The back of the bus

The ride from Machala to my site take a bit more than an hour, and one should never be surprised by anything that happens on the bus. (No rules!!!!!)

The bus employee might decides to arbitrarily change the fare. Clowns might hop on the bus to do a comic routine. A one-toothed man might strum his one-string guitar. Another guy might be hawking the medicinal benefits of noni.

Sometimes, these occur simultaneously.

I would say that you should expect the unexpected, but I don't know if it's possible to expect something unexpected to happen because if you had expected it to happen than it wouldn't be unexpected.

Last week, on the ride back to my site from Machala, I was sitting in the back of the bus with another volunteer. About ten minutes into the hour-long ride, I hear some commotion across the aisle.

A six-year old and his mom are sitting there. He was whining a little bit and squirming around. By now, this commotion had drawn the attention of everybody else sitting nearby.

The mom lifts her child so he is standing on the window seat and props open the window. And he starts peeing.

Everyone in the area let out a collective moan.

I was equally disgusted by the fact that this kid's mom thought it was fine for her son to piss out the window. What I thought was interesting was that everybody else found that weird.

Based on my experiences, it is acceptable for children in Ecuador to pee toward the public. Instead of walking a few more meters to get to a bathroom or just cozying up to a wall, some Ecuadorian parents encourage their children to pee into the street. At least, this child was aiming away from the aisle of the bus.

The kid didn't even have to hold it in, at this time. He had another, just as convenient, option for going to the bathroom - actually going to the bathroom. He was sitting across the aisle from the bathroom door. His mom could have just as easily moved her child across the aisle and into the bathroom.

But then again, common logic doesn't always apply on the bus.

The bus keeps on rolling down the road. Another half hour passes, and that same child starts making a scene again. He doesn't have the "I have to go to the bathroom" face. He is showing more of a "I'm about to blow chunks" face.

Then came the dry heaves. Obviously, his mom told him not to vomit in her direction. She urged him to aim into my lap. Luckily, the heaves stayed dry until they got off the bus.

While all of this is happening, a couple sitting in the last row, one row behind the mother and son, seem completely oblivious to everything. As the child is pissing out the window or on the verge of vomitting, the two lovebirds in the back seat are too obsessed with each other to notice. They were making out for pretty much the entire bus ride.

And I'm sitting directly two feet away from all of this.

The only reaction I could think of is "asi es la vida" and go back to trying to read my book.