Seen on the Side of the Road

We keep a mental list of things that we see or encounter here which are tagged with the phrase, "Uhh, we would never see this happen in the States." Things are just different here. So... you see people throw cement blocks out the window on the fifth floor. Or you see a 9-year old boy sell a pack of cigarettes to a 6-year old girl (she was buying them for her dad). Or you see a crowd of people gather around to watch two men in the market place yell at each other and then start to throw punches.

Today, we add another item to our list. As we biked to school this morning, we saw a truck stopped at the side of the road. Just a small delivery truck, like the size of a 14-foot u-haul. Huddled together at the side of the truck were three men, working on something near the ground. Of course, you would think that they're probably just changing a flat tire.

But as we got closer, I noticed that, rather than changing a tire... they were gathering together twigs and brush and were lighting a little bonfire... directly under the gas tank of the truck. What. In. The. World.

Needless to say, Bethany and I didn't stop. We biked (quickly) past the truck and as far away as possible. And, as we biked, we were discussing with each other, "What could they possibly have been trying to do?" So, ok, the weather was below freezing. Is it possible the gasoline in the truck was... frozen? And if that's the case... is thawing out your fuel worth the risk of blowing up a your vehicle? Or perhaps they ran out of gas and the cap to the gas tank was frozen to the tank. But, if it's the gas fumes that are flammable and you're "running on fumes"... then doesn't that mean you really don't want to light a fire near your gas tank?

If this had happened in the States, I think we would have called the police. And if the police had shown up, I think that they would have stayed about a hundred feet away and ordered, through a bullhorn, for the men to step away from the truck. And then I think they would have called in a ladder track from the fire department to spray down the truck with that white fire retardant chemical. And then the men would have been arrested for suspicion of planting a car bomb.

But out here... totally normal. Not a big deal at all.

As we biked home and passed the spot where the truck was... all we saw was a little burnt pile of leaves and twigs. No truck. No giant hole where in the ground where the truck was. I guess it all turned out just fine.

I'm looking forward to what we'll see tomorrow.