Bad News … 200
OOOOOOOOOK
Trip to Lubumbashi yesterday …
Where to start? The beginning … obvious.
The night of February 1st 2010 … just finished a delightful conversation with my younger brother Thom … set my alarm for 5:00am … it’s after 11 when I finally put my head on the pillow.
Wake up to the alarm … what seems like seconds later … snoooooze button saves lives … or at least mornings. Finally drag myself out of my small bed … with an outlet under it … at about 5:30 … make coffee … spray on deodorant … brush the teeth … find a relatively clean shirt … organize documents for travel … and we’re off.
As we begin our walk towards the bus stop the rain also decides to begin … we duck into our favourite shop for a few minutes … back on route.
Bus stop … chaos … yelling … honking … revving engines … more yelling.
We find the “best” bus for departure and sit for 30mins while we wait for it to fill … and boy does it fill. The “bus” has 4 rows of benches and 3 seats at the very front … each bench … at first glance … looks like it has been manufactured with the intention of seating 3 people … not when they decided to introduce it to Africa … no no … you can definitely fit 4 people on each of those … and probably another person up front … and maybe another on the ground between the first bench and the front seats … just a few modifications and it’s definitely possible … not comfortable but definitely possible.
So with the bus full we’re off. Across 135km of the worst roads I have ever seen … packed 4 to a bench in this minibus. Anticipating over 2 hours of the current conditions I try to sleep … I have Erick on one side and a woman on the other … conditions are perfect for the classic head-bob sleeping method … not excited.
Lucky for our bench, the woman sitting next to me gets off as soon as we reach the outskirts of the city … hello all kinds of room for sitting … all of a sudden our tiny crowded bench becomes the most luxurious king sized lazy-boy ever … 20 mins to the station.
Arrive at the station … get off … walk briskly towards an area in town where taxis park … get in one … pay extra to get the cab to ourselves … living in luxury … get dropped at another taxi station … wait for 2 other people to come to fill the cab … rush for the border … an hour and a half later we arrive … I wait in the cab … the driver reassures me over and over how safe I am and how there is nothing to worry about … unlike before his reassurances … I begin to worry.
15mins … Erick is back … with Ken … minus Ken’s passport … troubles getting stamps but Erick’s on it. 10 more mins … we’re on the road back to Lubumbashi … tired … hungry … tired … but with Ken’s passport.
Lubumbashi … food … so good. Croissants with cabbage, mayo, and some ham … so good.
Lunch in our stomachs … off to the Bishop’s office … not a big deal … he’s a friend of ours. Walk in like we own the place … he’s out … like usual … I deliver his gift to his secretary and chat for a little while then we’re off again. To the ATM … the only one in the southern end of the country … a month’s worth of money … check.
Back to the bus station … back on a bus … the “best” bus … we get the back seat this time … Erick says that only 3 people sit in the back … he spoke too soon … 4 people in the back but less leg room than the other seats … over 2 hours with almost zero leg room. My knees cramped about an hour in … awesome. I quote Ken … “this is bad news … 200%” … and it was. My hip is still sore from the trip.
At one point we had to pass through one of the toll booths and some guy saw me … a muzungu … cramped up in the back of the bus … and yelled the classic line to his friend while pointing at me “MZUNGU!” … this got the classic reaction from everyone on the bus … laughter … followed by some words … followed by more laughter. Sometimes I wish I could speak Swahili … and hope to learn some … but just enough to understand what people say about me … and maybe enough to respond with something witty … like “I know what you’re saying” … then I could laugh.
Overall the trip was a success … we got Ken … and made it back … pretty safe … not bad.
Much love … I’ll keep updating … sometimes …
WILLIS
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Submited at Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 12:00 am on Africa by ethan
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