Tiring Day

Friday, Oct. 13, 2017--Loja to Machala

I knew it wouldn't be an easy day, but it was worse than I expected although not as bad as it could have been.  The bus didn't arrive until departure time, but they still got us off only 5 minutes late.  But 15 minutes later on the edge of town, it pulled off at a tire repair place.  They removed a tire and either repaired or replaced it.  That slowed us down 35 minutes for a trip that was already supposed to be 5 1/2 hours long!

We went through absolutely beautiful scenery.  It was mountainous for hours of travel.  Looking in the distance, I could see layers and layers of them.  And unlike other areas of Ecuador where there are houses everywhere in the countryside, we passed miles at a time with nothing but the mountains to see.  During one stretch there were trees thickly covered with bright yellow blossoms.

We were nearing Machala when we left the mountains and were on flat land.  The driver was able to speed up some.  But then he started slowing down.  He stopped for a minute.  A man across the aisle from me made a hand motion implying the question, "What's going on?" But then we took off again.  But just a short distance further, he stopped again.  We probably weren't more than 15-20 minutes from Machala.  The driver raised the panel covering the tire that had been a problem, so I first thought it was low again.  But then he took out some tools and began working inside under the panel where the gears are.  Most of us stepped off the bus.  He worked and worked.  He poured some fluid that looked like what is used both for brakes and for transmissions.  It ran out onto the pavement underneath.  We were so close to town that I wondered why he didn't call the local office and ask them to send another bus or a van for us, since there were only 6 of us who hadn't already gotten off before then.

A local city bus headed for the center of Machala came by, and two of us took it.  It stopped often, but it got me within half a block of my hotel.  It was 17:45--7 hours after we had departed Loja for what was supposed to be a 5 1/2 hour trip!

My hotel is way over priced for what I an getting, but a trip all the way to Guayaquil would have taken another 3-4 hours.  I am so tired that it is nice to have a stop.

I found the station for my bus I will take tomorrow and bought a ticket for departing at 9:00.  Then I searched for a place to eat.  The men here at the hotel recommended a burger place 4 blocks away.  It was fine and was fast.  They have also recommended a breakfast place between here and the station tomorrow, since breakfast isn't included in my over-priced room.

I am so tired that I will go to bed about 21:00.  I am glad today is ending.
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I stopped reading another book.  It wasn't because it was a bad one this time.  It was actually interesting and well written.  However, the story takes place in Jamaica with the characters speaking in various forms of Jamaican English according to social or ethnic background.  It was SLOW reading.  I couldn't see myself slogging through over 600 pages of such language.  The book, A Brief History of Seven Killings, A Novel by Marlon James, won the Man Booker Prize in 2015.  But 15 pages was all I could take of trying to read in the dialects being used.