Death traps and hamburgers

It's 9:30pm, Sat night and I've just survived a risk-taking drive home from the factory, trip to local hotel just for good coffee here and tackled the local "Hyper" grocery store on a weekend.  All of that in itself is a huge achievement.

As for the drive, I have no words.  It's rainy season here so each day invites an occasional downpour.  There are literally gushing gutters, vertically spitting fountains at cars trying to pass through.  The unlit, winding roads through the mountains are dangerous enough--without the glistening, wet concrete hiding the deep potholes.  To add to the confusion, roads are unfinished, let alone randomly blocked off with rocks.  Yes, rocks!  So those of us with SUVs would be able to pass by, assuming it's just the standard rockfall, not an actual ROAD BLOCK.  So next thing I know, I'm driving down the wrong side of the road with no signs or detour markers leading me back to the right side of the road.  Fortunately, there was a window to move over between the median, finally reaching safety.  With darkness blanketing your view, most cars drive with their brights on, even facing you head-on in your lane, without turning their brights off.  Lovely.  Blinking my lights doesn't make a difference.  They press by, seconds away from you, and then maybe will consider turning them off.  But it's too late, you're already blinded...either by brights or blackness.  Not to mention, the deathwish of several as they drive this death trap with no lights on.  But hey, at least they are required by law to carry reflective triangles IN their car, forget about actual safety WHILE driving.  In addition, you have your daring pedestrians who like to wait till the last minute to then dash in front of your car, as you wind around a sharp turn with no visibility.  Needless to say, it's a huge sigh of relief AND a miracle any time I arrive somewhere unharmed and without leaving a wake of incidents. 

So while arriving back into the city, I was ready for a late-night meal...something familiar, comforting after my death ride.  I pull up to the McD's drive-thru.  Mind you, Chris has warned me that drive-thru is the greatest language challenge, other than speaking on the phone.  So I decide to keep it simple, stick to "Combo numero cuatro".  After straining my neck and voice, repeating myself several times, I decide to pull around and speak directly to someone at the window.  I receive my change and pull to the next window.  While patiently waiting for several minutes, I notice it has taken a little TOO long.  The one time I actually double-check the receipt, I see that they charged me for FOUR meals and that's why it is taking so long.  I then waved the guy over to the window and tried to explain that I only wanted the ONE combo.  He understood that but then we had difficulty communicating the details of getting my change back. I told him I paid but couldn't remember how to say the amount but said, "Tiene mi papel" because I forgot the word for RECEIPT.  Too funny.  So as he went back and forth to the other window, his co-workers kept coming to the window, trying to speak with me in Spanish.  Of course, I think they are trying to help so I keep repeating the same conversation but later I realize they are flirting and asking me what I think of their co-worker.  Through my laughter in the whole ordeal, I say to the flirting one, "Silencio" because that was the only vocab I had to even joke on that matter.  NICE.  Finally, I got my change, my meal and made me way home.

I never expected just getting into my car and going through drive-thru would be such an adventure.