We have arrived safely at Keza.
Thurs. we got on a "micro" that took us to Arusha, another big city about an hour from Moshi. We met up with some friends (Upendo, a Korean girl that works with YWAM and Teresa) from the Morogoro Language School. They took us to this wonderful Indian restaurant and had a feast and then went to Teresa's house (the American single lady that's a surgeon's nurse) where she had a room for us. We were all up by 5 am and after a breakfast they drove us to town to catch our bus that left right at 5:59 am. They weren't kidding about leaving on time (it was to leave at 6 am)!! And what a bus it was! The interior of the bus had been completely re-done locally. Our seats were welded onto steel bars, the luggage compartment was all steel as well with sharp corners that ended just above our seats. We were seated in the next to last row, just across from a tourist couple. Being in the back meant we felt every bump in the road, and we soon learned that the driver didn't quite feel the bumps the way we did! He wouldn't slow down nearly enough for the numerous speed bumps on our way out of Arusha. Our group of three seats was being occupied by 3 adults and two kids, one of the kids being 14 or so. Since her father had bought only one ticket, she sat on his lap the whole way, but he wasn't a small man and so it was a tight squeeze for the first 8 hours. All of a sudden one of those speed bumps sent us "back row" people flying some two feet in the air. The oriental man in the last row was clutching his neck in pain, he had been trying to get some sleep. We all just laughed it off and held on tightly, ready for the next leap. That's when I noticed the lady across the aisle from us, she looked so frightened, her eyes huge and anxious. Her friend next to her was clutching her wadded-up shawl tightly to his forehead. When the next bump hit just as hard she couldn't keep quiet any longer and started calling out saying that the driver should slow down, especially since her friend now had a gash over his left eyebrow and was bleeding. After a lot more shouting the driver finally slowed down and came to a stop. Everybody turned around to see the poor man who was in shock and looking very pale. They were given a seat up front while someone came to their seats. Of course that meant the girl had to sit in the aisle, nobody was willing to take the man's seat! (About an hour later a passenger was picked up and he headed to that empty seat, but he must have already heard the story 'cause he couldn't stop looking at the sharp metal just above his head and held on tightly to the seat in front of him).
3 hours later we stopped at a town to pick up more passengers and Luke bolted out of the bus to relieve himself. Of course Esther and I had to go as well so we made our way off the bus, stepping over luggage that was along the entire center aisle. Found the restrooms and after paying went to stand in line with some other 20 women who looked miserable from "holding it" so long. There were only two women in front of me when the father of the 14 year old girl came running to say that the bus was leaving. The two bathroom doors opened immediately and the young girl emerged while the rest of the ladies in line turned around to run toward the bus. Well, I was next in line now, so I jumped in to help Esther go and I couldn't leave without going myself, all the while people shouted outside to stop the eager bus driver. Grabbing Esther I ran the whole way to the bus as it continued to pull away. Esther laughed her head off the whole while and everybody just laughed with her seeing a gringa running to catch her bus. Well, we learned our lesson and barely sipped at our water bottles the rest of the day.
Finally at just past 6 pm we pulled into Kahama where we found a guest house to spend the night. We were up before 5 am the next morning and off to the bus station to board our second bus which promptly left at 6:02 am. We thought the first bus was bad, ... this one had seats falling apart and windows that didn't close properly on top of bad suspension and zero cushion for our seats. The bus started off not quite full but by the time we arrived at Keza it was filled with people crowding the aisle that it was difficult to move past them when our destination approached. Feeling every achy bone and joint we hauled our two bags (SO glad we didn't pack more) up the drive way to our house. That was at 10:20am.
The first thing we did was boil some water so Luke and I could have our morning coffee and then we sat down for a bowl of corn flakes. Two hours later we were groggy from our nap but wanted to start unpacking. Finally at around 3 pm got the motivation to get into our car and drive the half hour to Kibondo for a much needed grocery shopping. We arrived at the market just as the rain started to pour, so we purchased the things on our list as fast as we could and got back in the car with two freshly roasted corn on the cobs to share on the drive back. The road out of town was slick, a toyota in front of us was sliding all over the place so we took our cue and went at a crawl over the red clay soil. A truck had already slid into the ditch and guys were running back with dry grass to place in front of the wheels for traction. As we neared Keza we noticed that the rain had reached there as well and things were still very wet. Sure enough, at the bottom of our last hill was a huge semi jack-knifed and blocking 3/4 of the road. Luke decided to check and see if it was safe to squeeze past and the men said it was fine. As he headed back to the car the semi truck driver decided to straighten out and in so doing blocked the entire road! Motorcyclists approached the scene and drove up the bank and into the bushes in order to get around the semi. Luke thought he'd be able to do the same but wanted to run home quickly to get his machete first. Then the rain started pouring. Luke was the one with a raincoat so he grabbed a few grocery bags and headed home while Esther and I stayed in the dry car. Just before Luke returned another 4WD vehicle was the first to attempt what the motorcycles had been doing and was successful. So I was anxious to have Luke back and try the same, seeing that the sun had already set and we'd have no option but to leave the car behind with Luke spending the night with it to guard. Mr. Englebert (manager at Keza) showed up just then, knowing that we were there had come down to encourage Luke to try and drive around the semi before too much traffic ruined the detour with their ruts. So, Luke put the vehicle into 4WD and we headed into the bushes, it was no problem at all and we were back on the road and needing to go into the ditch in order to get around another truck that had shut off its engine, resigned to spend the night on the road just as the rain started up again.
It was wonderful to be back home and sleeping in our own beds. We decided to drive to church this morning once Luke saw that the semi and other trucks had moved on earlier in the morning. But just as we were saying good-bye to Anton and his family the thunder and dark clouds were approaching. By the time we got home it was raining, and it continues to do so at this hour (5 pm). I hear some engines revving, I wonder if it's another truck getting stuck on the slick clay road. Rainy season means we might have trouble on the road but it's also needed by the many farmers. Just north of us the people have planted but they still haven't here because they haven't had the long rains.
No comments:
Post a Comment