3 countries. 6 buses. 172 hours from starting point to destination. 1 shower. 7 sunsets. Few bathroom breaks and few hours of sleep. An abundance of mechanical problems, angry border guards, police checkpoints, Nutella sandwiches, and buckets of sweat.
Play-by-play of our travel from Tanzania to Mozambique. Here we go:
Thursday, November 29
Board bus leaving Moshi, Tanzania at 8 AM. Africans sit on our packs in the aisle. Drive. Bus stops due to flat tire. Drive. Bus has brake problems – pull over again. Drive. See a gorgeous sunset over the mountains. Fly at insane speeds around tight curves and take a Dramamine. See 3 overturned semi trucks. Another breakdown? Not sure because I was half asleep. Drive. 5 AM – arrive in Mbeya, Tanzania. But adventure is not over – bus tries to drive down too narrow of a road leading to the church where we are staying, scraping rooftops along the way, and ultimately getting completely stuck. Wall surrounding church must be partially torn down in order to dislodge the bus and allow us to enter the gate to get into the church and sleep. But first – breakfast. 6 AM – go to sleep.
Mt. Kilimanjaro in Moshi, Tanzania
Friday, November 30
10 AM – wake up and enter the church courtyard to street children peering through the gates at us like we are a zoo exhibit. Take tuk tuk to the outskirts of town to stock up on food at the grocery store. Take dawa dawa further into town to mail postcards. Put postcards in domestic box by accident, and have them fished out and put into international box. Go to internet cafe. Go to bank for the third day in a row to see if my money has been transferred and I can stop using Robin as my personal bank – it hasn't. Go back to church to be summoned to a Friday night service. Dance around. Bond with street kids. Eat Nutella sandwich (what I survived on this past week). Go to sleep.
Me and little Abdulli after church in Mbeya, Tanzania
Saturday, December 1
Board bus to Lilongwe, Malawi at 8 AM. There are not enough seats and packs are taking up additional seats. Cross Tanzania/Malawi border. It's hot. Drive. And drive. And drive. See gorgeous views of Lake Malawi as we wind up mountain roads. Buy chips at a roadside stand – highlight of the day. Stop for the lone pee break of that entire bus ride – in the woods. 4 AM (seems to be the magical arrival time) – arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi at Mabuya Camp. Set up tent – decide to share with Robin because we're only there for one night. Take a shower. 6 AM – go to sleep.
Malawi scenery
Sunday, December 2
Wake up and learn we are staying in Lilongwe for a second night. Eat best omelette of my life. Go to the hospital to get my disgusting ringworm taken care of. Get laundry done and receive it back dirtier than when I took it in. Get on the hostel WiFi for the afternoon. Trek an hour into town (was supposed to be 15 min.) searching for an ATM that works (the wonder of constant currency changes) and then to an Italian restaurant called Mamma Mia for dinner. Eat delicious steak. Go to sleep.
Our hostel, Mabuya Camp, in Lilongwe, Malawi – affectionally dubbed "The Oasis"
Monday, December 3
Board janky vans to Tete, Mozambique at 9 AM. Get to border and pray for a child who locals were throwing rocks at, saying that he "had a demon". We think it was just autism, and it was a really sad situation. Pee behind a hut because man won't let us use the disgusting bathroom without paying. Take ridiculous visa photos. Board second set of janky vans and drive for a couple hours. Get stopped at multiple police checkpoints where we must show ridiculous visa photos. Random Africans board our already full vans even though we paid for all the seats. Board third set of janky vans. Police don't believe we're missionaries and try to charge us extra money – we have to prove our missionary-dom via documents on Chuck's computer. Listen to Christmas music the rest of the way, which is combated by the driver's louder African music. See gorgeous sunset. 8 PM – arrive at bus station in Tete. Give food to street boys and have a mini dance party with them. Get ice cream from the 24 hour bakery. Have many conversations in Spanish with Portuguese-speakers. Settle down on the ground of the bus station to sleep until 3 AM when the bus for Maputo departs. Find out that 3 AM public bus is booked. Leaders try to book private transportation but it is too expensive. 11 PM – learn that we are staying in Tete the entire next day, so bus company takes us to their "hostel" to sleep. Moreso resembles a concrete prison cell. Hottest building ever. I lay down to attempt to sleep. Julia knocks on door to see if I want to go hotel-hunting with her, Hannah, and Lydia. I do. 12 AM – we begin our city-wide journey to find that all hotels are full. 1:30 AM – return to "hostel".
Hottest van ride of my life
En route to Tete, Mozambique
Street boys we made friends with upon arrival in Tete, Mozambique
Tuesday, December 4
7 AM – wake up and head to ATM where line is about 30 deep. People cut us. Get money and go to restaurant to order cheeseburger, fries, and cream soda at 9:00 AM. Camp out on 5th floor of nice hotel using WiFi rest of the day (with A/C!). Go back to same restaurant for dinner – Mediterranean pizza with mozzerella, tomatoes, and shrimp. Bomb. Get a call saying our packs have to be ready to go immediately. Stuff faces and walk out as monsoon starts. Get a taxi to go about a block to the "hostel". Throw stuff together. Find out we have to get on the bus at 9 PM and sit there until it leaves at 3 AM. Five minutes later, find out that's false – praise God. Head to the grocery store to stock up on apples and Pringles, then back to hotel to use WiFi until time to go. 3 AM – board bus – it smells like dead fish.
Our refuge for the day in Tete, Mozambique
Wednesday, December 5
Drive and drive and drive some more. Bus breaks down at some point in the afternoon and we play with street kids for a couple of hours. Drive. Bus pulls over in random town at midnight because there is law that prohibits buses from driving between midnight and 3 AM. Africans are sleeping on mats on the ground and there are a bunch of drunk guys at the bar across the street. We lay on a concrete slab and sleep for a couple of hours – ironically, best sleep I got. Mozambican named Dennis comes over and tries to provide us accommodation at his grandmother's house. Says that Jesus told him to help us. Get back on bus. Bus driver blares One Direction album all night long.
[No picture – I wanted nothing to remind me of this leg of the trip.]
Thursday, December 6
Arrive in Maputo, Mozambique after 30 something hours on the bus. Pile bags in the back of a truck and sit on top of them as we drive to our home for the month. Take shower. Brush teeth for the first time in a while.
Finally arrived in Maputo, Mozambique – on the way to our home!
This is life on the World Race. Wouldn't trade it.
"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." -GK Chesterton
