A Bus Ride through the Andes

At 10:30 this morning I boarded a bus in Santiago which won’t arrive in Buenos Aires until 8am tomorrow if we weren’t too significantly delayed at the Argentinean border. I must confess I wasn’t expecting such a thorough search of all our luggage, nor had I realized that it would be performed in an open-air storage warehouse-type facility in the height of the Andes in winter time. First, I had to pass the aduana, or customs. This was problematic enough since it turns out I’d accidentally disposed of one of my papers that I do not remember receiving upon landing in Chile last month. After apologizing extensively and explaining the predicament in my broken Spanish, I passed with a warning and a new paper. I then had to answer questions regarding my laptop, my clothing, and the purposes of my travel. Passing inspection, I was in the clear and went back to my perch on the second story of the bus.

Long-range buses in South America are not only double deckers, but remarkably luxurious ones at that. The seats recline nearly 180º, and these are the cheapest ones on board. The seats are all larger and much more cushioned than those on airplanes. Meals are served thorough out the ride, movies are played, and the crew even entertained us with a game of bingo. (I understood each number the first time it was read, which was a win in my book even if I didn’t take the game.) However, the most stunning and startling part of this trip was the view. Seated on the second story of a double decker bus, I had a full 360º view of the surrounding scenery as we cut through the Andes.

I was so moved by my bus ride to Buenos Aires and all the natural beauty through which I was privileged to travel. A certain passage in the conclusion of Reading Lolita in Tehran struck me between spells of entrancement in the landscape lying just outside my window: "You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, I told him, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again." This was, I now appreciate, part of what I was feeling as I prepared to leave MIT. It’s frightening to look at who yourself when you feel quite happy, and know that this person is about to be transformed. Though little over a month has passed since I flipped my brass rat back in Killian Court, I feel as though it has been a lifetime. It seems amusing to remember just how nervous I was the first time I walked alone along the streets of Santiago in broad daylight. I’ve grown, learned, and become much braver. What a phenomenal adventure this summer has become!