Wednesday, February 22, 2012

End of Day 4: $1835.00

Thanks again for another $200.00 in generous donations!  And thanks for continuing to help get the word out!  Look for additional pages to be added soon with details for specific fundraising events, and, as always, check out how you can help.

For anyone out in the Hillsboro, Oregon area, stay tuned for information on a bowling fundraiser happening soon (thanks to a friend living in the area- yay!).  Watch for specifics on all of the upcoming fundraisers to appear here over the next couple of days, after details are finalized, but do remember to mark your calendar for the Dining to Donate culmination event on March 19th at the Applebee's at 660 S. Whitney Way in Madison, WI.  Interested in helping to coordinate a fundraiser in your area? Email me so we can try and work out the details!

Some of you may have noticed a little blurb in the Wisconsin State Journal the other day about a bus that ran off a cliff in Ecuador, killing 29 people.  Unfortunately, traffic accidents (especially involving the buses) are fairly common there.  Some of this has to do with road conditions, but I have heard that a large part also has to do with the different bus companies, with some being more lenient than others.

I enjoyed the times that I rode the bus in Ecuador, but mostly because of the music, bright seat patterns, and sometimes the appearance of guest, non-human, animal passengers.  The open-air buses were my favorite, with such an open view of the countryside.  For the most part, my bus adventures went off without a hitch, except for one afternoon when a tire blew out, or something happened, which caused us to pull off the road and be stuck for a while.  There was great commotion to see what was happening, but no announcements made, nor ideas about what was wrong.  We watched for a while as the drama unfolded.
A giant board was used at one point to try and give some leverage.

And then there seemed to be a bit of confusion as to what to do.

And then one brave soul was under the bus working for quite some time.

At one point, not too long after we pulled off the road, another bus went by and a bunch of the passengers (smartly) ran off and switched buses.  Not being in any real hurry at this point, we decided to wait it out.  However, after waiting for quite some time, with no responses as to how much longer it might be, we ventured with another couple of groups and caught a ride on a flete driver's trunk and headed off, leaving the broken down bus behind.  I am not sure what was wrong, or how long it took to fix it, but it wasn't there a week or so later when we went by the same area.  So, if you are traveling in Ecuador by bus and it breaks down, it's probably a good idea to follow the majority of the passengers if they run to another bus, unless you really have nowhere to be anytime soon.

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