Bus Ride

Bus Ride

December 21st

After staying up till 1 am finishing report cards, I packed and slept a few hours, at 5 am I caught a cab to the bus station, then got on a bus packed with around 70 people, but fit for about 35. I sat down and immediately three young guides sitting behind me began talking to me. Overall the trip was long and HOT! There seems to a "no open windows" policy on these buses... I had a one-legged man with a child on his lap and two young men behind me. They were nice, but trying cool me off by breathing on me was just too hospitable! Beside me was a pock-marked, wiry man who chewed chat all morning and then spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying "mercana" (the high?)- he didn't say one word the entire trip. On my other side was a really sweet old lady. Most of the trip she was asleep on me- which amidst suffocating heat almost drove me to push her off me. But because she was so nice and exchanged words between her many naps... I endured it. In front and to the right side sat all the bus attendants and their friends- they were around 8 people some sitting, some standing. They were loud and rowdy, but fun. Around noon they turned the music up and began arguing about who would begin dancing. The rest of the bus began to clap and sing along. The bus drivers never did decide who would dance, but everyone else enjoyed the music.

I don't have any pictures because it was pretty much impossible to get any good shots with so many people in the bus.

The drive was beautiful! For hours we drove through pastures, passed hundreds of haystacks. I saw horses running wild. I saw mud hut village after stick hut village after tin shack village... The women wore traditional, green dresses, the men wear the same green shorts and jacket reminiscent of something a ranger would wear. Women and men carried fire wood, walked barefoot, herded goats and cows, farmed, lay talking to friends next to haystacks and waved from the road. Old women stood on the side of the road pleading with their hands open for money. Young boys anxiously pushed donkeys out of the road trying to avoid an accident with our bus, jumped in the bus selling cold water, gum or sugar cane- then jumped out again as the bus picked up speed.

By late afternoon the heat was unbearable and so the bus curtains were drawn, but the windows opened. I didn't see anymore of the countryside, but finally got a caught of breath of fresh air- literally- and could enjoy the ride... until I found out that I had been misinformed- we weren't going to stop for lunch- and I'd only had a coffee in the morning- and we weren't going to make it to my destination in one day... it would take two!

Around 5 we pulled into Debre Markos greeted by 20 some boys trying to recruit clients for different hotels. I was told to leave my bag on top of the bus overnight- it would be safe... I wanted to get to Bahir Dar... I got my bag off the bus and caught a mini-bus. We were 11 people in one van- that's regulation. The police checked the van, we drove another kilometer and then picked up another 5 or 6 passengers! We drove in the dark, honking at every living being we passed. In the dark, friends walked hand in hand, women carried water, stoked fires and so forth. There was no electricity in these towns but people continued working into the dark...