16 HOUR BUS RIDE

Don't let this picture fool you.  The saying "things aren't always as they seem" is more real to me now than ever before.  When we decided to ride the bus, I asked Moses what the buses were like.  He told me that they were like the Grehound bus in America.  This made me relax because I had seen these buses and had riden one before, they were very comfortable, air conditioned, and nice.  We arrived at the bus station at 5:00 am, one hour before our bus was to depart.  We had 4 bags that had to be placed in the bus carrier, and 3 carry-ons.  Eddie put the carry-ons inside the bus and Moses told him that I should sit on the bus to keep watch on them.  First red flag.  Moses had made reservations for us and had chosen three seats that were close to the front of the bus.  I stepped onto the bus, sat down to "keep watch". As I was sitting there, a bug came crawling on the back of the seat in front of me.  Moses stepped into the bus just in time to hear my scream.  "What's the matter?"  "a bug!"  "A bug?"  "Yes, Moses, a bug".  He calmly said, as he was looking  for "the bug", that "Oh, it's probably a cocka roacha".  And, just turned around and walked away.  A COCKA ROACHA?  Like it's nothing?!!!  I'm petrified now, this is not a good start.  When Eddie got on the bus I asked him if it was too late to change our minds?  Of course it was.

A bus attendant walked on the bus and started spraying with a can of spray from front to back.  Next red flag!  Didn't stop those cocka roacha's, they are crawling everywhere by now.  The bus is slowly filling .  The bus driver steps on the bus, with a hat on that looks like a decorated cake.  And he's sitting on the wrong side of the bus I might add.  Just before we started on our travels, a "Polisi" came onto the bus to check our seatbelts.  Seatbelts?  Do you have a seatbelt?  I don't have a seatbelt.  The driver was issued a ticket for not being in seatbelt compliance.  This is nice, we feel completely safe!  It took us about 45 minutes to get out of the bus station. 

Approximately 30 miles into the trip, we were stopped by the Polisi, not in a vehicle, but standing in the middle of the road waving his arms to stop.  What is going on?  Are we going to be kidnapped because we're the only white people on this bus or in Dar es Salaam as far as we could tell.  We were relieved to hear that it was a check point for buses and this cake top driver was warned that he needed to slow down.  We're back on the road now, and this warning meant nothing to this driver.  He drove like a maniac, and that is putting it mildly.  We were very close to the front, so we could see everything. He was weaving in and out of cars, didn't slow down for anything.  We are convinced that a red light is apparently for decoration. 

We also have learned that "Tuck & Roll" in Africa has a different meaning than in America.  Understand that when I say the bus didn't slow down for anything, that's exactly what I mean.  When we reached a place that someone needed to get off the bus, the bus would pull over to the side of the road, the door would open, bus still rolling and the person would JUMP out the door, door closes, bus yanks back in the road and off we go!  Approximately 100 miles - maybe- we were stopped by the Polisi standing in the middle of the road waving his arms.  The driver received a speeding ticket, had to pay on the spot.  Good grief!  Why just a ticket, why didn't they make him give up his position?  This ticket meant nothing either.  By this time Eddie has a death grip on my arm and I have one on his leg!  The cocka roacha's have left by this time.  Even they have better sense than to stay on this bus.

"SHORT CALL!"  "SHORT CALL"!  What in the world does that mean?  The driver is yelling this as he pulls over to the side of the road.  Everyone is rushing to get off the bus.  We asked Moses what in the world was going on.  He said that it was time to stretch our legs and go to the bathroom.  But where?  We don't see a building of any sort, just bushes.  Eddie and I just stand there looking at each other.  Over to our right, the women were walking in the bushes, pulling up their dresses and squatting.  Over to the left, the men are standing in the "short call" position.  Eddie asked me if I needed to go?  Are you kidding me?  There is no way in this lifetime that you will ever see me in a bush, squatting with a bunch of women.   If I needed to go before, all urges were completely gone at this time! Later, we found out that the bus driver asked Moses if white people do not use the bathroom?  Ha!!!!!   This "short call" stop was made a couple of more times during the trip, but you can be assured that Eddie and I just used this time to stretch our legs!   During the "lunch" time stop, Moses asked us if he could take us somewhere to go the restroom.  He walked with us to a hotel across the street.  The attendant there agreed for us to use their facility.  He walked with us thru this dark hallway and pointed to a door.  Being the gentlemen they are, Eddie & Moses let me go first.  When I opened the door I didn't see a toilet, no toilet paper holder, just a hole in the middle of floor at the end of the room.  So I'm stuck with this decision - hole in the floor or bushes.....Yes, we are truly having an African experience!   But since I'm alone in this strange room, I'm choosing the hole in the floor!

Have I mentioned that we didn't have air conditioning?  Oh no, we didn't have air conditioning just windows.  You can imagine how the wind was blowing with us going 500 miles an hour!  Eddie's hair is short, but even it was blowing! 

There was an officer of some sort that was sitting on the bus, in uniform, hat, guns....nice looking young man.  I tell you this because all of a sudden, we didn't see him anymore.  We're still trying to figure out if he was ejected from the bus or if at some point the bus pulled over and he did the "tuck and roll" without our noticing.  Strangest thing ever.

This was the entire trip, "short call", tuck & roll, praying that we would make it safely to Mwanza.  The driver received 3 speeding tickets along the way.  Go figure.   Apparently he is a wealthy man, because he had to pay on the spot and it obviously didn't matter to him.  His goal was to make this 16 hour bus trip to Mwanza in 14 hours.  And that we did!  By the time we reached Mwanza, we were not just white anymore, we were pale.  Eddie will probably need medical treatment on the indentions on his leg.  If you had seen only my legs and feet, you would have thought I was a 400 pound women.  We walked off that bus with arms stretched high and thanking God that He truly does love us!!! 

These pictures were taken on the trip from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza.  The first picture is of a store.  The second picture is a vegetable stand, third picture of group of people walking, fourth is a house built of clay.  Looking at these pictures make you want to stop and thank the Lord for your life, doesn't it?   We are truly blessed.