Pulling into Kid International Ministry (KIM) we were told put your big packs here and our day packs over here. They are just finishing getting the flatbed truck ready for your trip. Yes that is right a flatbed truck. When you first look at a flatbed truck you might think It would be cool to ride on the back of one of those…. well at least we did. They then took us into a meeting to get a briefing on what we were about to face in Tacloban; arriving a month after the Typhoon Yolanda. After this meeting finished we said our good byes to the other teams and started loading up. Ratsa and Xuberant Joy were now joining a team of Pilipino construction guys from KIM on this grand adventure. Our big packs had already been loaded along with all the supplies we were bringing down. We start piling in and quickly the space is filling up and filling up and filling up. They had put a couple of mattresses on the floor and bags of rice around the edges and a few benches of seats. The guys crowded into the benches and let the girls have the mattresses and rice. As we continue to climb in we realize that we need to sit on everything with our knees pulled in to our chest to get everyone in. They say don’t worry it is only a 24 hour ride down and we start off by picking up some McDonalds for everyone little do we know it is our last full meal for the journey. The rest of the journey kind of starts blending together from there.
It started to rain with meant moving the trap to cover the people at the front.
It stopped raining so we had to move the trap so the people at the back could get out of the sauna that was developing.
It started to rain again
And then stopped again
Some where about 2 hours into our journey there was a loud clunk and then the truck pulled over to the side of the road a number of the guys jumped out. After about an hour they all jumped back in and we continued on without a word as to what had happened. (I will let you in on what just happened though the drive train came off of the truck and they tied it back on with some yellow nylon rope) all we knew is that we were now driving slower.
People started to try to fall asleep, which meant time to get even cosier. You can lie down but only if you have your legs underneath someone and someone else’s legs on top of you. Many people just leaned their heads together and said good night.
Then it started to rain again
And stopped again
And started again
And stopped again
I think you get the idea.
About 20 hours into the journey came the game of how much longer and the answer was always just 5 more hours.
Then came the ferry ride and sea sickness for many praise the L**d I was not one of them but instead I became the vending machine for motion sickness medication.
Don’t worry as we are getting back on the truck they say there is only 5 more hours but we were catching on to their definition of 5 hours so were not fully convinced that 5 hours was really 5 hours. We had a little sing along to pass the time and then people sat on the railing hanging off the side of the truck to get a little more room and see some of the country side. It started getting dark again and people started to fall asleep again. I was not one of the lucky ones this time and could not fall asleep. I started to get cramped and cramped so I stood up to get a little space and then quickly found I no longer had place to sit back down. G*d was kind to me though and stopped the truck for a pit stop before too long. This is when I then decided that I was going to join the guys on the top of the cab of the truck. Boy was it freezing up there but the view was amazing, I got to know a couple of the guys and I could stretch my legs out!!!! It was kind of bizarre to travel though a number of police checks while sitting up there and them just waving us through. It was really amazing to be up there as the sun rose as we approached the areas most affected by the typhoon. It looked like we were entering a war torn area.
After 40 hours we finally arrived just in time to help unload the truck of all the supplies and then have our leaders join to morning meeting to find out what we were going to be doing. And all said Hallelujah when the first order of business was to sleep for the rest of the morning!!!!!
My Idea of a long travel day and comfort have drastically changes from this trip. I won’t be signing up for another journey like it but I would not trade the experience for anything.
