Journey To The Centre Of The Earth

As there is barely a month left of the Big South American Adventure, I have started racing through the continent in an effort to squeeze in as much as possible before it´s time to come home. A mere three days after leaving Peru I have made it to the Eduadorean capital of Quito and to within 25km of the equator, a sight I will be going to see in a day or two. I think it´s just a sign surrounded by tourists with cameras, but still - worth doing while I´m here!

I have made my various journeys from the depths of southern Patagonia near the end of the world right up to the centre of the planet via a variety of means: taxis, planes, trains and even the odd boat, but the transport I am now an unwilling expert in is the long distance bus. The first I took, in Argentina, was 20 hours from the east coast to the western border and with journeys lasting from 5 hours to 30 hours, I have lost track of the number of buses I have travelled on since then!

While buses during the day do usually come complete with stunning scenery (the countryside in Ecuador is insanely spectacular to the point that I have run out of superlatives to describe it), I have usually risked snores and robbery on the night buses to save money on accomodation and in the hope that I will sleep through the whole experience. I have developed a method of padlocking my bag to itself and then crossing my arms through the straps to discourage any opportunists and I wedge my ipod firmly into my jeans pocket before wrapping myself up in whatever warm materials are to hand and trying to get some shut eye. It´s not ideal but I think sometimes my body simply sleeps due to lack of other options.

The quality has varied massively from the luxury "cama" bed seats on the coaches in Argentina to the broken recliners on the bus I took over the border from Peru. There was no room for my knees and the man in front had his seat so far back that his head was practically in my lap and I could count his grey hairs from where I sat. Add to that the ants, the cockroach, the large crowd of villagers carting fruit and chickens in baskets who crammed on, and the driver´s over-enthusiastic cornering, it was definitely the most stereotypical South American bus experience I have had.

As the buses are generally pretty cheap (the 9 hour bus to Quito cost me five pounds) I suppose I can´t complain, but my need for comfort has got the better of me and I´m off to buy a plane ticket to get me to Colombia for this Friday. What a way to blow 200 quid!