Seat belt laws, at least as they pertain to highway travel, seem to be more lax in Ecuador than Canada. While the picture shows the road is curving, what it doesn’t show is that the road was always curving. Nor does it show the drop down a cliff on the left side of the road, although the cut rock face to the right gives a hint of how steep and long the drop is. Nor does the picture give a sense of the reckless, breakneck speed the truck was going. Nor does it show that this truck had just passed us on a two lane highway, with an oncoming car that had to swing way out to its right, dangerously close to the edge, to allow the truck to scoot through the middle! All the while the truck’s load swayed, and the passengers nonchalantly hung onto the ropes as cool as cucumbers. Along the side of the road were more white crosses than in Arlington Cemetery. I’d not be surprised if this stretch of highway had a daily fatal accident. Our bus — really a large van — was against the rock face, not the drop off, all the way back to Quito. A good side of the road to be on.