Drug Bus(t)

This is a repost from an old blog of mine...just for nostalgias sake

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Drug Bus(t). I should probably wait until I´m not tired, or cold and can give this blog some justice....but I won´t because it deserves its own space and cannot be muddled with other, less significant entries. Two days ago - Tuesday - we miraculously escaped Iquique on a bus bound for Santiago after being told by about six bus companies that all buses were full until Sunday. We had planned to stop at other charming locations along the way, but they were all sold out as well, because Monday is Chile´s Independence day and therefore a popular time to travel. The ride from Iquique is 28 hours. The bus was not comfortable, nor was it terribly uncomfortable - but now, almost 26 hours after my arrival in Santiago I still feel like crap, so I suggest that you: 1. Not take a 28 hour bus ride OR 2. Take a Salon Cama bus - if given the option. Which I was not. ANYWAY.... 26 hours into the ride, our bus is pulled over at one of the many toll booths along the way. On comes the police, a detective (his jacket said so!) and a lovely dog. The dog runs up and down the bus...but keeps coming back to the general area we are sitting in. The dogs trainer has him check out the row in front of us, and ultimately pulls off two people: a woman and her baby, and the only other foreign traveler on the bus - both sitting next to each other, one row ahead of us, across the isle. After awhile, the foreigner comes back on...people start asking him if she has drugs and he confirms. Really? Yes, the lady with the baby has drugs. Not just a little bit....but EIGHT KILOS OF COCAINE. So we´re there....on the side of the road, two hours out of Santiago while the police do their checks and take photos and video to document the situation, and finally, we get on the bus. The bus attendant gets on and gives this speech real quickly, of which I catch ¨act like nothing happened when we get to Santiago¨ and I´m feeling a little confused, just then, the woman and the detective get on the bus and he handcuffs her to the seat! Since people were waiting for her to arrive in Santiago the police thought it would be a great idea for her to continue her journey.... Despite the terrible things racing through my mind as to what was about to happen to me when I arrived in Santiago, here I am, safe and sound. Its a shame I can´t follow up as to what happened next, but thats as far as my story about the bus ride with 8 kilos of coke goes.....