mini-bus experience #2

Back from Blantyre we decided that the express (not that fast and much more expensive) was not worth it so we opted for the local bus. A couple more stops than the other but over all I think it was just as fast…and more entertaining to watch…people getting on and off (more on than off) for the 6 hour trip to Lilongwe, many of them standing in the aisle. (not an enviable position) As we drove through villages we would stop near the market and any conceivable thing that you might want to buy would make its way to the windows to be sold through. I watched one man buy 5 bags of potatoes and 12 cabbages at one stop (no idea where he put it on the bus). Chips (potato wedges), tomatoes, mangos, drinks, fried dough, grilled maize, and if you didn’t see what you wanted if you told someone outside they would find it for you. As we didn’t need to go all the way to Lilongwe to get back to nkhoma we were let off at the turn off to get a mini-bus. The people around us were very helpful in letting us know when our stop was up which was nice as we were in the back of the bus and couldn’t see (and probably wouldn’t have recognized) the side of the road we were to get out at. Climbed over the whole bus of people and debarked.

Mini-bus going from Kampata to Nkhoma has no police checks to go through, therefore, they are in the worst possible shape. Got in and this one had doors that barely shut—even the front doors were rigged. And it wouldn’t start. Shocking. Well, not really. So the plan was to do the rolling start and in reverse as that was the downhill angle. Worrisome for us that was toward the M1 (Malawi highway 1). I wasn’t crazy about this idea, but didn’t have any say in the matter. Luckily there was not much traffic but the reverse rolling start was not working. So then we started going forward on the M1 and I was afraid we’d get to the next village back the way we came before we got the van started. But finally success. So we did a U-turn, picked some more people up and were on out way. There was very hot exhaust coming in from the front, I thought my skirt might catch fire but it didn’t. the guy in the front seat (no longer driving) starting drinking gin and turned to offer me and Rhona some. We declined but he continued making what I can only assume were offers for things we would have absolutely no interest in…finally we made it in one piece to the Nkhoma hospital. Whew. And then home to meet our new housemate, Dorothy, who has come to be director/principal/ librarian of Ebenezer school. In her seventies she so far has seemed to be a fireball full of ideas and energy.