2011-September-13: Day 29

Ok, so wake up at 3, have Sara and Antonio drive me to the bus station, say goodbyes, check in and wait for an hour, then stand in front of the door!:

Ok, next, get on the bus and drive drive drive, through Las Cruces and into lovely El Paso, Texas. Just kidding, it's ugly. Wait a while, then hop on a bus across the border (Mexico doesn't allow cell phones or wine, aka no fun!):

Being that I'm the only non-Mexican native, the bus is forced to stop, purely on my account, at the Immigration Office so I can go get my passport stamped and scrawl a bunch of nonsense on a little ticket. But while I'm in there writing I notice my bus move, which of course has me a little worried, but I keep trying to glance over to make sure it's still there (everything is on it but my wallet and passport). Finally finished, I exit the building and some dude beckons me toward the bus which I assume is mine, but when I get on there are way more people and I don't recognize any of them, including the guy who escorted me to the bus, so I start worrying that my bus left me and this was supposed to be my transfer or something! But the driver assured me this was the right bus and I found my seat with my stuff on it, so all was well. Drive through the border poverty and settle in Ciudad Juarez for about an hour.

Then it's off to Distrito Federal!

So about now I've been bussing for 15 hours and haven't eaten for 24: decide to buy a couple "burritos" from one of the vendors they let on the bus at stops (we're still in Chihuahua) and allow my stomach to keep contracting. We watched a bevy of movies in Spanish, so that was helpful. Night passes.