Member-only story
Small Delays Might Save You
What a scamming taxi driver and other mishaps taught me about patience
I sometimes wish I could’ve been like everyone else who studied abroad and came home raving that their semester was amazing. Mine wasn’t meant to go that way; I’d ultimately need a therapist to process Quito. Regardless, at the end of that semester, something amazing did happen that forever changed the way I look at life’s frustrating little delays.
In my last two weeks there, I began to notice something suspicious: two officers on a police motorcycle began following me to my bus stop on the way to school. It would wait uphill from my house, above the intersection of my street, and as soon as I’d step into view, it would start to follow me, driving all the way down the long slope, slow enough to stay behind me the entire way. The logistics looked not-at-all accidental. I was terrified.
I’d heard warnings since Day 1 at orientation to be very careful not to get framed for anything illegal. Ecuador’s jails at the time were apparently rife with foreign women insisting their innocence in the face of drug charges. Ponder that detail: women.
Indeed, over the months, life made it increasingly difficult for me to trust the keepers of law and order. Lest this sound like a vague and baseless accusation, I’ll…
