As I write this, we’re in a 90-minute layover at the Bucaramanga bus depot on the journey to the Caribbean coast. Nothing exciting about a bus depot so readers will have to settle for the above day-old photo from a supermercado in San Gil.
This journey was nearly made impossible by major floods that made global headlines 4 weeks ago. The road we’re about to take in the wee hours of 5-Jan was destroyed so badly that it was closed until just a few days ago. Colombia is a huge country – not only geographically but also in other ways I’ve seen in my working (for example, Colombians represented about 7th among the nations traffic-wise on the Web). And it’s mountainous – if a major route is closed, the detour is so long you have to re-plan your whole itinerary.
Fortunately, our (well, to give proper credit, Luis’s) plans have gone smoothly every stop of the way. It almost feels like buses and taxis are waiting just for us, never more than a few minutes’ wait (aside from the lengthy connnection here).
In general, transportation has been better / faster / cheaper (pick all 3, you geeks) than in generalthe USA everywhere else I’ve been.
Well time to post this, Luis wants to go to the bus.