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Cali bus ride

Took the bus from the village of Montebello Colombia last weekend, on the way back to Cali from visiting a friend. Montebello is not exactly the showplace of country.

We took a taxi to get to the village, passing west of the Intercontinental Hotel, on the north side of the Rio Cali. A right turn took us sharply upwards into a mountain valley, past a large quarrying operation. The crowed, narrow road rose on and on, higher and higher, till we reached Montebello, not far from the top of the mountain. The natural beauty of the place was impressive, but the town itself was not. A few nicer places were scattered in, but most of the houses were depressingly ramshacle, and hordes of barefoot children and skinny dogs roamed everywhere.

Just before dark, we decided to head back to Cali. My friend suggested the bus, as taxis could not always be relied upon to find his house. About two-thirds of the way down the mountain, traffic was stopped. A car had swerved off to the right, burst through the flimsy barbed-wire barrier, and plunged down a shear drop of 70 or 80 feet. It didn’t seem likely that anyone walked away from that one. Dozens of people were milling about, looking down the hill at the crash, as the cops began to stretch yellow tape across the road.

If we had been three cars earlier, we would have make it past but the police told the bus to turn around instead. Amazingly, the driver backed up the road to a spot a few yards wider, and did a three-point turn in which the back wheels couldn’t have been more than a foot or two from the edge. Back upwards we went, the driver slowing, waving, and yelling “No hay paso” at every vehicle coming down the mountain. We continued past Montebello, onto a dirt road at the very top of the mountain, near “Tres Cruces”. As dusk set in, you could see all of Cali spread out below.

The bus driver then began a maniacal descent down some kind of deeply-rutted dirt access road, with absolutely no signs of habitation anywhere. Though a series of switch-backs, he would speed up at every straight stretch, then slam on the breaks and slide through the next hairpin turn in a cloud of dust. The (thankfully few) passengers bounced out of the seats like ragdolls, getting 3 or 3 feet of air on some of the larger potholes and ruts.

Eventually, an hour or so after the trip began, the service road let out directly behind the Chicichape Mall, so we jumped off to down some cold ones. It was the strangest, scariest bus ride I have ever taken, but the locals barely shrugged.

By michaelz on Dec 2, 2005, 10:41 in Friendly Talkzone.

jalf12 says on Dec 2, 2005, 19:25:

Sounds Like Fun Your description of the drive down the mountain reminds me of my trip on bus from Bogota to Pereira. Pure Insanity! Of course I was already a little tense after seeing three toll booths blown to shreds that day. I didn't feel much safer the first few times I took a bus in the middle of the city. No regard for traffic rules whatsoever. I'm used to it now though.

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litost says on Dec 3, 2005, 01:24:

You were very unlucky (or lucky, whatever) jalf, I've don Bogota-Pereira-Bogota literally dozens of times over the last 10 years and not once did I see a toll booth "blown to shreds". Do you remember when this happened, and to what toll booth? It would have to be either the one between Pereira and Armenia (unlikely) or the one between Armenia and Ibague. Maybe it's because I'm colombian or because I've done the trip so many times, but it seems nothing like what michaelz describes... the road between Bogota and Pereira, though winding and with the occasional mudslide blocking it, is pretty well kept and has a lot of national traffic. Michaelz's experience sounds more like the typical trip from a city to a small town off the main roads (small buses or taxis doing intermunicipal routes, partly unpaved, narrow, etc.).

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platano says on Dec 3, 2005, 01:31:

I took the bus regularly from Cali to Popayan.... I was building a house in Cauca and probably made over one hundred trips (I traveled every weekend) over a several year period. I would regularly see toll booths blown to shreds... as well as pass through towns with bullet holes in the walls of police stations. This is not unusual in certain parts of Colombia and does not mean Colombia as a whole is a dangerous place. I never let it interfere with my enjoyment of Colombia, nor did I restrict my travel, because I believe in the Constitución of 1991 and its guarantee of freedom of movement to visit all parts of Colombia.

I would never recommend anyone do as I do because, as the Colombian saying goes: "Cada uno es dueño de su propio miedo" and that should be respected... as well as each individual's concern for their own physical integrity should be respected. Some people refuse to even fly into Bogotá and that should be respected as well.

plátano

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utopiacowboy says on Dec 4, 2005, 07:22:

You're right, GIB. Until you get into the boonies and see some of these pueblitos, you have no idea what is going on.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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litost says on Dec 4, 2005, 13:28:

The same could be said for most countries in the world, including the US and some in Europe. But yes, ineaquality is very dramatic in Colombia.

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Gator says on Dec 4, 2005, 15:16:

That's... just one of the reasons we support a small rural school way south of Cali and are putting a young man through the U. of Florida (where else would a Gator pick). He will get his Computer Engineering degree in May.

Do what UC and GIB say and you will have a real understanding of the word "poor" and abject poverty." Even after all these years it still makes me cringe.

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

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utopiacowboy says on Dec 4, 2005, 20:21:

Gator is right. There is a lot of mind-boggling poverty but there is also a lot of joy and happiness too. One thing about Colombia, it always makes you realize that material possessions are not the source of happiness.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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michaelz says on Dec 5, 2005, 05:43:

gib Your thoughts about gringos needing to see some pueblos for themselves are right on the money. My friend lives in a little brick house where a small living room and kitchen are separated by a 4-foot wall. Water spots and fallen plaster mark the places where water leaks into the ceilings. There are three tiny bedrooms. Though the parents are divorced, they still live in the same house. The father has the back bedroom. The 2 boys share the middle (smallest) bedroom, and the mother, daughter, and her baby all sleep in the same bed in the largest bedroom.

On one side of the house, a wall encloses a small, below street-level courtyard, which is open to the basement via an 8-by-8 foot cutout in the side wall. The bathroom, such as it is, is in the basement and is unenclosed, except for a 3-foot barrier. As the house is in the mountains, the entire basement is cool and drafty.

At the rear of the kitchen, there is a stairway to the roof, which has a wall only the street side, and no roof. The stairway is totally open to the elements. It appears as thought if there were originally plans to construct a third floor and additional rooms on the courtyard side, but work was never completed.

The scary thing is, their house is one of the nicer places in town. Many others were one or two room shacks, where random boards were nailed over some rough timbers, and a slanting tin roof thrown on top. The conditional of the school, I don’t even want to get into.

On the plane on the way home, I read some magazine articles where rich gringa bitches were complaining about: how difficult it is to find houses under $1 million in LA, finding the right preschool for less than $20,000 a year, how hard it is keep up with one’s career while being on the “mommy track”. The mother in the Colombian house works 12-14 hours a day in a tienda, comes home exhausted to tiny place housing her ex-husband, three offspring and a grandchild, and then sleeps three to a bed. I wonder how much she complains about not “having it all”, like the rich gringas.

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Gator says on Dec 5, 2005, 06:14:

If You Ever... get to the Santa Marta area and take a ride to Bahia Concha beach in Parque Tayrona (you will never find the route on your own) take a good look around as you are leaving Santa Marta proper. This area does not have running potable water and the H20 is delivered by donkey cart.

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

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