***seeing as how I tend to go into waaay too much detail way to easily, I’ve borrowed the outline to my teammate, Nathan Salley’s, blog to work off of. I’ve changed the details so they reflect my perspective of our latest roadtrip. Thanks, Salley!
Here’s an idea of what I’ve been up to the past week….
(10.31.10) take bus from Lira to Kampala to stay at hostel: 5 hours
(11.2.10) leave for Kampala to Dar es Salaam by bus: 32 hours
(11.4.10) Dar es Salaam to Mbeya by bus: 14 hours
(11.5.10) Mbeya to Sumbawanga by bus: 7.5 hours
Total hours on bus this week: 58.5 hours
(the last 3 bus rides we’re literally right after the next , so we were on the bus for 53.5 hours straight. Now i know that I can go about 60 hours of straight driving before i feel like i’m going to go insane…good to know, ay?!)
**the exciting news, is that we get to do this all over again in just 2 short weeks! We’ll be heading back to Nairobi, Kenya for our squad debrief around Nov 24th-ish. More on that another day…
Let me give you some highlights:
*Crossing the border of 3 countries within a 2 days span- Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania.
*Peeing behind the bathrooms at gas stations along the highway because, well, it’s much more sanitary than the squatty potties inside.
*Seeing Mt. Kilimanjaro rise above the clouds upon entering Tanzania.
*Being ready to meet my Maker as we pass truckers going uphill and around sharp corners at 60+ mph on a 1 1/2 lane highway that is guarenteed to be 30 times more bumpy than the bumpiest road you’ve ever driven on.
*Learning our drivers would like us to pay them back for multiple bribes they paid along the way to the corrupt traffic police that stopped us 5 times along the way.
*Seeing giraffes, antalopes, zebras, water buffalo and tons of chimpanzees out my window throughout the ride through Tanzania. And we were gonna pay to go on a safari, ha! I tried feeding a chimp an apple but it didn’t work out so great haha
*Watching different members of my team fall asleep on the strangers sitting next to them.
*Staying up all night every night.. then venturing out into the bus station at 4am with a couple other team leaders to locate which bus we’re taking next while negotiating prices and making sure all of our luggage will fit along with our teams. If I could do this, I can do anything!
*Riding 6 hours on a dirt road where gaining elevation wasn’t from driving higher into the mountains but from hitting bumps the size of elephants.
*Eating 3 days straight of peanut butter and jelly and digestive cookies. Jennifer Miele and I even made a peanut butter and jelly bowl to dip our bread in just to mix it up…turns out, that was a horrible idea given the bumpy roads we were driving on.
*No sleep for about 3 days straight..it’s not everyday you get to spend quality time with the squad while getting a frontrow view of the gorgeous sunsets/sunrises overlooking the mountains outside our window.
*Almost going insane about an hour from Sumbawanga as we continued to drive out into the dry, dusty desert with no sign of our destination in sight and with no water left. I never knew my nose, ears and mouth could be so full of dirt.
Man, talk about a ridiculous couple of days. I’ve found that these are by far some of my favorite times on the race. It’s times like this where we truly get to trust in the Lord with His plan, that He’ll keep us safe and that it’s all in His control. Heck, He even took us on a safari!! Traveling from Lira, Uganda to Sumbawanga, Tanzania was something I will absolutely never forget. Before officially becoming a team leader, I was asking some of the others how travel days typically went from the leader perspective. Just about all of them said that when things seems impossible or when you were stuck, God always provided something or someone that kept things moving along in a way only God could do… I completely stand behind that statement after getting through this past week as we made our way across Eastern Africa.
Man oh man, God is good. And traveling is pretty fun, too 😉
I miss and love you all!!!!
PS please keep your prayers coming. witchcraft is huge in this area. sumbawanga actually means ‘ the meeting place of witches’ . so far it’s been great here. our home is grand, our contacts are great, we love the church. we’re safe and doin just grand! 🙂
