your way

The train took off slowly and we were still puttin our bags on the top shelf. Good thing this shelves were big enough to put all our belongings. As we moved forward the agents asked us to pay, after making some additions and multiplications I was in charge of collecting the money and pay the agent. I made a little table to remember who I owed and who owed me since we all didn´t have the exact change for the 138 Bolivianos (6 bolivianos per 1 US$). The agent joked with us as to where we were all from and he meticulously wrote our names and passport numbers on the ticket. We were about 15 minutes on the road and we had our first stop, I was still being the perfect tourist filming my friends, as well as the vegetation outside and dogs walking outside by the railroads when suddenly a whole army of food, fruits, water and bread vendors showed up...It was a parade of unexpected visitors calling their products to atract the attention of their potential customers. I must said I was caught by surprise. The chicken, rice and salad looked very good so we decided to get them. 3 bolivianos each. That was the first of several stops this train was to make for the 22 hours ahead of us so after this one we knew what was coming and we managed to control our apetite for the following stops. We knew we will have wagon services on all our stops.
It rained on and off for the next three hours which made the agents run to close the windows everytime. The seats didn´t get wet but the wagon rapidly got hot and we started to sweat. Then the rain would stop again and everything was back to normal. Guy managed to fall sleep, Rebeca was writing her journal, I was taking some pictures and trying to see any weird animals through the windows. Butterflies, woodpeckers, that I only could hear, bee nests, some skinny birds, Bryony decided to go to the last wagons to check them out. HOurs later she told me to go to see some of the people she had met there. We got to those wagons and the experience was so different. There kids sleeping right on the alley. We had to be careful no to step on them, the seats were just one big bench on each side. They were used by some of the travellers as beds. I couldn´t believe how people could travel under those conditions. I felt like I was in a luxury section when I saw all this. I don´t know how much they paid for them but I labeled it as inhuman. But I guess this is the best they know, or it is all they can afford but I imagine there has to be a way to improve that. I guess time will tell.
I have to admit though that I had a mixed feelings about these passengers. Three of the friends Bryony met were Peruvians. They were travelling on the very last wagon. After talking to them for a while Bryony told them to come to where we were to visit. One of them showed up after a couple of hours. He and Bryony talked for a while but then I thought he really wanted to spend the night on our cart. It was then when I had this ´capitalist´ outburst. I am paying more to travel here. And it was not that I care if he stayed or not but I thought he was using the connection with us, and more with Bryony, to stay. I have been wrong many times and perhaps I was reading this the wrong way again. Bryony was not too happy with my comment and attitude. It was then when I realized that I sometimes can have noble ideas and want better treatment for people but this episode was a little disturbing. I always think I should get for what I pay.