Okay, everyone…put up your hand if you’ve ever lost a tire off your vehicle while driving through the mountains. Heck, put it up if you’ve ever lost a tire off your vehicle period. Now keep it up, if it’s happened to you twice…

Yea, that’s what I thought. I’m like the kid in the back row waving his hand in the air saying, “Pick me! Pick me!” Believe what you want, but these things are not my fault.

Last week Edly asked if I would drive her up to the children’s home we have in a town called Postrevalle. It’s a home where younger siblings can live together. It’s a beautiful place…but very remote. It’s always an adventure driving there, the road is…a challenge. But at least this time it wasn’t raining… This trip was fairly uneventful until the last stretch before home. Just outside of a town called Samaipata (still in the mountains) there was suddenly a loud band, and the steering wheel spun out of my hand. I managed to keep control (more or less) and pull the truck over, but then I lost control for the last couple of feet or so and we kind of crashed into the bush at the side of the road.

It was kind of reminiscent of last time when I was driving back from La Paz with my sisters and lost a back tire. Only this time it was the front driver’s side wheel that came off. But just like last time, I hopped out of the truck…cranking the handle on my little flashlight to charge it up as I ran and chased after my fleeing tire. At least this time it didn’t go over the cliff…

After we checked that everyone was fine (one of the boys from the home was with us, along with a lady who used to work at the home in Postrevalle), Edly and I caught a ride back up to Samaipata to call Miguel to get a tow truck. The tow truck had to come from Santa Cruz (a good 3 or 4 hours away), so we knew we were in for a wait. Plus it was drizzling and foggy, and that road isn’t great at the best of times (sometimes entire lanes have collapsed into the ravine next to the highway, from rain damage, and traffic has to take turns in the remaining lane).

Sure enough, the tow truck didn’t arrive until 2 AM. By then Edly and the other lady had caught a ride back to the home, and it was just Diego and I waiting. The ladies waited with us until around midnight, when a taxi driver who was on his way to Santa Cruz happened to stop. He quoted them a reasonable price (unlike the other taxis we talked to who obviously didn’t want to make the trip). One thing I noticed was that people really didn’t want to stop or give the ladies a ride. I commented on this, and Edly asked me if it would be different in Canada. I was like, “Are you kidding?! Especially where I live! By now we’d have half a dozen farmers gathered around the tire, discussing what the best way to get us back on the road would be. Then a tractor would show up to drag us to the nearest town….we’d be the topic of conversation for the next week…”

And another thing that was different. When the tow truck did eventually show up, Diego and I road in my truck while we were being towed. Correct me if I’m wrong…but isn’t that slightly illegal in Canada? It was kind of a strange feeling, being behind the wheel, but not having any control of where we were going. But…after awhile I was too tired to care. So we just reclined our seats and tried to sleep. I figured if we went over the edge, there was very little I could do about it. Not that I managed to sleep much though. Diego on the other hand, was quite relaxed and snored his way home for the next four hours.

I eventually got home at around 8:30 AM Sunday morning. Just enough time to explain to the guys what happened and then shower and get ready for church. It was an important Sunday that I didn’t want to miss. Jesus was coming to church with his girlfriend and their little boy. It was Veronica’s first time, so I wanted to make sure I was there. It went well too, by the way…I think she enjoyed it. We all went out for lunch afterwards and had a good time. Their little guy (Jesus Sebastian) is a chunker though. =) It was fun holding him and playing with him. He’s a happy little guy.

Anyhow…so now it’s off to my insurance company and see how long I’m going to be without a truck for. That’s grumpy. It’s only been one day and I’m already annoyed. Life is just very time consuming when you’re taking micros (busses) everywhere… But I’m very thankful to God for His protection and safety. There were twenty places or more on that trip where, if this had happened, I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this to you. So, all in all…a little inconvenience isn’t the end of the world. ..

Once again…thanks for praying! =)