Stuck on the 'Chicken Bus'...

That's going to be my analogy for the night. For any of you who didn't know, when we were in Guatemala, I went down to the village one day for some groceries. On the way down, I rode with a work group from the home, but as I needed to go back earlier than them obviously, I found alternate means of transportation back.
Keep in mind, this is a quote from the US State Department:

Avoid low-priced intra- and inter-city buses (recycled U.S. school buses); they are often ... poorly maintained and dangerously driven.

Trust me, the ... was the worst of the warning, but I didn't want to scare my parents. Hi Mom!.
Anyway, I had seen enough to know what I was getting into and it cost all of 25 cents to ride. It would have been a several mile hike otherwise. So I rode what they call the 'chicken bus', and the more I think about it, it's a good picture of the process.

When I started on my trip, I had hoped the driver for the group I rode with could get me back. However, after my trip to the store and the local market, I couldn't seem to get in touch with him. That happens a good deal with our agency. I had to make a choice whether to just keep waiting, or to move forward. I hopped a bus. On the bus, I was alone. No one wanted to sit with me. Sometimes this process is pretty lonely. Pretty much everyone that started with us is long since done. Some of the 'new' friends we made have long since passed us too.
As to the bus, it wasn't comfortable. It was hot and sticky. The road was steep and windy. There were literally places where it seems the bus will never make it up the hill. There were many curves I could not see anything around and others where it seemed I was winding right back to where I started. We can't seem to make any progress some days. Sometimes 'progress' for us has only led us back to almost starting over. The road was dangerous. Many places there are literally drop offs of hundreds of feet just inches from where I travel. I suppose there really was no guarantee of my safety. We definitely even at this point still don't have a happy ending guaranteed. Not that I don't believe it will be, but there's no way to know for sure, until I get off the bus. And even once I got off in Guatemala, I still had a half mile hike back to the orphanage, so who knows what it will be like.

Anyway, here's hoping for a short safe trip from here on out... The diesel fumes alone have almost made me sick. I need to get off.

If this didn't make sense, I'm tired. Hope you're doing well. - Tim (chicken bus survivor (I hope))