Schoolgirl waiting for combi – Cusco, Peru
There’s always that kid on the school bus who throws up one morning. The problem is that here, the school bus is also my bus. And the bus is actually a combi – a tiny, third-hand Toyota van with seats to hold about 18, but with standing room holds up to 25.
On a side note, one morning I was one of the standing passengers on my morning ride on the Arco Iris (Rainbow). (Other combi routes include the Expreso el Zorro or Fox Express, Servicio Expresso or Express Service, El Señor de Cabildo or Lord of Cabildo, and the Batman, or…Batman, complete with bat logo). This particular combi was not one with the extended height roof, so as I was pretzeled in there, my head was in the back row, and I believe my tail was in the face of the front row. And of course I emerged with my jacket zippers mysteriously unzipped.
Nevertheless, one morning, a boy proceeded to lose his breakfast. I could use my almost-award-winning-descriptive-writing-skills to tell you about the contents and spray pattern of this, but I’ll spare you the worst. Maybe I won´t. From all appearances, it seemed his mother force fed him an ENTIRE jar of grape jelly, then sent him running to the bus stop, then he enjoyed a bumpy, exhaust filled ride for a few minutes. Unfortunately he was face to face with the backwards facing kids, and one got the worst of it on his backpack. The next two to the right were hit a bit, and luckily I, standing further to the right, was spared. I reluctantly donated my USA made, 2-ply, extra soft, lint free Contonelle toilet paper to the cause, which I will probably quietly regret for the next 7 months. The girl I handed it to made a few quick wipes of her mochila, then tossed it on the floor. In shock at witnessing such a senseless act, I picked up the precious wad, made a nice ball, and placed it next to the mess on the seat, indicated to the girl sitting there that she could continue with the dirty work, which she thankfully did. Seconds later a woman came in a sat in the very seat, completely unaware of the morning´s excitement.