I was in the bus today...

I was in the bus today, driving through busy Quito, luckily without demonstrations in the morning, as usual, but I saw something else. I saw two girls, not older than nine or ten, with the typical Andes faces. One of them was wearing the traditional clothes and the hat, the other one just in a white t-shirt and jeans. They were standing in the middle of one of the most hectic streets in Quito, selling candy to cars. They were lucky when I saw them through the dirty bus window; they had just gotten a customer. Both of them run over to the car, one of them hand the driver the candy, the other are ready to take the money. I can see from the distance that they are getting a note, most likely a one dollar note; they try to give the change back, but at the same moment the traffic lights turns green. The sounds of the horns are everywhere, and the girls tries as fast a possible to give the change back – but in their eagerness, the drop some of the small coins on the road. They totally forget about all the cars passing by them with high speed, they are only focusing on saving the few money that they dropped; all this they do with a smile on. Like two girls playing on the playground in Denmark. These girls are not on a playground, they are working – on a highway in Quito.

It is peak time, which means that no-one has time to wait, and everyone “wants” to go to their offices and shops. The police are in the streets trying to direct the traffic, with small whistle they pretend to have power; but they are blowing for deaf ears. At the same moment I see a young teenager in a blue dirt overall, doing his work. He is a shoe polisher, which means that he lies on his knees and polish the busy businessmen’s shoes, while they are reading the newspaper – and they work for 30 American cent pr. person.

In the bus a man is standing and talking in a microphone, he is nicely dressed in brown shoes, blue pants and a maroon shirt. He is trying to sell what he got in his big plastic bag next to him; incense and a holder for the sticks – one dollar. He is lucky today, two people buys from him, the first one wants strawberry smell, and the other one can’t decide, but ends up with cinnamon.

I get off the bus and enter the building, which belongs to “Panamericana Internationales”, I go into the “international section”, which is a little dirty room in the bag, thinking that the busses might look the same. I am met by a man with the typical “I am trying to be a serious businessman” outfit. Unclean brown shoes (he couldn’t afford the 30 cents.), too long black pants, an over washed jacket and with shirt, and the obligatory ugly 6-striped colorful tie. I tell him that I need a ticket to Lima today, and that I already know how much it costs etc. nevertheless, he spends the next ten minutes, “trying” to sell me the ticket that I have already decided for 2 days ago. Por favor sir, just give me the ticket.

Finally I get my ticket, and I can take the bus “home” again.