We're not in Kansas anymore, that's for sure

Imagine the scene: You've just gotten off yet another bus that whips through the city and the tiniest streets as though it were a little motorcycle or something.  As planned, you find a phone at the bakery and call for a ride to your final destination - a daycare and possible site for future volunteer work.  While waiting, you buy a little something for breakfast (a questionable little something that leaves you wondering how you'll feel by the afternoon, but still pretty tasty).  You head outside to wait for your ride, standing on the sidewalk at the intersection of two streets.  Looking down one street, you're at the top of a hill with a great view of the city.  As you look up the other street, however, you're merely at the bottom of yet another hill.  As you're enjoying your little breakfast, an SUV with the words "Policia Militar" on the side comes slowly around the corner.  The vehicle is filled with four men, one glaring out each window at whomever is in his line of fire as they drive by.  You make eye contact with one of the men and then chills race down your spine as you realize the barrel of an AK-47 is also pointed straight at you.  Only as the vehicle makes its way up the street do you realize that each of those men peering out their respective windows is armed and letting everyone know it.

That was the first time I was in such a situation.  It was quite an interesting sensation.  I'm sure for people in that area, it is relatively normal.  I guess I could say, "I'm not from around these parts."

The visit to the daycare was spectacular, and we all felt a little more at home.

Our visit had its "finale" as we waited for the bus.  For probably 10 of the 15 minutes or so that we waited, a woman a little down the street sat at her window - that was really more of a large whole in the side of the house - yelling at us and everyone who walked by.  Half of the things she yelled weren't understandable, and those that were were... interesting, to say the least.  I was slightly nervous that she would get up and come over to us - an encounter I was not looking forward to.  It was only later that I realized this encounter would be highly unlikely, as her legs stopped before her knees.  A minute or two after I noticed this, she left the window, using just her arms to mobilize herself.  

We're certainly not in Kansas anymore, Toto.