Just another day in paradise!!!

So let me preface this last part of our journey by saying we are generally positive and easy going people.  But we had been traveling over land for nearly 3 weeks on not so great transportation and we were just ready to be home.  So, please do not judge us for the things I am about to talk about.  Remember, we were so ready to be home, on a time crunch, in a country we didn't know or speak the language, only eating about 1 meal a day at best at this point and just flat our tired.  So, I will proceed...

Our bus arrived at the Tanzanian border around 4am but since the border didn't actually open until after 6 we had to wait around and sleep.  Once the border opened we took care of all the customs stuff and made the remainder of the short ride to a town on the Tanzanian border called Mbeya where we were told to catch another bus from.  Luckily, on the bus was another American couple that were missionaries and had just moved to Tanzania and were living in Mbeya.  They invited us over to grab some lunch for Easter Sunday and then we could go back to the bus park and figure out the rest of the trip.  After grabbing some food, the husband and I went to the bus park to see what bus we needed next.  Now, we knew the trip would have to be made in around 3 days but we were not prepared for the onslaught of busses, bribes and lies we were soon to encounter.  The bus workers told us there was no bus going anywhere remotely close to Rwanda and that we would have to take a bus to Dodoma first and catch a bus from there.  We had arrived at the bus park around 10am but unfortunately there were no buses running anywhere after the early morning hours and the bus people told us we would have to wait until the next morning.  This missionary couple turned out to be a Godsend and said we were more than welcome to crash with them even though they had no furniture yet since they had just moved there.  But, they had some friends that loaned them a  mattress which was really comfortable.  We cooked tacos that night and I promised her no matter how much she cooked, nothing would go to waste.  No lie, I ate 8 tacos and threw in the towel with 2 remaining...I was defeated.  But, she didn't seem to mind that I didn't hold up my end of the bargain too much.

We got up at 4:30 the next morning and headed to the bus park.  The bus left at 6am and 12 hours later we arrived in Dodoma...no worries there.   We actually found a fairly nice place for cheap to crash for the night that had a hot shower and comfortable bed, no complaints there.   However, we searched the entire night it seemed to find some descent food to no avail.  We even hopped in a taxi and asked him to take us to the town center because we assumed there would be some descent food joints.  He pulled into some dark back ally with one tiny local food joint and said, "this is town center...look there is a back."  We gave up and decided we weren't going to find what we were looking for so we just had some simple local potato and egg type omelet.  The next morning we would start the next part of our journey.  A man at the bus park told us there were no direct routes to Kigali but that we would have to take a bus to Kahama where the bus will stop and you sleep for a few hours.  Tanzania has a law that no buses can drive between the hours of midnight and 4 or 5 due to recent hi-jackings.  Then the bus would go to Kigoma and finally catch a bus from there to Kigali all in the same day.  We were simply at their mercy and had no idea what was right and what to do or how to get there.  All the things our friends had told us about the trip back didn't seem to be holding up or work out.  So, we had to say okay...we'll do it.

The bad thing was the bus didn't leave until 11am which was a whole morning wasted of not traveling.  We had allotted 3 and 1/2 days to getting back to Rwanda and it was starting to seem that wasn't even going to be enough.  So, we took off on the bus at noon (an hour later than scheduled) for which I was under the impression would arrive around to Kahama around midnight and stop for the 4-5  hours of no driving.  We made it to Kahama at 7 and only 7 hours of driving.  They then told us we would need to get a new ticket for Kigoma and that bus would leave at 6 the next morning.  Here we were again in a place we had no idea about didn't know we would be staying the night in the town and have to find a place.  We had no idea were to go so we asked a taxi driver to take us to a guest house that wasn't too expensive.  We hadn't planned this expense and were getting very low on local currency until we could find a currency exchange.  We negotiated the price for 2000 (about $1.50) shillings and he drove us literally 30 seconds around the corner to a guest house.  We went in and the lady instantly said, we are full and have no rooms.  So, I asked him to take us somewhere else that he knew of.  He then turned around and drove another 30 seconds or less to another guest house and said the price would now be 5000.  I was in no mood to be taken advantaged of at this point and I told him that was insane and I wasn't paying that, he only took us another 30 seconds down the road.  I said I would give him 3000 and he demanded four.  I seriously almost just walked off without paying him but Sarah said just pay him, I want to go to bed.  I had the biggest urge to just wad the money up and throw it in his face.  I told him he was just taking advantage of us because we were white and that it was wrong.  I gave him his 4000 and stormed off.

We then entered our wonderful room that was supposed to be fairly nice with "hot water" and what not. Well, the room was a complete dump.  There was no "hot water", no shower head, no light in the bathroom, the toilet didn't flush, the sink didn't work, the fan was broken and the mosquito net was ripped to shreds...oh joy!  At this point, I wanted to just cry and we both just wanted to go to sleep without eating again and forget the day.  But I was very hungry so I found another egg and potato omelet thing to get me by for the night.  Sarah chose not to eat another grease filled meal.   But, the good news was were were going to make it to Rwanda the next day.

So, the next morning we get up again at 4:30 after Sarah had a dream that the place we were staying was a holding place to keep Peace Corps Volunteers to murder them and steal their American stuff.  We hopped on the bus the man told us to and headed for Kigoma which was supposedly the best and only way to get to Rwanda.  This bus seemed to have some internal desire to set the Guiness world record for the most people crammed into a bus over capacity.  So, after all the seats were filled, people continued getting on until there were literally no places to even stand.  There were probably close to 40 people in the aisle.  We started on our journey and were told the bus would arrive to Kigoma around 2pm and then we could catch a bus to Kigali, home sweet home from there.  At this point, people are laying on top of others, each person just trying to find his own little space to get comfortable for the ride.  It was at this point that I was about at my breaking point and just ready to be home.  For 4 days now we had basically had no sleep, no food, nobody to tell us the truth it seemed and just wanted to get home.  I begin to think about verse in the Bible where God said He would never put more on us that we could handle.  I then started to wonder what the definition of the word handle was.  At this point it seemed to me that if you didn't physically die, you were technically "handling" the situation since you really had no other choice but to live with it one way or the other.   But, I reasoned that this was my limit of handling and told God I could take no more.  Then Sarah said, why did you say that?  Now we are going to go backwards somehow.  It was in that instance that we passed a bus that read "just another day in paradise" on the back windshield.  It seemed that I had found a new breaking point because I literally was about to go crazy.   I decided there was no other phrase in the entire English dictionary that could be more incorrect of more the opposite of what that bus ride was going to be.  But, they seemed to think the words, "just another day in paradise" were appropriate.

After a couple hours of driving we turn off the main road for a bumpy dirt road heading to Kigoma.  By some act of God the man sitting beside me spoke English and when I told him we were going to Rwanda he was curious why we were taking that route.  He was from that town and said he didn't know of any buses heading from there to Rwanda.  I told him what the bus worker had told us and then we both decided he had lied to us just to get our money.  Now it was at this point that Sarah had her breaking point.  We told him we had to get to Rwanda today because we had now spent 5 days traveling.  He said we would need to get off the bus and go back to the turn off where we could then get a taxi to the border.  We were both pretty ticked off and demanded they let us off the sardine crammed bus.  We would walk back and find a ride.  They told us it wasn't safe to walk back on the lonely dirt road so we must go to the next town and catch a bus back.  After an hour on the dirt road we reach a tiny  town and got off the bus.  We luckily talked the driver into giving us some of our money back since we paid for the full price to Kigoma but weren't going even close to there.   We waited for over an hour before the next bus arrived.  But, when it did it was already packed.  We didn't care and would have ridden on a pogo stick at this point.  I kid you not when I said we crammed 30 people into a 12 seater mini bus.  There were 7 of us standing in the doorway and this ride went on for an hour.  Sarah and I were bent over at the waste, standing, leaning on top of everyone else.  It was crazy, horrible and awful but normal for most Africans.  We finally make it back to the turn off and there we see it...with what seemed like a light shining down from heaven and angels camped all around singing...the sign...RWANDA...this way!  

We then found a 4 person taxi and he instantly wanted to rip us off but we knew the fare and called his bluff.   He told Sarah and I to get in the front seat.  Okay, no big deal we always can fit one or two extra into each vehicle...right?  Well, the people continue to get in until there were 9 people in this car.  He even put a man between Sarah and himself.  He was literally straddling the gear shift, sharing part of our seat and the other with the driver and the clutch, brake and gas pedals.  So yes, 3 grown men and Sarah in the front seat and 5 people crammed in the back.  Then after about 20 minutes of driving we notice a head sticking up from behind the luggage in the back.  We had no idea when and where this guy got on but this brought our grand total to 10 people in the 4 person sedan.  It was miserable and it seems that after about 30 minutes I had a freak out claustrophobic moment.  I couldn't feel my legs and I couldn't move or breath very well because Sarah had no where to sit but on top of me and she couldn't move either.  We finally hit a check point where the extra man in front got out and started to walk.  The driver paid the officer a bribe and we continued on our way and stopped to pick the man back up on the other side of the checkpoint.  Not 15 minutes later, we hit another larger checkpoint with many officers around.  The man in the luggage and the same extra man in front get out and start walking this time as the driver is clearly over his persons limit.  So, when the officers see us they instantly assume the driver had ripped us off so they want a larger bribe to let him through.  This was another point where we wanted to just scream and/or hi-jack his car and just drive ourselves.  The driver was taking forever negotiating his bribe.  Sarah and I eventually were so sick and tired of this corruption we started laying on his own car horn telling him to come on.  Finally, he paid the bribe and we were on our way.  I asked him if he paid his bribe to the cops and he said yes but he paid little like he had done a good deed or something.  At this point we could literally smell Rwanda...it was just around 20 km away.  I will never understand the logic behind the choices of many Africans but then the driver decided to go 5 mph down ever hill.  Going up the hills and on level surfaces were fine...he booked right along but when it came to a down hill, he pumped his breaks and just putted along.  I asked him what he was doing and why he was driving like a snail.  He said the road was bad and he was  being safe even though there were no people around and the road was great...I still don't understand it.  Then, against all odds and everything that had happened on these 5 days of hellish bus rides...we see it...the border radiating with glorious beams of light and a hoard of angels welcoming us in the form of police officers that were not corrupt and people that actually spoke a language we could communicate in.  I can't tell you how excited we were to be home.  We got out and Sarah was doing nothing short of running to the Rwandan side.  The guy with us said, your wife is going very quickly.  I told him yes, she is very excited to be back in Rwanda...home.   187 hours of bus, train, car, truck, bike and boat rides later...we were home!!!

I never realized how uncorrupt Rwanda was and how corrupt so many other countries are.  We were so grateful to be in a safe, amazing, helpful and friendly environment where you are not constantly taken advantage of and lied to.   We love Rwanda.  It is an amazing country and with that...we are signing off.