I just took a shower with water pressure. I can't really even relay in words how good it felt. After having water trickle on you for almost three weeks, a shower with real pressure is magic. We are now back in Guayaquil, Ecuador with the rest of the gang. We have added a new member, Peter, from Holland. He is helping with logistical things. Currently, Jana and I are in the kitchen, "baking cookies." I had to research this one, seeing as we have no oven. Guess what happens when you google, "How to bake without and oven?" You get an article that reads, "The key to baking without an oven is to use the dutch-oven technique." Of course!!! So we rigged up a dutch oven of our very own. It consists of a pot on the stove (nothing in it, which seems like a bad idea to me), a pan on top of the pot, and a lid. Simple enough. So we "pre-heated" the oven, plopped our oatmeal cookies on (in?), and off we go. First batch, burned on the bottom. Turned "oven" down. Second batch, put butter on pan. cookies spread into disaster. Third batch, no butter on pan, lower heat, perfection. It really is the charm.
Our last few days in Pimampiro were great. Didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. Thursday night we hung out with Ricardo, the Ecuadorian who has lived in the states for 20 years. We told him about the property we found, and he insisted we go check it out. So we find this place (which is a little confusing, especially driving at night), and he just goes right up and knocks on the gate/wall. The poor groundskeeper comes to the door, and lets us look around (again). Ricardo of course knows the owners (everyone knows everyone!!!!), and calls them to ask about a price. We tried to get an asking price earlier, but no one could seem to come up with one. Ricardo had the same problem. We just found out today that they are asking $250,000, ha!, and not really interested in selling. I of course thought that's why we were looking at it in the first place, but who knows. But it was fun while it lasted. We spent all Saturday evening and late into the night with Paul, creating a business proposal for the property. It was a good exercise, as Paul put it. We did not know the asking price at the time. Oh well, there will be other opportunities.
Sunday we lazed around in the morning. First time we actaully got to sleep until we wanted to in awhile. Felt great. We were supposed to leave on a 7:30pm bus from Ibarra (over an hour away) for Guayaquil. When our mom called to ask about tickets available, they were not. So we quick gathered up all of our stuff, and headed to Ibarra to see if we could catch another bus. We ended up getting what we were told was a direct bus from Ibarra to Guayaquil. Getting a direct bus on long journey's is important. Most buses stop to let people on and off wherever. When I say "wherever," I am not joking. Last night, we let someone off next to a gaurd rail on the Pan American highway, somewhere between Quito and Guayaquil. No town, no other road, no nothing. Classic. People also seem to appear out of no where and jump on the bus. When this happens, all I can think of is the driving lesson in Arrested Develpoment on "How to Avoid Hop-Ons" (this also applies when we are riding in the truck with Paul and all of the sudden there a 10 kids in the back...). There are certain rules when riding a bus in a foreign country. These are a few I have learned, either the hard way or from Jana.
Bus Rules:1. Have amount needed for the bus ride in your pocket. No bills. Coins only. (Don't be the jackass that's fumbling through $20s and asking if they have change) You will get your money stolen. This one is common sense.
2. Keep all of your things as attatched to you as possible. Purse over head/shoulder, backpack on belly (BELLY PACK!!), anything else wrapped around part of your body that's free. Learned from other's mistakes. It's amazing how quickly someone can swipe a purse from off your shoulder.
3. If you have put stuff to be stored under the bus, you have to stick your head out the window, yes even in the rain, everytime the bus stops, to make sure no one is running off with it
4. Stuff on floor must be either between feet or wrapped around legs/ankle. Those punks will pull something from under the seat so fast. Little shits.
5. If someone sketchy starts talking to you, pretend you don't speak Spanish. If they start talking to you in English, say, "Aleman," which means "German." I haven't met too many Latin Americans with German as a second language, so it's usually a same bet.
So we thought we had gotten a direct bus. Wrong. This is a huge pain when you have all your stuff stored under the bus (see rule number 3). We not only made many random stops (raining!), but we stopped at both bus terminals in Quito, adding an extra hour or so to our already 11 hour journey through the night. So we get on this bus, exausted, ready to crash out. A guy then gets on, blasting his not-so-personal, portable electronic music playing device. I almost donated my headphones to him. Luckily, he turned it down when Rocky IV came on. Following him was a woman screaming and crying histerically. She was upset. No doubt. Solid start to the next 11 hours of my life. So most of the bus drivers are crazy, passing people on the two-lane highway while rounding the curves. This fellow was exceptional. After he stalled out twice in 3 miles, we began to have our doubts. When he clipped the small truck on the highway, the deal was sealed. Loony. So I took my dramimine and tried to forget about it. All was well until we stopped in Quito and the bus passengers starting rioting and demanding that the trip was supposed to be "directo!!!!" Insanity. I jumped off the bus at thing point (dangerous move, they will leave your ass), and ran with the other random girl to the conveniently placed bathroom, a quarter of a mile away. We luckily made it back in time, got back on the crazy train, and went directo to Guayaquil. What a ride...
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