Now that's What I call a Bus!

 We left Seville at an ungodly hour (8 am during some weird time change where the sun did not rise until 9 am which means it was probably 5 am?). Many time altering hours later we arrived in Faro where they at least had a clean 1 euro pay toilet where the mega double deck Alsa bus was to stay for 5 minutes. Some 30 minutes later we leave and as we had spent 4 days in Faro, right by the bus station, we were familiar with the small medieval streets and side walks; put it this way, the roads were so tiny I was afraid to actually walk on the road and the side walk was well, not there. Hey it's Europe.

Now comes our mega bus who tries to do a tight, tight corner on a street where we did our laundry a few days earlier. I had spent time during the laundry helping a very drunk elderly disabled man who was inside the local bar/coffee place, get onto his scooter where with chattering teeth (due in part to the tininess of the street) I saw him off to his abode. 

Now picture me on top of the mega bus and C right at the front of said mega bus as we watch the driver try and execute the impossible corner...wait wait wait: "Crash! Crunch! Smash!" was the sound. The entire bus shook and bounced back. 

The young hippie American in front of me with his gf said: "Wow that dude really smoked it!"

And indeed he did. "shite" I thought they will need to get another bus. However the driver just backed up gingerly and tried the corner again as I watched in horror at: i) the entirely busted upper facade of the Faro apartment: the stucco and paint punched right through by two concrete busting holes; then the maneuver while the bus dude inched his way past a Peugeot which was about a foot off the sidewalk: "Man he's totaled the building and now the pricey car" I thought (many people here are wealthy touristas so that was a guess) 

To everyone's amazement he made it. Car intact and no further tanking of the building.

And on we went. What I didn't see, that C later told me about, was that one whole half of the windshield (passenger side double decker) was entirely wrecked and cracked.

C 10 rows ahead had the thought the same thing as I: we'll have to get a new bus. 

The driver however stopped about 5 minutes mid way along a major road past a roundabout and went out to inspect the damage. After some time taking pictures, C told me, he then sent a few 3 Chinese tourists which were situated at the front on the cracked side and had not moved, to the back and off we went on our merry way.