Today I learned that I am ever so slightly too tall for Riobamba city transit. By no means am I an exceptionally tall person, yet it appears that I am most definitely taller than the average public transit rider here. This is actualy the second time since arriving in Ecuador that public trasit has given me one of those Lost-In-Translation-Bill-Murray-In-An-Elevator moments (the other one was early on, in Quito).

The reason for riding transit today was to go downtown to pick up everyones laundry (normally, I would have taken a taxi, but being a transit kind of guy, I went for it; plus, José-Luis suggested it, so I decided to go along). The bus* is significantly less expensive than the already ridiculously cheap taxi (18 cents vs. $1, respectively). As for the laundry, I volunteered to pick it up while José-Luis ran some erands and Ross and Jim continued on analyzing artifacts. Picking it up was no problem. However, I found that it's somewhat dificult to flag down a taxi while carrying 25 lbs (seriously) of laundry. I did manage it, though, without incident (although people did give me some funny looks as I wandered around downtown laden with an armful of clean clothing, trying to find a street that went the rigth way).

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All the pottery sherds are starting to look the same. Ross only laughs at us as Jim and I get excited about one that has a slightly diferent rim form or glaze. I don't know how many bags of unidentifiable plain/red slip body sherds I can look at before I start to pretend there are carved designs in the cracked, charred, hearth blackened surfaces, just to keep myself entertained (I'm exaggerating... but only a little).

* Ecuadorian transit factoid: Th bus driver assesses your athleticism as he appoaches you. If you look at all fit, he'll slow down slightly, allowing you to jog alongside, grab the handle and pull yourself onto the still moving bus. Complete stops are for the elderly and infirm only.