I’m going to give you some insight on a little [BIG] thing we call travel day.
Going from country to country sounds appealing to many of you… and to me as well. Getting to see creation, new places, things you’ve never seen before. It really is an incredible experience.
The things I didn’t think about though, were the experiences we must go through to get to these beautiful places.
This is travel day was one for the books. I don’t think I could forget it if I tried.
3 bus rides. 48+ hours of go, sit, wait.
On Friday, my team met up with one of our other teams at the bus station in Mzuzu at 3:30 pm with the intentions of leaving at 4:00 pm.
At 6:30, after fueling up, we pulled out of town to embark on our long journey ahead with music blaring, seats filled, and people standing in the isle. 10 minutes in to our 9 hour bus ride, we stopped for the first of two bathroom breaks… I’ve never seen so many people on the side of the road using the bathroom together. It wasn’t a quick stop either, those that got off seemed to mingle with one another for what seemed like an hour.
“We are never going to make it to Zimbabwe”
Around 2:30 am we made it to our next connecting point where we met the remaining team to hop on another bus. But, not before waiting in the empty parking lot for 4 hours for the bus to be cleaned and prepared for passengers.
BLUE BUS: the private bus we booked for a 17-hour ride that wasn’t private.
67 seats. 85 humans.
Yup. You read that right…
At 8:00 am we made it to the Malawi/Mozambique border. Already having been warned that it takes awhile to get through this particular border, I still wasn’t prepared to sit in the blazing sun for 5 hours and wait as one-by-one we made it through. African sunshine is on a whole other level than Texas, y’all.
Once cleared, all 85 humans loaded back up, ready to hit the road. This time, the sun was beating down even more intensely than before. Sitting in the back of the bus with my new friend, surrounded by many of the extras, we quickly realized there were no windows in the back quarter of the bus.
No air circulation. Sweat dripping. Babies crying. Arms touching because there’s too many people. Dehydrated because of the fear of having to use the bathroom and not being able to. Hungry, but not wanting to eat because the thought of food actually makes you want to throw up.
“What on earth am I doing here?”
The first time I questioned my decision to do this race.
All of this and it still wasn’t over.
At 1:00 am we were dropped off on the side of the road to 4 taxis waiting to take us to the hostel.
After finally getting more than an hour of sleep, we were picked up by our host to take on the last 6 hour led of the journey to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
All of this to say
WE MADE IT!!!
As I reflect on our journey and how I got to the bed I’m sitting in as I write this, I can’t help but think:
“That’s an exact representation of how life is.”
Sometimes you have to go down into the trenches before you come out on the other side.
Sometimes, you have to go through a valley to get to the mountain.
Sometimes you have to walk through the wilderness for 40 years to get to the promised land.
Zimbabwe, I believe you will be “the other side”
I believe you will be “the mountain”
I believe you will be a part of “the promised land”
