On headlights
Travelling in South America, I found myself in the small Andean town of Ingapirca. There is nothing in Ingapirca - certainly not anywhere to stay the night. It was getting dark. A bus to Cuenca, a reasonably large town, pulled in. Rescue!

Or not.

The bus was busy. In fact, it was packed - and not only with humans. We were sharing with a number of chickens. They were noisy - but not as noisy as the woman on the back seat, who was in labour.

The driver put his foot down. The road was narrow and there was precious little in the manner of a barrier to stop us taking the not-so-scenic route into the doubtless delightful valley a thousand feet beneath. With those hairpin bends, and at that speed, a barrier wouldn't have made much difference anyway.

Did I mention that it was going dark? I believe I did. In most countries, this would be a signal to turn on the headlights. In Ecuador, it is the opposite. There, drivers seem to labour under the belief that having your own lights on makes it harder to see the headlights of an equally demonically-driven bus coming the other way. And, of course, the other drivers all think the same.

So it was that we thundered along narrow roads, skirting certain death. In the dark. With screaming. And chickens.

I'm amazed that anyone survived.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 17:57, Reply)