The Transportation Situation

Hey folks, as you can guess by the title, in this blog I want to talk about transportation. To and from site, it is always an adventure. Because you see, since I live 9 km off the main highway, the cars that come and go are few in Laraos. And since it's the rainy season, sometimes you get some unexpected hindrances on your journey.

For instance, when I took my summer school class on a field trip to the lake, we had to wait about a half hour while the workers we encountered finished removing and replacing a bridge that had washed out. Yes, that is something. But what I find to be even more something is that they did that work very quickly. Here they are working.

And here are the kids playing and passing the time by our car we took.

Also, how many people do you think rode in that car up to the lake? Now remove yourself from the American transport safety standards and remember that in Peru, there is always room for one more. Now that the mindset has changed, would you believe that 5 children and 8 adults fit in to this car? Well they did, so believe it. And we had a great time.

But what I really want to talk to you about is the transportation experience which brought me and my two site mates to the big city yesterday. The plan was to haul some recycling in to the city to sell, taking advantage of the fact that my municipality's truck was going empty in to the city. I would ride in the cab with the two drivers (they have to switch because it's a long trip) and then my friends volunteered to ride in the back of the truck with the recycling. There would be plenty of room for all. We could even steel ourselves for the fact that the truck was leaving at 2:00 in the morning. No problem. We could sleep on the way.

Now here's where some lack of communication and lack of foresight complicate this plan. We load my recycling in to the car and then they load another 40 boxes of empty beer bottles. Not only does this add volume to the load in the back of the truck taking space away my friends' recycling, it also adds weight, which as we all know will end up sucking more gas. Remember this because it will come back. Not only are we carrying more things than I was aware, but then 2 more people and a dog climb in to the back. So I fret about how we will all fit. But the 2 people and dog end up getting off, my friends and their recycling get loaded on and we are on our way. Problems solved, right?

Wrong. Remember that bit about the heavier load than we were expecting. Well, just as we came over the last mountain, we ran. out. of. gas. Luckily it was on the downhill side of the mountain because we could take advantage of that and coasted for about a half an hour down to the nearest town. But since we had left at 0 Dark-thirty there was no one awake/open to tend to our needs. I burst out laughing when the three petrol trucks ironically zoomed past us. How was this one solved? We flagged down another truck and siphoned gas out of their tank and in to ours using a bucket and a hose. And we were on our way to roll in to town about 8:00 and sell our recycling.

Lest you think that I am complaining about the trip, let me tell you about the good things. 1) I successfully got the support of the municipality in selling recycling from our pueblo for profit. 2) The adventure and the story make it totally worth the uncomfortable and sometimes frustrating trips. And 3) Although leaving at 2:00 in the morning can be a little difficult on the body and the sleep cycle, you are rewarded with a clear sky and more brilliantly bright stars and shooting stars than you can count.

Blessings.