So Easter was yesterday and to celebrate I headed out to another volunteer's house not too far from me. There were 5 of us who went out all together. We had a lovely time making lasagna, garlic bread, coffee and coffee cake, and an Easter bunny cake...
...which turned quickly into an evil Easter bunny cake...
...but even with these great things and each other's company, the most eventful part of this Easter weekend was the transportation.
We left Makambako on Saturday at around 4:00 pm, only three hours after we had been told we would leave. It was just two of us starting out on the trip and we were relatively comfortably seated (many were standing) next to an openable window (not always the case) in the middle of the bus. To get to where we were going, most of the way is off te main paved road, which during the rainy season (now) takes a heavy toll. We weren't too surprised when we reached the dirt road and it started getting bumpy and less comfortable. But we kept moving along.
About an hour after we left Makambako, we hit our first issue. The bus had hit some wet, muddy road and the tracks of cars had dug ditches so deep that the bus was constantly bottoming out and/or threatening to flip over. So it was suggested that we get out and walk until the road got better. We walked for about two kilometers in this...
...while the bus led the pack of passengers. Kinda fun to play in the mud or a bit and not too big an inconvenience.
So we got back on the bus after kicking off some of the clay that had caked up on our feet. We kept driving for another 45 minutes. Then we stopped. We weren't anywhere. We just stopped... Apparently there was a truck in front of us? Or the road was bad? Some people got off to help with something... At this point we decided to take a nap for about half an hour until the bus started moving again. Not sure what that was all about.
At about 6:30 we arrived in a village along the way and picked up another volunteer who lives there. We continued on without many problems until the rain came. The rain came hard. It started leaking through the windows and down from the ceiling. I was pretty well protected being in an aisle seat but the bus also started to get much less comfortable as everyone closed their windows and the humidity and heat inside started to rise.
As the rain and heat began to rise and everything was getting super sticky the bus came to another stop. We waited...and waited......and waited……
Until finally one of the kondas (guy who sells the bus tickets and tells people to sit closer together to fit more people) comes up to make an announcement. He says, "Tumefika. Tulale sasa" ("We've arrived. Let's sleep now"). Promptly after this announcement, the engine turns off and the lights go out. We hadn't arrived. Of course we were not sleeping in this sweaty, dirty, stinky, soaked bus. But maybe we would have to...
So we started working on our plan. From what we had heard so far there was an overturned or otherwise immobile car blocking our way. We had seen some smaller vehicles passing on one side of us but nothing our size. We called Lauren (the volunteer whose house we were going to) and asked her about our options. She said her headmaster has a car and she would call him to see if he could come get us. At this point we were only about 20 minutes (by car) away from her village so it wasn't that far to go.
Naturally, we had a small dance party in the bus aisle before gathering our belongings and moving to the front. The other passengers were starting to get antsy too and began to get off, and when we heard from Lauren that her headmaster was on his way we decided to get off and check out the situation in front of the bus. The rain had slowed to a light mist by now which made our night walk much more pleasant. As we passed truck after truck we began to understand why we couldn't pass. Nothing seemed overturned, but there was a line of at least 10 big trucks carrying logs blocking our path. We reached the end of the line and decided to keep walking and to meet the car along the road.
It was completely dark and we only had the light from our phones to light the muddy dirt road. We walked for about 30 minutes until we saw the headlights of the car and the headmaster pulled up and shouted "Joeli!" I had forgotten that we had met before at my swearing in ceremony and the following bus ride to Makambako. We were soon in Lauren's cozy living room drinking cocoa and eating toast. Only 6 hours after leaving town.
[[INTERMISSION]]
Then Easter...blah blah blah.... Nice things, happy times, fun games, lasagna, cake...
[[INTERMISSION]]
The day after Easter we woke up at 5:30 so we could catch the one bus that leaves from the village each day. The same bus we rode in on two days before. We hopped on at 6:20 with four seats towards the front of the bus for the (now) four of us.
As we passed the site where our trip went kaput on the way in, we were optimistic about our return trip. However things would quickly change for us.
About half an hour into the return trip we encountered a river. It wasn't normally a river, but today it was a river. And it was flowing straight across the road varying from about 6 to 15 inches deep. On either side of the road the water was even deeper. Our driver decided it would be good to try to pass through this river by putting the left side of the bus in a ditch on the side of the road, straddling the edge of the driving surface. We made it through most of the river with this strategy but as we were coming back up onto the road our tires started slipping. All we could do was look at each other and laugh as we felt the left side of the bus sink, its wheels digging themselves into a comfortable clay ditch.
The first few attempts at escaping had no effect on the bus's position. Once again we were asked to get off the bus, in hopes that the lighter load would help the effort to get back on the road.
We got off the bus safely enough, but had to trudge through a foot or two of water to do so. It was only misting as we waited and watched and laughed at our situation and the unfruitful efforts of the bus crew to get the bus to move. The middle of te bus had bottomed out on the edge of the road and the wheels had no traction to fight the friction of the axle scraping on the hard-packed clay.
After the first couple attempts, we noticed the bus beginning to tip further and further towards the ditch with each effort, and we remembered that we ha left most of our luggage in the bus. I ran back over to the bus, waded into it and passed the bags out the window to the others. By that time the water was even higher and I had this to wade through getting on and off:
Starting to understand our situation, we though about our options. Wait around for this bus (the only one we knew of that goes from Lauren's village to Makambako daily), try to return back to the village, hope that other unknown transportation passes and they have room for us... We decided to first find somewhere to hang and talk for a bit. After wading through the river, we noticed a tiny hut on the side of the road and decided to check it out. Some mamas invited us in for chai and some vitumbua (fried rice cakes). I think we might have been the first non-Tanzanians to eat at their little shop. They were pretty impressed with our Swahili skills.
As we discusse our options, we saw a truck pull up next to our hut and stop to size up the river. We finished our chai quickly and went out to ask for a lift. The driver said he had space and to meet him in front of the bus. So we waded one more time through the river, gathered our things and started making the trek to where the truck had told us to meet it.
The back of the truck had space for us and we hopped on grateful to be making progress again. And then, about half an hour later, we hit a bump and heard a hiss...
We all hopped out and waited about 20 minutes for this guy to jack up the car and replace the tire with a spare. We noticed then, that none of the tires had much tread, which may have led to our next obstacle. We hit the same place where we had to walk the previous day, and the bus bottomed out. We got out again, unphased this time by the minor inconvenience, and the pushing began to get the truck moving again:
The mud on the road stuck to our shoes quickly and became very slippery after a short time walking. When I saw a couple mamas asking some locals about passing this section of road on the side of the roa instead of walking right through it, I decided to follow.
We headed off the road and asked for some clarification on how to get back to the road after a kilometer or so. The locals were more than happy to direct us and everything seemed simple enough.... But the path started taking us further and further from the road... Until we came upon some village. We continued and walked through back yards...
...farms...
...bushes, irritations trenches, and 7 foot grasses...
As we went on this 40 minute excursion, I was getting call after call from the other volunteers at the truck asking me where I was and warning me:
Until I finally emerged just in time to see one of the mamas pull her underwear up after relieving her bladder on the side of the road.
The trip continued, and though I struggled to find a comfortable position
...sitting on the tailgate...
...or standing and constantly hitting my head on the crossbars, we moved along.
We continued through a few more lakes, countless bumps, and a detour to avoid the traffic police (who give fines for people standing in vehicles). And to top te day off, just as we were pulling into a gas station at the outskirts of Makambako, the truck puttered out of gas and coasted into the lot:
Needless to say, we found it necessary to celebrate surviving the trip by having a feast at our favorite restaurant in town. Only 7 and a half hours after leaving the village.
