We finally had a taxi arranged. Quite a feat for sure. Check out the Potosi Accomplishment for all the gritty details. No we are in a strange car with a young man behind the wheel. He speaks no English and doesn’t even try to communicate with us.
At about 5 minutes into the trip, the Driver pulls to the side of some random side for a pit-stop. If it had not been for the fact that the Tourismo office arranged this taxi; I would have been fearful taht my life might be ending here in Bolivia on an unknown street next to a garage with metal doors. The driver looks at us and motions for us to ‘stay’ and goes inside. He returns (alone) a few minutes later. Teresa and I later decide that he needed a potty stop and wasn’t going to get his ‘goons’ to kidnap us for ransome.
At about 10 minutes into the trip the nausea appears. I’ve never been one to be car or motion sick but this is certainly getting interesting. The hills and the curves an the sight of the cliff to my right….enough to turn even the most solid stomachs. The exhaust fumes are overwhelming. Teresa looks like a dog hanging her head out of the window. Speed, curves and cliffs do not make a good combination.
At about 15 minutes into the trip Teresa and I both reach for the seatbelts….did we offend the driver? We are unsure and un-caring at this point. We needed the seatbelts to simply hold us in our seats with the crazy driving. I’m certain that if we go off the cliff; we wouldn’t survive anyway.
As we are driving through on of the tiny villages, and taking pics out window and driver quickly reminded me of the water balloons and waterguns. ‘Carnival’ just cant get away from it.
The amount of dogs along the route was crazy. They are everywhere. I expecially felt sorry for the little black limping dog that we nearly hit. He looked like he has be hit previously. You would think he would learn to stay away from the road.
Reminding me of Vietnam’s chicken crossings and Irelands sheep crossings. We had to watch for the goat crossings while speeding at 100 kph on the dangerous roads. All the while dodging the dogs, passing on curves unable to see the oncoming traffic. The only thing we slowed down for were the pot holes that are big enough to swallow the entire vehicle. It was obvious that the driver had taken this road before as he seemed to know exactly where they were. It was every man for their own….two beeps and you better get the hell out of the way or taxi will hit you.
Making it to Potosi in record time in less than 2.5 hours with two paperwork check points and two bathroom stops the driver drops us off and drives away as we stand looking at each other with all the hostel doors locked tight!
We survived and managed to find someone to let us into the hostel. We both decided that the bus is a better, less dangerous option for next time.
Related articles
- Day 16 & 17 – Potosi, Bolivia (chrystal-clear.com)
- The Potosi Accomplishment (arediscoveredlife.wordpress.com)
- Wandering in the White City (arediscoveredlife.wordpress.com)