Well, B-squad just entered Malawi – month 11, with an
epic travel day! It’s absolutely crazy
to us that this is our last month of the World Race. I’m sorry for the lack of blogs lately;
ministry in Africa has been very repetitive and I’ve felt like there hasn’t
been anything super exciting to share. However, you may find the following account of a typical travel day
quite humorous.
We
awoke on July 28th along the coast of the Indian Ocean in Dar Es
Salaam. It was 3:30am and the minibuses
were to arrive at 4. At 6, they finally
arrived and we sleepily piled our packs and persons into the vehicles. We took a short ferry ride across an inlet
and then drove along bumpy roads as the sun was rising. Our driver, as per the usual African, drove
way too fast for the conditions and bottomed out several times. Eventually, a strange noise formulated in the
rear of the bus and it was evident that some damage had been done. On the next turn, the bus started to lean
permanently to the left. A few blocks
further and the axel was completely broken and dragging beneath the bus. We waited, and then reloaded and piled on
another minibus to take us to the main bus terminal.
We
boarded a bus bound for Lilongwe, Malawi and left the country of Tanzania at
8am. The estimated time of arrival was
anywhere between 20 and 24 hours. We
were prepared for the worst, or so we thought, because we already knew from
previous experience that African bus drivers don’t believe in pee-breaks, rest
stops, hydration or food. The first 12
hours weren’t that bad…we discovered a functioning tv on board, learned that vicks vapo rub covers up awful smells
really well, and even stopped to eat chapatti.
We
arrived at the border around 11pm that night only to realize that it was closed
and we wouldn’t be allowed through until 8am the next day. The driver got up, told us he was going to a
hotel and left the bus. We were left
alone, 45 mzungusat a foreign
border by ourselves, in the dark and we laughed. Everyone tried to get comfortable in the
freezing cold and ignore the roaches that crawled around our seats.
At
7am, we awoke to banging on the side of our bus and a bunch of African men asking
if we wanted to exchange our money. Becca politely told them that no, we were not interested right now
because we were still sleeping. So, what did he do? He came straight on the bus and asked
again. As everyone gradually woke up, we
set out in search of a toilet and brushed our teeth on the side of the
road.
By 9:30am, the border was
open and our driver finally decided to return. We crossed into Malawi without
much trouble, but when we all returned to the bus our driver was once again
nowhere to be seen. We waited around and
searched for food as the hours ticked by. Several times, our squad leaders and logistics leaders tried to ask the
conductor where the driver was and when we would be leaving, but his English
was poor and he was rather rude. We sat
around in the hot sun as kids with torn clothes came to the bus trying to sell
us bottles of pop and stale cookies. After six hours had passed, a new driver nonchalantly walked up around
3:30pm and started the engine. Everyone
clapped and cheered and got ready to settle in for another long drive.
Paul wanted to lay down for
a while so I stood up to walk back and sit with Dan. As I was standing in the aisle, Kearston
pointed above my head and with worry in her voice said “um, there’s an animal
up there”. We all turned our heads to
see where she was pointing and realized there was a big fat rat sitting atop
the baggage compartment. I burst out
laughing as the bus erupted in screams and Jordan bravely approached to snatch
it with his bare hands and toss it out the window. We probably laughed for about 10 minutes as
the bus rolled down the highway.
The rest of the evening was
relatively uneventful; we stopped at police barricades every 20 minutes and
peed in close proximity to 30 other girls in tall grass along the side of the
road every few hours. We asked if we
could stop to eat dinner, but that resulted with a short stop at a gas station
for more packaged snacks.
At 2am, after tossing and
turning to try and find a comfortable sleeping position with a frigid Malawian
breeze coming through the window, we pulled in to the Lilongwe bus
station. We presumed that we would be
taken directly to our hostel but once again, the driver parked the bus and
promptly departed. A couple of our guys ran after him to ask what in the world he was
doing. He said that we could sleep there
or find our own way to the hostel. At
that hour, it would be impossible to arrange any other method of
transportation, plus, we had 45 people and 45 large packs. Were they crazy?! It took 4 of our fearless men the next hour
to persuade them to take us where they were supposed to.
It was 3am when we arrived
at Mabuye Camp, unloaded the bus and set up our tents. Finally at our destination, we lay our heads
on our pillows and breathed a sigh of relief. Just as I closed my eyes, my watch alarm went off – it was 3:30am –
exactly 48 hours later from when we awoke to begin this crazy journey.
So, our technical last
travel day of the World Race was pretty epic. Although many of the circumstances were less than desirable, I couldn’t
have chosen anyone better to share it with. B-squad is an amazing family of
friends and we’ve certainly shared a lot of laughs.
