The wheels on the bus...

First! Sorry for not posting in so long...getting internet in Malawi is about as easy as finding a breakfast that doesn't include french fries!

I haven't done much travel by bus in my life time. Well, I did spend my entire schooling life taking the big yellow bus from Ariss into Guelph, and I've taken the city bus a handful of times, and there was the odd bus in Europe, but NOTHING compares to bus travel in Africa. 

For definition purposes, a minibus, known as a Dalla Dalla in Tanzania, a Matola in Malawi, and a Matatu in Kenya (you know, just to add to the confusion), is a small van-like bus with improvised seating. With the driver, there are usually about 11 actual seats, but you can expect closer to 20-25 people to be crammed in...along with their crap! Including but not limited to chickens (in plastic bags or boxes), huge sacks of grain, suitcases, boxes, and the odd azungu (white person) backpack. A bus on the other hand, is what you normally picture - assigned seats, with luggage stored underneath. The latter is usually more comfortable, and more expensive, but they're both an adventure! And the adventure is not limited to the bus ride itself...it's all the interactions leading up to it, and the bus station itself when you arrive at your destination. 

First you try to get a ticket. The second you enter a bus depot, you are accosted by swarms of touts. "Sister! Sister! where to? Dar? Mbeya? Moshi?". Half the time you just got off a bus and you're only trying to get out of the madness! We're always replying "we're here! we're good!". Well, then the taxi drivers are all over you..."Brother! My brother! Where to? Taxi? Where you going!? Good price...Africa price!". 

Trying to buy a ticket the day before is hilarious. We always buy in the offices to make sure we don't get a ticket to nowhere. 

Aran - "We need a ticket to the Malawi border"

Tout - "when? Today? Yes, this way!"

Aran - "No, tomorrow"

Tout - "oh ok! NO problem, this way my brother"

Aran - "How much?"

Tout - ....pause, while he thinks about how much we're worth ... "for you my friend 7500 shillings"

Aran - "Is it is a mini bus?"

Tout - "yes, yes, mini bus"

Aran - "I don't want a mini bus"

Tout - "Oh no problem sir, it's not a mini bus...it's a big bus"

And it goes on and on like this until we've handed over our cash and our faith that indeed this little scrap of paper with our names on it will land us a bus to the border. 

On departure day, we get up early to get to the station for reporting time. Why? I don't know because the bus rarely leaves on time...it leaves when it's full!

Last week we took a bus from Lilongwe to Zomba. We arrived at 7am, bought our tickets and were told the bus would leave at 8am sharp! Well, it didn't leave until 10:30am. I can respect from an environmental perspective, that the bus doesn't go until it's full BUT that was somewhat negated by the fact that the bus was running the ENTIRE 3 HOURS we waited. Aran figures its because once they get them running they don't risk turning them off.

So finally we are on the road and then the next surprise begins...

A man gets on at the edge of the bus station, and starts to unzip a small bag, from which he removes a book. I look at Aran and say, prepare for preaching. Well, nothing could prepare me for this man! He screamed scripture in Chechewa, pacing up and down the aisle. Of course, he was passing and pausing right by me so I got full volume, along with a couple elbows to the head and kicks to my shin. There were some nice parts when he shut up and the people on the bus sang, but these moments were short-lived, and then he was back at it. I actually had visions of me throwing him out a window, and wondered to myself if I could physically do it....would people try and stop me? Just when I told myself to get over it and prepare to meditate and practice patience, he got off the bus!!

Of course, the bus made its usual 20 stops, and every one is chaos. Each town usually offers the same items from the same type of people - either all women or all men. As we approach, people charge the bus with boxes of pop, cookies, water and fanta balanced on there heads or held up on their outstretched arm. Sometimes, it's plastic bins filled with bags of chips, nuts or platters of bananas or mangoes, or roasted corns of cob on sticks. Sometimes, it's boxes filled with mandazi (donuts), samosas, or meat (they use a stick to pick up a few pieces and sell to you). Other stops are selling loaves of bread or plastic bags filled with chips (fries). The next stop might be all produce: bright orange carrots, bushels of onions, small plastic bags crammed with way too many potatoes...and at this, the women of the bus come alive! Hanging out the window, frantically bartering a price, before the bus is off again. They try to haul their purchases up into the windows. They fling their bills out the window as potatoes topple through the window onto our laps. If they don't have a window seat, they enlist their neighbour to convey their message, or to catch the huge heads of cabbage being shoved through the windows. It's an amazing experience so far and we'll see how it continues! 

I've posted some pictures from Malawi so check them out! We're at Grace Orphan Care this week teaching business and so far so good. Ernest and Victor are taking great care of us!