Friday, July 07, 2006

VILLA DE LEYVA AND OUR NAUSEATING ENCOUNTER WITH A BUS FULL OF CAR SICK PASSENGERS!

So Villa de Leyva was a nice little pueblo. It is home to the largest plaza in Colombia (measuring 120m x 120m) and has a nice small town, friendly feel to the place!
We head North out of Bogota, attempting to break up our journey towards the Caribbean Coast somewhat and Villa de Leyva was just one of those towns that screamed out to be a stopover!

Now, before I go into details about what we saw, did, ate etc etc...let me tell you about our journey there.....
Ordinarily I would jump for joy (actually I do!) when we have a mere 3hr bus ride ahead of us, but in this case I would have traded it for an easy 11 or 12 hours!!!

We started off well, as usual the conductor insisted on ramming extra passengers into our little collectivo (a mini bus type contraption) Normally this proves to be ok, we all shuffle about and exchange pleasantries with the new arrivals perched on our laps. But this time we had a couple of ladies who got really car sick and outta nowhere (I cant imagine the high speeds and windy roads had any part to play) began to vomit. The first lady vomiting made the second lady start and much like a game of Dominoes, the trend continued, which made the rest of us feel fairly queasy to say the least! The third lady with the group was able to lean forward and grab plastic bags from the driver...strangely he would only hand them out one at a time (I dont think sickbags were even rationed in WWII were they?!)....which made me feel distinctly uncomfortable and obviously didnt help the carsickness as the ladies were having to breathe into the soiled bag which only served to encourage the vomiting! I stuck my head out the window into the gale force winds to avoid the sounds and smells of them chucking up, it was all well and good while it lasted, but then a troop of super stinky men climbed aboard and practically perched themselves on my knee...nice! The head outta the window trick was a life saver, until one of them decided to stick himself right up against the window....so the air being filtered in, through his shirt smelt reeeeal good!!! By this point I was in a fit of giggles (which obviously didnt help my "dont inhale" strategy) but I was transported back, way back, back into time......

One Sunny Sunday September afternoon back in ´93, my family and I were driving along the leafy roads of Reigate with The Royal Alexandra and Albert School as our destination. My brother Vijay, and I were headed to our new boarding school...this would be the start of his third year at boarding school, (but first at RAAS) and the start of my first! Driving along happy as Mary, laughing, joking and the usual frolics of a happy and stable family....BUT THEN...Vij began to feel queasy. He insisted that my father pull over, but daddy dearest wasnt quick enough and before I knew what had happened I had been the victim of the rogue splashes of my brothers vomit...aaaaaaaaargh. Happiness? Stability? Laughing? Daisies? All these cheery things were soon out the window as I created a scene, made a fuss, got all upset and demanded that I be taken home and return to start my first day of school at a later stage....preferably with no vomit down my trousers!! My mother had a fair point when she pointed out that I hadnt actually been the victim of any sort of vomit splashing assault whatsoever, but that didnt matter...who wants to start school on a Sunday anyway!

Mmmm...love the buses but love the memories that they evoke that much more!!

Oh so back to this pretty town.....here were the highlights.....
  1. They had supreme Pasta Pesto.....happy? daisies...oh yes, it was all back!
  2. We went on a 15km hike to an archeological park...turned out to be filled with phallic shaped stones...ended up leapfrogging them, as one does...was well worth the hike!! NOT!
  3. Visited a market early on the Sat morning! Was interesting if you have never seen fruit and veg being sold before!
  4. Had supreme Pasta Pesto (had to mention that twice seeing as I ate it both nights!)
And that would be Villa De Leyva!

posted by Priya @ 2:01 PM

1 Comments:

At 2:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How could you make me re-live the memories of that dreadful day...there are some things that one tries hard to put in the far reccesses of one's mind....and then there is you regurgitating it all!!!

 

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