Unantcipated delays

Of course nothing can be easy and just go as planned, right? I have been fighting a pretty serious respiratory infection since arriving in Ecuador. It started just as a cough that progressed into a body rocking force of illness which progressed into a terrible cold. The PC doctor told me to keep taking my decongestants, drink lots of warm fluids and get as much rest as possible. So I did, and four weeks later I am still sick, looking my site visit in the face, and realizing that all of that cold medicine was doing other bad things to my body, mainly my digestion. hmm. I didn't make the choice, my body did. It said: NO MORE! I got my site assignment one day, and couldn't move myself from my bed for the next 2 full days.
Last Saturday, most trainees were scheduled to depart to their sites in groups, myself included. I woke up at 7am, dragged myself into the less than warm shower, and attempted to prepare myself for my trip. But my body was not cooperating. I was soon on the phone with the Training Manager and doctor, telling them that I was not going to be able to travel and them telling me I must travel. It was a frustrating morning, but in the end, I was able to spend my day resting like I needed, and I slept literally all day and all night. (Its also important to mention that my host mom thought that I was not just sick but possible possessed and wanted to call the shaman – also her mother – over to do a cleansing with an egg and cigarette. I told her, really truly I was just sick and although I am sure her mother is a wonderful healer, I really just needed to rest. So instead she made me delicious naranjada hervida, which is a warm drink of orange juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, and trago – homemade liquor; which probably explains why I slept so well!)
Nevertheless, Sunday morning I pulled myself out of bed, still not 100% but significantly better and began my adventure to La Costa. I met Lenny, one of the facilitators in Quito and he helped me navigate the metro system of buses and trolleys from one end of the city to the other; its about a 2.5 hour trip in all! He made sure I got a ticket on the 11:30pm bus to Bahia and left me to myself in the terminal for the next few hours.
My bus arrived and departed the terminal on time, in a way I had not expected! (a little different system of efficiency than Madagascar for sure!) And my trip to the coast went just as planned until about 3am, when a tire blew out. Hmmm. Now one would think this would be an easy issue to resolve: change the tire and be on our way within an hour. No. My bus had no spare tire. So we waited in the dark, steamy jungle on the side of the road for 3 hours until another tire to arrive from who knows where! By the time we were back on our way, I realized I had no cell coverage to call my counterpart who was expecting me, and advise her of the delay. I feel asleep and promptly was awoken by a distressed call from my counterpart, a woman whom I've never met, when the bus had not come in as scheduled. This being my first trip, I had no idea where we were and how long it would take to arrive...Additionally, there are a lot of small villages on the road to Bahia, but no real major cities, so when I asked my fellow bus mates where we were, they responded “Bahia,” when we were still over an hour from the town! I did finally arrive, tired and about 4 hours later than anticipated, but it was well worth the trip!