But it turns out the ticket is for another company - and he tells me to get off, but won´t let me get my bag out of the hold. So I jump back on the bus and refuse to get off. So they make me buy another ticket - telling me it´s 50 Bolivianos. Which it´s not - it´s 20 - and they won´t give me change.

And then I notice general uproar on the bus, and everyone is saying "blah blah Cambio". (Editor{s note: Cambio is change in Spanish). This goes on, and every time the driver´s assistant appears, there´s general uproar.

A lady comes up who speaks English who is obviously upset, and says that if I need help then I can ask her. So she asks, and the driver´s assistant says he´ll give me change in Oruro.

We get there, and he won´t pay up. So the passengers bully the driver into giving me my change.
It just goes to show - no matter where you go, there are always people who wan´t to do the right thing - and a small minority who will take advantage.

So I get to the station - and all of the trains are sold out. Oruro is nice, but I decided to do the bus journey. I manage to buy the last seat, on the last bus that day, leaving at 8pm, and arriving at 5.30am.

It is the worst journey I have ever made.

The road is gravel, but they use an alternate route as they are paving the official road - which is known for being much much worse. The suspension is shot, and I´m on the back seat - the worst place to sit. The first hour was OK, but the rest of the ride, we were violently shaken, and there was so much dust, I felt like I was choking. There are kids sleeping on the floor in the isle, and people standing - all of the way.

In the middle of the night, we stop for a loo break (everyone does it at the side of the road), and before we´d all got back on the driver sets off. So we´re all running banging on the side of the bus.

We arrived. Safely. But I got no sleep at all.

While I would have loved to do the train, I was glad I got the bus. At least I´ve experienced a Bolivian nightmare bus journey.