In October of 2018, I was pursuing a story in Cochabamba, Bolivia, doing what us journalists do most of the time when working on a story: waiting for a contact to call.

So I did what I do when I’m in a city I don’t know, hop on the farthest bus line within the city and travel across it back and forth a few times. When I asked my friend Steve, a local photographer, what line should I pick, he smiled, and had no doubt about it: “Take a classic gondola of the 3V line.”

The 3V is the oldest and most loved bus line of Cochabamba. Established in 1943, the service has 50 red buses that are a parade of decorations, stickers, paintings, religious figures and colors. Today only seven of the original Dodge buses remain in service, but the aesthetic of the new buses emulates the old ones. Loved by tourists, travelers and locals alike, these buses remain the heart and soul of the streets of Cochabamba.

I’m a rara avis in my line of work; I don’t work with digital cameras unless I have to. I’m not a photojournalist, I’m a storyteller that tries to photograph what I can’t write about and write about what I can’t photograph. And no matter what happens to my drives, I’ll always have my films and contacts.

The following images are analog film. I hope you enjoy this visual trip as much as I did.

Follow Ignacio Conese on Instagram and view more of his work on Linktree.