When the bus hit the main highway it was diverted due to some road work to a one lane dirt side road. I didn't even notice the switch until we got stuck, literally. Our bus tried to pass a semi truck on this thin little road. Both drivers thought they could slip by, but they couldn't. It got a little scary when the top of the bus and the truck leaned towards each other and almost collided so most of us quickly disembarked to await a solution from the gathering crowd. Here's a photo:
Eventually, both vehicles backed up and the bus pulled into a farm while the semi passed. Then we all got back on as the bus tried to do a 15 point turn to get back onto the little road. The most exciting part of the trip came when another truck tried to pass us from behind while we were getting back on the road. At that point, our bus full of frustrated Ecuadorians with many children were not having it and started leaning out the window yelling and waving at the rude truck driver. I thought a riot was going to break out, but luckily the driver heeded their fiery outburst and backed off.
After 3.5 hours we were back in our neighborhood in Quito. We took 8 buses throughout the day, so I feel like I definitely got my wish to learn and ride the public transit system. In fact, Spencer and I are headed out today on a bus to the Mindo Cloud Forest for an overnight adventure. More pictures to come!
PS. I forgot to include these pictures of Cotopaxi, the 19,000 foot snow capped volcano near the city. It's just beautiful and majestic, no matter when you see it. I took this first one from the bus station:
I took this picture while driving, it's too bad the cloud rolled in and perched right on top of the peak:
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