Another Bus Trip

When you hear about crazy adventures in far away places, you sorta don't understand how people get into those situations.

Now that I'm here, I see its not all that hard. Our bus left a little late, 5:20am from Lusaka, and things really were going well until it got dark, around 7:00pm. In Zambia, you buy food through your window on the bus, its actually pretty convenient. I even bought an chocolate dipped ice-cream bar from a 'Dickie Dee' vendor.

Ice Cream vendor in Kitwe. 3000 Kwacha ($.70) for a frozen treat!

Typical Zambian market stalls

After leaving town, it soon became obvious to everyone that the bus didn't have any headlights. It is determined that one battery is done and that maybe the alternator is on its way out. The lightening storm outside provides some light, but wow, it is pretty much pitch black out there. They even try to shine flashlights out the front window to help see the road. Eventually it is just too stupid to continue, so the driver pulls over and tries to figure something out. After about half an hour of sitting in the dark, a mini-bus pulls beside and speaks with the driver, we decide to follow it the rest of the way. We arrive in pretty good time, 11pm.

For a while I figured we'd just be stuck there, on a bus for the night, a bus which was overfull with people standing and cargo up and down the isles.

Anyway, I woke up this morning to the sound of Laure-Eloise on the phone, and even better yet, today is a national holiday so I have time to check out the feasibility of starting an internet cafe in town as a way to maybe earn some money and help people access information.

Before I finished speaking with Laure, the sun was almost up so I took this photo from my bedroom window.

A foggy morning in Mwinilunga just before sunrise

And great news from Canada today!!

More and Better food aid.