Of Buses and BBQ-Miscellaneous Thoughts

Well, I have to admit it. I'm missing BBQ. This is not exactly surprising to me, but tonight the longing was brought to the surface by 2 things. First, dinner and I were not best friends tonight. We'll try to make up and patch up our differences tomorrow. However, I was able to cope by finding my stash of peanut butter back in our apartment's kitchen, and my spirits were lifted and my hunger somewhat satiated, at least for a few hours.

Then, after studying for a couple of hours, I logged on to Facebook and encountered the 2nd of this evening's provocations that have brought my hankering for some BBQ to the forefront of my thinking.....yes, even in front of improving my use of the Spanish imperfect tense which is also vying for my attention. The advertisement that came up on my Facebook page (you know the location of those ads about finding long lost high school friends?) Well, just beneath the ad inviting me to search for names and faces from the class of '72 was a photo of a slab of baby back ribs, complete with a side of bbq sauce! Some OKC restaurant was tantalizing or maybe it was that the owners were just taunting me. Well, the quest for Spanish proficiency went out the window and I have been staring at that platter of BBQ for quite a while now. I need to stop gazing at them, because it's not making things a bit better....but I am kind of enjoying the thought of BBQ, I guess. Honestly, I try not to allow those thoughts to set up shop. It makes for a long, long evening.

After class today, about 1/2 of our group boarded a Quito city bus for the journey out to a ministry site. It's the one I mentioned previously....the Quito city trash facility. There at the "dump" there is a ministry to children whose parents labor in the trash and garbage. The ministry is a place of grace and encouragement to some precious children. We spend an afternoon each week singing, drawing and playing with the children, followed by the trip home on a much more crowded bus. This evening personal space and additional oxygen soon became prized (and scarce) commodities on Mr. Blue Bus. The cost of the ride was 30 cents, and the experience was priceless. At one point, 3 city buses were side by side, jostling at about 30-40 mph for position. We gringos were at the back of the bus. Since I am taller than most on the bus, I could see that the majority of those standing were pressed toward the back of the bus where we happened to be. Each time the bus stopped, few seemed to exit, but more tried to pack in and join the fun.

I saw a sign posted that the capacity was somewhere around 100 (seated and standing) and it was at capacity about 5:45. One dear lady dressed in the attire of Andean indigenous people and carrying an open bag of bread and "greens" of some sort boarded the bus from the back and was forced, due to lack of space, to sit on the back stairway of the bus. As more folks squeezed in, she too was squeezed until her face was "smushed" up against the vertical metal pole. It took a while for her to get free and on her feet, but we were able to make space so she could join Darlene on the back row. Taxis are more efficient and more expensive (though still cheap by U.S. standards), but travel by bus sure is entertaining. It can also be oppressively slow, but I'd prefer to focus tonight on the positive, especially since those ribs are out of the realm of possibility.