There is one thing that you have to be very careful of here in Ecuador - the land mines. They are everywhere, and you have to constantly be on the look-out as you walk down the street to avoid them. Despite my diligent efforts to stay safe, I stepped on one in Banos...and didn't even know it. It was right before we got on the bus to Riobamba. About 5 minutes into the bus ride, we really started to notice a stench. There was a little tiny puppy on the bus a few seats in front of us, so we assumed he was the culprit - poor little thing probably had pooped or vomited from the wild bus ride. A few minutes later, him and his owners got off the bus. By this time, everyone on the third-full bus was having issues with the smell - fanning their faces, sticking their heads out the window, one girl who looked like she was already sick from something else was burying her face into her boyfriends shirt and looked like she was going to pass out. Sam and I opened the windows, cursed Ecuador under our breath, and kept looking for some way to escape the repulsive aroma. Now on every bus here there is a guy who is kind of the doorman and fare collector. Well, that guy for this bus ends up coming back through the cabin with some sort of pink cleaning spray bottle and searched under every seat on the bus to try to find the source of the problem. He couldn't find it so he just started spraying the stuff everywhere - streaks of this pink stuff were running all over the floor of the bus. (Side note: Now if HE is looking for the problem, you know it smelled bad because Ecuadorian's orinarily don't seem to be bothered in the least by most of the smells us gringos wrinkle our noses at.) Despite all of his efforts, the stench continued to permeate the air and just wouldn't go away. We tried switching seats but it didn't get any better. Finally, I off-handedly decided to check the bottom of my shoes to see if any of the pink spray stuff got on them. Lo and behold!...if there wasn't a nice big bomb of dog dung lodged in the deep tread of my new Keen shoes! Well, now what was I supposed to do? Everyone on the bus seemed really ticked off that they had to ride on this smelly bus and I surely didn't want them to realize that I was the cause of it all. Sam quickly realized by the expression on my face that I was the cause of her suffering. She started elbowing me and demanding that I go sit somewhere else - well that would have just completely given my new secret away to everyone else. I sat there trying to think of how to solve this dilemna, but it isn't easy to think when your ribs are getting sore from your wife's elbow, you're being jostled by the crazy bus ride from hell, and you have this inescapable, nauseating odor wafting up to your nose from your shoe. Finally when my ribs couldn't take it anymore, I got up and as casually and nonchalantly as I could made my way up to the front of the bus where the doorman guy stands next to the open bus door. I got his attention, then motioned towards my shoe and as covertly as possible showed him the bomb attached to the bottom. To my surprise, he didn't try to throw me out the open door of the moving bus (I think I could have taken him anyway - most of these Ecuadorians are smaller than me). He just half-smiled, turned around, and then ignored me. So, I sort of just hung out there with him, hanging on to a railing to stay standing, not sure what to do. Now when the buses pull up to each stop, these doormen guys usually jump out, holler the destination, and help people stow bags in the exterior storage bins. I realized that this was going to be my opportunity. At the next stop, he hopped out to do his hollering thing and I followed him off the bus. I ran over to the curb and started wiping my shoe on it to get the bomb off. I was making good progress with this when all of the sudden I realized that the bus is starting to take off without me! I quickly had to abandon the cleaning job and literally run and jump onto the moving bus as it pulled away! I don't want to point any fingers here, but were they trying to leave me there on purpose? Hard to say. Anyway, at the next stop there were a lot more people getting on the bus and this kept the doorman guy busy for awhile. I was able to jump off again, get the rest of my shoe cleaned off, and get back on the bus without getting left behind. Sam still didn't want me to sit next to her - but I did anyway. The really bad smell was mostly gone, leaving only the usual 3rd-world country bad smells, and we eventually made it to Riobamba safely.
Things are different here. In some cases, it is hard to comprehend or fathom the differences. As an example, can you remember the most 'interesting' local needs talk you've ever heard? Well, a sister here told me of a local one that may take the cake. Apparently, in this particular congregation there was a problem with toilet paper disappearing from the kingdom hall. Turns out that many of the local brothers and sisters were taking the TP home with them after meeting. When compounded with a budget shortfall this particular hall was experiencing, it got to the point where there simply wasn't any TP in the bathrooms at all. I guess this went on for awhile and no one thought it was that big of a deal (hello?? no TP!?!?). Of course, leave it to a gringo sister to rock the boat. She finally expressed her sanitary concerns to the elders in no uncertain terms and so they sent someone to the store to get TP for that very meeting. Then, next thing you know, there is a local needs part on not taking TP from the Kingdom Hall! It's hard for me to understand what cultural norm would lead to an issue like that, but it obviously happens. I wish I could have been there for the talk - well, I wouldn't have understood it in Spanish - but I wish I could have been there anyway.
Another thing that is different about this country is how people view trash. First of all, it's everywhere. Now the main reason for this seems to be that Ecuadorian's just aren't culturally aware of the idea of keeping the planet clean. Trash IS everywhere, so trash GOES anywhere. In the NorthWest part of the US where we live (Washington State), you probably wouldn't make it off of a bus alive if you openly just threw an ice cream wrapper out the window of the bus. You would be beaten, clothes ripped to shreds, and tossed off the bus while on the overpass - because the environment's cleanliness is far more important than the oblivious litterer's life. Being a JW, we may not join in on such a mobbing, but it is pretty irritating to see people toss trash out the window. A guy in front of us on the bus ride from Banos bought something from one of the many bus vendors that go up and down the aisles selling snacks - he promptly unwrapped it, reached back behind him, and threw the plastic wrapper out of our window right in front of us. Sam's jaw dropped in shock. I mean, it's one thing to see it happen a few rows in front of you, but to throw it out of OUR window, right in front of us?!? A few minutes later, just as I have Sam calmed down enough to where I don't think she'll smack him upside the back of his head, he reaches back again and throws ANOTHER piece of plastic trash out of our window. Now I wanted to smack him upside the head. Somehow we restrained ourselves but this will take some getting used to.
Well, I have a lot more experiences that I want to tell you about, but not enough time to write them out right now. I hope to post more later this week, probably right before we come home Friday. Love and miss you all!
