Clouds and Silver Linings

March is probably the wettest month in the Quito and Santo Domingo region of Ecuador, according to most people in Ecuador. The weather proved to be problematic for my trip to Sto Domingo last Wednesday. I reached Tambillo about 6:45 am but noticed it took longer than usual to catch a bus going to Santo Domingo. I figured it was because the buses were behind due to all the rain we had seen the last couple of days. I finally found a bus about 7:10 and was on my way. We came to an abrupt stop as we started descending the mountains about 20 minutes later. After another 20 minutes of not moving, people started to get out of their cars and talk to other people. I overheard phrases like “a lot of mud”, “a lot of time”, and “in the afternoon”. After about an hour of waiting, the bus driver told us that he heard there was a lot of mud on the road and the road would be closed for a while. We also noticed that no traffic was coming up the hill from Santo Domingo. I settled in and started reading a book.

Another hour passed and we saw police in the other lane announcing that the road would not be open until 3 in the afternoon. People on the bus had various reactions. Some people were not fazed and continued to sleep. Other people huffed and puffed and said things I didn’t understand, but I think we could all agree that it wouldn’t be appropriate for children. Many people decided to try and walk down the hill to the next town and catch a taxi back to Quito. I debated going back because I knew that I would lose a day of work. But on the other hand, if the bus started going again at 3pm, I would be in Sto Domingo before dark and would still have 2 full days of work ahead.

I decided to wait it out and was glad I did. As you can imagine, sitting on a bus full of people for 7-8 hours was not fun and very frustrating. I had a bag of chips that I ate for lunch and tried to drink my water sparingly (trying to find that fine line between dehydration and not having to pee). I wanted to avoid spending the night on that bus so I decided if the bus was not moving by 4pm, my plan was to walk down the road to the nearest town. We were within 1-2 hours walk so I knew I could reach the town before dark and get a taxi. It continued to rain during the gridlock.

I was startled from my dazed slumber about 2:45. We were moving!!! I have never been so relieved. As we approached STO Dom approximately 2.5 hour later, the rain stopped and the sun peaked through the clouds. As I saw the sun, I knew that although I missed a day of work, the next two days were going to be good.

As I later thought more about that day, there were more positive events than just seeing the sun late that afternoon in Sto Domingo. People on the bus offered me food, which was nice but I politely declined. The workers at Centro Medico called me several times to make sure I was ok during the day. One of the workers at CMHH even picked up dinner for me and had it waiting when I got there. The Oviedo’s came up to my apartment and checked on me when I got there also bringing me fresh linens and towels.

All of these acts of kindness meant so much and gave me strength to power forward for the next few days.