Two days ago my squad left Nelspruit, South Africa for Chamba, Mozambique. We were planning on being on a bus for 28 hours which is nothing for my traveling companions and me. However this 28 hour bus ride has managed to take 45 hours and we are still at least 8 away from our destination.
On Saturday we departed our hostel at 10am and got on our bus around 1:30pm. We arrived at the Mozambique border at 3:30pm and finally got through a mere four hours later. We arrived in Maputo, Mozambique at 8:30 pm to find that we had missed our other bus. Our logistics leaders were able to talk a bus driver into letting us sleep on a bus until 2:30am Sunday morning, where we would get on another bus at 4am that is suppose to take us to Chamba and arrive at 10 pm Sunday night.
Unfortunately for us Mozambique has strict checkpoints up the main highway that open at 9am and close at 3pm every day. As we hit the first checkpoint at 7:00pm Sunday night we realized that it was going to be another long night on the bus. Most unfortunately for me (and a few others who were sitting in the very back) I was kicked out of my seat so that the driver could sleep. This wouldn't have been as bad if I had another seat to go in, but it "appeared" as though I was going to stick it out on the floor.
After waiting on our bus driver to finally come back in and lay down I found the only spot on the floor available, which was right in front of the awful smelling bathrooms. What was worse was that as I laid down I am almost positive (and rather scared to think of) that I was laying down in someone else's dried urine. Welcome to the World Race folks!
All in all I believe I have learned one thing out if this bad situation: I am more now than ever officially PISSED! All in all though I guess if this is as bad as things can get (which I'm afraid to admit it probably isn't) then after a shower and burning of my jacket everything will be okay.
