Over the Easter weekend I went to Lake Bunyonyi in southwestern Uganda with Tom, one of the interns this term. We took a bus there and we got the whole Ugandan bus experience. The trip should take 7-8 hours so we thought we would try to leave in the morning to get there at a reasonable time. We woke up at 6:30 to get ready and left around 7 to catch a matatu into town. We arrived at the bus park just before 8 and found a bus going to Kabale, the town closest to the lake. The bus was about half full when we got on and some of the buses don't really have a set departure time but they wait until they are full to leave. But how long could it take to fill a bus. There were people getting on every so often and the bus was slowly filling. There are many vendors that enter the bus and try to sell you many different things, phone chargers, bread, plates of food, hair accessories, etc. I was not interested in buying anything, I just want to get going.
Then it started to rain. It wasn't raining hard by Ugandan standards. But a strange thing happens here when it starts to rain, everyone stops what they are doing, goes under some shelter and waits. It doesn't matter too much if you have an appointment or meeting, people stop and wait for the rain to finish. Normally it rains hard for a little while and then stops so people aren't waiting for the whole day. This is not a good thing when you are waiting for a bus to fill up so you can leave. So the rain delayed our departure as people stopped coming for a while. Finally 10:30 the bus began to leave. We drove a few feet and people outside started banging on the side of the bus as they were still loading cargo under the bus. So we waited for a little while longer and a few more people got on the bus. Finally at 11 we left the bus park. It was a long 3 hours waiting on the bus but we were on our way, or so we thought.
We drove out of the bus park and around the corner. We stopped at the gas station to put some air in the front tires. That was okay, it is good to have air in the tires. And how long could it take to put air in the tires. Half an hour, that is how long. I am not sure why it took that long, but it did. While we were waiting to get air in the tires there were people carrying cargo from the bus park to the gas station to put under the bus. So at 11:30 we left the gas station to really begin the trip.
Traffic was congested as it was the beginning of the holiday weekend and many people try to get out of the city to see family. We slowly made our way out and then stopped at another gas station. This time we were putting gas in the bus. While we were filling the tank, a boda (motorcycle taxi) came with some more cargo to put under the bus. Now we were ready to really begin the journey, a full tank of gas, the storage compartments full, even a few boxes in the aisle of the bus. So finally at noon, after 4 hours on the bus, we left Kampala.
We didn't get very far before we stopped again. This time it was the traffic police. I am not sure what it was about this bus, but it seems that every traffic cop stopped our bus. Most of the time they would walk up and talk to the driver, look at his paperwork and let us go. One of them entered the bus and sat down so that we could drop him at the police station ahead. We stopped in one of the towns along the way and picked up a few passengers. All of the seats were full so they sat in the aisle. Then we were stopped at one of the police checks. The policeman entered the bus and looked around. Then he said I have an announcement, anyone who is not in a seat get off the bus. So slowly the five people sitting in the aisle got off the bus, then we drove away. However we only went a little ways down the road, around the corner and pulled over for a 'short call', a bathroom break. In Uganda there aren't have nice service centers or rest stops along the road. So we just stopped on the side and people got out, went in the grass and got back on the bus. In the meantime the five passengers kicked off the bus caught up to us and got back on the bus.
We continued on our journey and things were finally going smoothly. We hadn't been stopped in a while are were making good time. Then the road got bumpy, or so it seemed. It felt like we were driving on the rumble strips on the side of the road. However the don't have rumble strips in Uganda. I looked out the window and saw chunks of rubber flying through the air. Thank God we didn't crash the bus. We pulled over and they told everyone to get off the bus. We looked at the back tires, and both tires on the left side had blown out. They proceeded to remove some of the luggage under the bus to get the spare tire and jack. Nothing was happening for a while. Then another bus from the same company came from the other direction and pulled over. They gave us their spare tire and jack, as we needed two new tires. So after waiting on the side of the road for 2 hours, they had finally changed the tires. However one of the spare tires was soft.
So we drove to the next town and stopped at the gas station. They looked at the tire and then we back onto the side of the road and they proceeded to remove the tire to fix it. Again everyone got off the bus to wait while they fixed the tire. After an hour they began to roll the tire back to the bus. They got half way to the bus and the tire began to hiss air. So they turned around to repair the tire again. After another half hour they tire was fixed and back on the bus. Then they looked at the other side and that tire was a little soft. So we pulled into the gas station and put air in the tire. By this time it was 8:30 and dark outside and we were not even half way to Kabale. We had not dropped any passengers off yet.
The remainder of the trip went smoothly. Once it got dark out, people decided they should start singing. So about three different groups of people were singing three different songs. The last 4 hours were uneventful. After sixteen and a half hours, we arrived in Kabale at 12:30 in the morning. We got more that we bargained for on this trip. We got the full bus experience and a good story to tell. In the end it was worth it, we had a great trip canoeing and hiking around the lake. Lake Bunyonyi is very beautiful. See the pictures below.
It was a good reminder that life doesn't always go the way we plan it. Our journey through life can take many different turns and delays from our plans. If we are too focused on the destination we will become frustrating with the journey. We learn many things through the journey of life if we pay attention to what God is doing around us today.
Thanks for reading about my exciting bus trip. I will post again soon to give an update of the other things that have been happening in my life lately.
God bless,
Matt
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