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I Found Myself In Danger After Soldiers Stopped Our Tour Bus on the Way to Guayaquil
When traveling abroad, it’s important to avoid even the appearance of impropriety
Armed men poured out of the jungle. The leader held up his hand indicating that he wanted the bus to stop. We’d just crossed the border into Ecuador on our way to Guayaquil. This was about 2004.
My first thought was that the driver shouldn’t stop. He should just plow through them. But there were maybe 20 men armed with AK-47s. Even if he killed the one standing with his hand in the air, the others were likely to start shooting. We’d all be ripped to pieces.
The driver apparently recognized this and the bus came a halt.
A couple of the men came aboard. I remember the sight of them walking down the aisle. Mostly I remember the AK-47. It came floating towards me.
All of the men and a couple of the women were directed to get off the bus. I remained oddly calm. At the start of the trip, I’d gone into a pharmacy and explained I’d be riding a bus for 20 hours. I asked if there was anything they could give me for motion sickness. The pharmacist passed over a couple of pills in blister packaging. I didn’t ask what they were. I took them…
