In the early hours of Monday (31), the bus carrying Isadora* stopped at a restaurant so that passengers could buy food before continuing on to Curitiba (PR).
It was supposed to be a stop of approximately 20 minutes, but it lasted two days. “When the driver got out, he learned that some buses were already stopped because some roads had been blocked. And they said it would be safer if he continued standing there in the restaurant”, says Isadora, 26, to BBC News Brasil.
At that time, roadblocks were starting across the country and increasing more and more. The movement was organized by protesters against the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), elected president of the Republic on Sunday (30).
The demonstration was registered in several Brazilian states. This Wednesday (2) the volume of acts decreased, but there are places where blockages continue, even after determination of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) to clear the roads. The PRF (Federal Highway Police) says that it has taken actions to resume normality on the roads.
Due to the movement, numerous highways had kilometers of traffic jams. This has brought all sorts of problems across the country.
Patients were left without care or materials needed for their treatments, various types of cargo did not reach their destination and collective vehicles could not continue their journey.
Many buses, like the one Isadora was on, were stopped and passengers had to suspend plans for the following days until they were able to continue their journey.
“Several passengers lost work days, including me. Some still had to travel to another destination, after arriving in Curitiba”, comments Isadora.
‘We felt that our rights were violated’
Isadora, who is a systems analyst, was returning from vacation when she took the bus in Caxias do Sul (RS) towards the capital of Paraná.
“My plan was to arrive Monday morning, unpack and start working (from home).”
She boarded on Sunday at 9:35 pm. At around 4 am, the bus stopped at a restaurant on a highway in Papanduva (SC).
When I heard about the protests, Isadora and the other passengers believed it was something quick. According to her, other buses also stopped at the restaurant waiting for the blockades to end.
“We were expecting that in a few hours they would release the highways”, he recalls.
But the hours passed and nothing seemed to change. “It was distressing. We felt that our rights had been violated, because we did not have the right to come and go. Everyone there had their commitments and we were made impossible by third parties. We were outraged when we realized that no one knew how long all this would last” , reports Isadora, who warned her bosses about the situation.
Passengers on buses that stopped at the restaurant had lunch, dinner and other meals at the establishment.
“It was an expense that the staff did not expect, but there was no way,” he says. The trade was also used to charge cell phones, for baths and other basic necessities.
While some passengers tried to deal with the situation in the best way, others faced difficulties.
“On my bus there was a lady who seemed to have Alzheimer’s. I was told that she woke up and wondered where she was, because she believed she was in a room and asked: what do I do here? The staff didn’t know exactly what she had, but everyone was worried and always stopped by to see how she was doing”, says Isadora.
“Another case was that of a young man who was on another bus and told us that he had had an anxiety crisis and a panic crisis. He said that this situation greatly worsened his condition, that he even needed to be rescued to be attended by a health team. After the service, he returned to the restaurant and seemed calmer”, he says.
The bus driver himself, according to Isadora, also had personal problems.
“He was very desperate and nervous. He had lost a family member, I think his father-in-law, and he wanted to return soon to Curitiba to find his family. Even with all this, he still tried to give all the support to the passengers, we knew that It wasn’t his fault.”
During this period at the restaurant, one of the situations that marked Isadora was the solidarity of a woman who took donations.
“The people there were even able to buy food at the restaurant, but that gesture of hers was very beautiful. She took cheese bread and lunchboxes to the people who were stopped.”
The return to Curitiba
At dawn on Wednesday, the driver decided to return to Curitiba. “We were sleeping and he just said: let’s go. I’m not sure if he had received permission from a superior or if it was his decision.”
When the bus continued its journey, around 3:30 am, Isadora says she felt scared. “I didn’t know what would happen at the blockades, whether the protesters would let it through or not.”
She says that until arriving in Curitiba there were four blocks early this Wednesday morning.
“We stopped at four. At each stop, protesters came to the driver’s door to talk to him. There was no traffic jam, but there were these roadblocks. I don’t know exactly what the driver talked to the protesters about, but I know he managed to get through in all.”
“In one of these, I heard a protester questioning the driver: but who is not letting you pass? This protester implied that we could have passed before, but I don’t know if we could really pass before or if it was just their move now to make it seem like weren’t blocking the highway before.”
The bus arrived in Curitiba around 6:10 am this Wednesday. “It was a journey that would take nine or ten hours and we ended up arriving two days later.”
“But we were relieved when he arrived. Everyone was very tired. We thank the driver because he stayed with us the whole time and we left.”
Upon arriving home, she rested and then began to work. “As I didn’t work in the previous days, I had to work today [no feriado]”, account.
Regarding the stoppage, she says she hopes that the situation will normalize as soon as possible.
“I didn’t want to go through this and I don’t think anyone did. It was my first experience of unforeseen travel.”
“What pissed me off the most was because I think it’s unfair [o bloqueio das rodovias]because they ask for something that has no basis like that [sobre a pauta contra a eleição de Lula]”, he says.
“And if they wanted to give visibility to their point of view, that would not interfere with the lives of the rest of the population”, adds Isadora.
*Name changed at the request of the interviewee
This text was originally published here.
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