Getting a tetanus shot in a coffee shop…

A day off on the World Race

8 am: Wake up, make peanut paste and jelly sandwiches (yum) for breakfast.

8:30 am: Walk down the mountain to the highway and catch a bus to Quito.

9:05 am: Realize there are no seats left on the bus, and sit in the front next to the bus driver.

9:30 am: Get asked by the bus driver if he can be my Ecuadorian boyfriend.

11 am: Arrive at bus terminal in Quito, split up and take two taxis to “the cinema next to the McDonalds”

11:30 am: Realize half your team is missing and you don’t have a phone.

11:35 am: Figure they’re at a different cinema and buy some Immodium in the mean time. (51 cents!)

11:45 am: Find WiFi, use Skype to call one of your teammates mom to get the emergency number for the World Race to get your team leader’s phone number.

12 pm: Reunite with teammates, who were indeed at a different “cinema next to the McDonalds”

12:30 pm: Begin searching for a way to get a tetanus vaccination for a four day old cut on your toe.

2 pm: Get frustrated with searching, look at movie times.

2:30 pm: Decide we can’t find the hospital or clinic, and decide to ask if they happen to have the vaccine at the pharmacy.

3:30 pm: Finally get across to the pharmacists that we need a tetanus vaccination, and buy one for $5.98

4 pm: Debate on whether to find a clinic to give the shot or just do it ourselves.

4:15 pm: Go food shopping and buy syrup for pancakes.

5 pm: Call up a few nurses on our squad and see if it’s the right type of vaccine, and google it to triple check.

5:10 pm: Find a local outdoor coffee shop.

5:13 pm: Muster up enough courage to wipe my arm with alcohol and have a teammate get out the tetanus shot (still at the coffee shop.)

5:14 pm: Have minor panic attack.

5:16 pm: Begin video recording.

5:17 pm: Realize we have the medicine but no syringe.

5:18 pm: Send teammates to buy an (extremely sterile, no worries) syringe.

5:30 pm: Have teammates debate on who is qualified to administer the shot.

5:45 pm: Get vaccinated for tetanus in an outdoor coffee shop in Ecuador by one of my teammates.

6 pm: Get some pasta for dinner.

6:30 pm: Go to movie theatre as a special ($4) day off treat and get tickets for Harry Potter!

6:45 pm: Realize the theatre has assigned seats and you’re in the second row.

7 pm: Get blown away by Harry Potter anyway.

9:15 pm: Find a teammate sleeping in the middle of couches full of people in a public lounge area.

9:30 pm: Take taxis to the bus terminal.

10 pm: Get to bus terminal, ask for the bus we needed, get no help.

10:05 pm: Very politely ask the security guard (holding an M-16) if he happened to know what bus we needed.

10:06 pm: Very politely thank the very unhelpful security guard.

10:15 pm: Receive help from a random frustrated and kind woman who got a group together and led a revolt and demanded a bus to our destination (who later disappeared – angel?)

10:20 pm: Run with Kyle to join her, excited for a revolt against evil after watching Harry Potter 🙂

10:30 pm: Get in “line” (Ecuadorian for ‘chaos and shoving’) for tickets.

10:45 pm: Get told by teammates the bus is here, run out of line to bus.

10:47 pm: Get told by bus we need tickets first.

10:48 pm: Run back to “line” and push our way to the front.

10:53 pm: Get bus tickets.

10:57 pm: Board bus for 11pm departure.

11 pm: Sit in back row of bus with teammates, half falling asleep as we drive the curvy roads of the Andes mountains, taking note every moment of the effectiveness of the breaks.

1 am: Get dropped off on side of a dark highway and realize we have to hike back up the mountain.

1:05 am: Get barked at by dogs.

1:15 am: Get barked at by dogs.

1:25 am: Get barked at by dogs.

1:30 am: Finally arrive “home.”

1:35 am: Go to kitchen to get a snack, find that the gas was left on, gag, turn it off, and run out.

1:40 am: Crawl into tent, take some Melatonin, turn headlamp on, put earplugs in, and type out a blog of the craziness that was our day off today.