The Trip Home

Day 5
We decided to start the day by exploring downtown Ushuaia. It was agreed upon that we would meet at 11:30 AM to start the drive back. However a number of us thought this would not leave us a enough time to cross the border before it closed at 11 PM.

We hit the road and drove for hours. We stopped in Rio Grande and made four different stops at gas stations looking for one that had enough gas to fill the tanks of the buses.

As the time passed people started to get more and more anxious about making to the border before it closed. It finally turned dark outside as we pulled in to wait for the ferry. One of the other cyclists (who I happen to share a class with) asked me if Marieke had a migraine (she is prone to very painful migraines on a regular basis). I thought she was just sleeping but to make sure I asked her if she was okay. She was barely able to talk but she nodded her head when I asked if she was having a migraine. Since we were stopped I got off the bus and went to the other bus to find the migraine medication. When I got back on the bus I had the driver shut off the music and the lights. I also had to tell everyone to stop talking which proved to be a challenge. A lady from the other bus finally came over with the medication and started massaging Marieke's forehead. Unfortunately she didn't have the strength to take the medicine yet.

In the mean time one of the passengers, a nurse named Marta, gets back on the bus and starts complaining about something. I "shushed" her a number of times because she wouldn't stop talking. Then another passenger, Juan Carlos (also a nurse), got back on the bus. Juan Carlos is very loud and had been drinking all night the night before, woke up and started drinking, had some wine drink at noon, and then was drinking beer in the afternoon. I should note that he was the only one that was intoxicated. When he entered the bus he was hooting and hollering and everyone "shushed" him (mainly me). Then he shouted jokingly, "what are you, my father?"

I continuously "shushed" the two nurses and finally Marieke took her medication. We got on the ferry, crossed the Straight, and started heading towards the border. It was already past 11 and we knew we might not make it into Argentina before the next day.

The pain didn't subside and a lot of the people on the bus were really worried but we tried to keep everyone quiet in order to reduce the pain.

Finally we arrived at the Chilean exit. Of course, considering the time, it was closed. Marta started talking about how she wanted to get home tonight and how this was a huge inconvenience for her. Then she says out loud "we have a sick person on board, they have to let us through." Having come to the realization that Marieke's migraine could be her ticket home she starts talking about how this is a violation of Human Rights that they won't let us cross.

Soon after the Chilean immigration officer came on the bus and the driver turned on the lights. I was the only one standing and told him that I speak English and Spanish and that I could translate. He asked questions like "can I see your passport" and "I need to see your face" (her face was covered with her hair). Juan Carlos tried to help translate but as soon as he did the officer turned to him and told him that only him and I were talking, I can't say I didn't have a slight smirk on my face after the officer shut him up. He also asked me if I was her boyfriend, which I'll come back to later. He left the bus with her passport and Marieke sat back down. In the meantime one of the passengers stands up from the back of the bus with is passport, walks over to his son, grabs his backpack and gets off the bus. I went over to the son and asked him where his dad was going to which he replied that his dad was a doctor and that he was going to go with Marieke. I didn't know he was a doctor because he never tried to do anything to help until the opportunity to cross the border arose.

The immigration officer came back on board the bus and told Marieke that she was going to cross the border with a driver and the doctor in a pick up truck that was part of our caravan. I helped Marieke gather her belongings and we got off the bus. She then started to throw up outside of the pick up. At last the pick up passed through the border and I got back on the bus. Angel, one of the passengers, then told me that I should have lied and said that Marieke was my girlfriend so that I could pass through the border too. I told him that I didn't really care that much. Then Juan Carlos, who is at least 50, made an inappropriate joke (in its nature and its timing) about this at which point I just about lost it.

We turned the buses around and headed into the middle of Chilean nowhere. The rest of the ride I kept thinking how I just want to fine a telecabina to call home to the United States. Marta kept complaining about how she wanted a hotel room.

Finally we arrived at what was literally a village. There was a tiny place with 5 beds for about $14 USD/night. Of course the place didn't take visa and I had no cash because I had spent it on lunch in Rio Grande. Anyways, 5 people slept there and the rest of us either slept on the bus or in tents that we pitched next to a gymnasium. When we were taking our stuff off the bus the lady that had brought Marieke's medicine started talking to me and asking how it turned out in the end (she had been on the other bus and didn't ever see the immigration officer). I explained to her my frustration with the people on my bus and she was very understanding.

The next morning we all got on the buses and went back to Gallegos. My adviser's wife came with Marieke to pick us up. I asked her if the doctor talked to her at all. She told me that the only thing she remembers is looking at the clock in Gallegos and realizing that it was 1:30 AM.

Keep in mind that this entire time I was trying to hide my frustration from everyone. People are very observant of some of our cultural differences and I didn't want to seem like the pushy American. Things like customer service don't exist here and people usually just let stuff go so I didn't want to make a big deal out of, what I thought, was a big deal.

So that is my story of how a bus with 3 nurses (one that just didn't say anything) and one doctor stood by and did nothing, or made things more difficult, until the situation personally affected them.