Our African Travel Adventure (Part IV) - Home Strecth
(from before, but i forgot to post it)
Now, i dont know if your allowed to classify all of a 23 hour bus ride as a 'home stretch' but
in terms of the entirity of our journey, it definately was. im sitting here now, at 2pm on the 18th
as one of the last passenger on this bus. nearly everyone has gotten off, but were on untill
Livingston Zambia, the second last stop. now with only an hour left, this 23 hour section has been
the longest section, but to be honest, by now, were all too used to this. this bus again, traveled
mostly through the night, so rather uneventful. untill recently, about an hour ago, we arrived at the
Zambian boarded. our bus was greated by swarmes of zambaian dudes, all holding only the fattest stacks of
cash i have ever scene. as i found out quick enough about kwatcha and the classic exange scam.
so when they asked, we just said 'No, no, dont want any.' but i was holding the soccerball, again i said
no money, but i do have this.. (held up the ball, and they all smile. i rushed through immigration and
got the sketchest of visas. and was out playing kick-ups with all the hustlers right outside the boarder
crossing. real good time. when someone messed up, everyone would laugh. when someone would do a nice
move, everyone would clap and cheer. more and more would join in, and at this one point, i was
juggling the ball, then BAM. Hit by a car. nothing serious or anything, it just backed into me,
but it did make me drop the ball. but best part of all, every single on of them yelled at the zambian
driver, and asked how i was. no one laughed at me, no one said it was my fault. it was as if i was one
of them after about 20 minutes of soccer. in conclusion, if this is what all of africa is going to
be like, im going to like it, alot.
k. back to the bus ride. for the last hour. virtually everyone is gone, and Thomas our bus attendant,
come to our upper deck, we greeted him, and he pulled out a deck of cards and asked if we would like to play. so we played, we chatted,
and that brings the story to now, nearing the end of our travel, thomas does these trips all the
time, excet with one difference. thomas isnt allowed to sleep. yikes. so our trip has been surprisingly
nice. i dont know why i was expecting torture, but it really wasnt. so in the last 3 days, weve
flew back in time by 8 hours. sat on a plane for 14. the first bus was 12 hours. and the second
one was 12 more. we spent a day in Windhoek Namibia, and a last bus trip for 23 hours. and this is how you get to Zambia.
ps. so theres one last story that happened on either the first or second bus, that i have to mention. It was in talking to
an african dude, and the hecticness of travel. he was telling us about a phrase they have in africa like it means 'no problem'
he siad in the language of afracanns it's 'Hakuna Matata' and it means not to worry. we asked him if hes ever scene lion
king? he shrugged and said nope. we all fought to hide our laughter. eventually we moved on and so did this guy
but i will definately remember that conversation for the rest of my days, what a wonderful phrase.
..when we arrived at the YWAM base in Livingston, the very same day they had a guest leaving for
Jo-burg. i remember because that is where we flew into before 47 hours in those busses. oh
and the other reason i remember is becase her fight time to johanasburg: 2h 07mins. this is
how we learned some of the disadvantages of being a poor missionary over a wealthy tourist.
this was my first
interaction with a local so thinking back is intresting. i was shocked then when he just
came up and started asking our names and talking. but as i add this to the blog
almost a week later, ive talked with hundreds of people. and have come to learn that
in this nation, you can say hi to anyone and just stop on the steet to talk. such a wicked
culture. so welcoming and friendly. but at the same time, the
can say hi to anyone and everyone is willing to talk.
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