Saturday, June 16, 2007
Little Drive
Today is Saturday and I have booked a Land Cruiser for the weekend. I walked up to the garage to grab it so Abby and I can go to Bisutu, about 30Km away. It is a town on a lake that I passed on the way to Mount Hanang. I thought it would be nice to do some bird watching and even better to simply get behind the wheel for a change.
The guys at the garage were ready for me and the headman led me out to my weekend machine. He handed over the keys and I climbed in behind the wheel, on the right side. I wanted to make sure I got the glow plug deal all sorted out and asked if there is anything I should know before I fire it up. Another man approached and said something in Kiswahili; I assumed by his body language that he wanted to give it a try first. I climbed out again and we switched places. He then orders the other two guys standing nearby to start pushing. I couldn’t figure this out and kept telling him to start it up. We proceed out of the garage gate as he signaled that he wanted to bomb start the damn thing by going down a small hill. This did not build my confidence in the ride and I told them that my 7-year old daughter would not be able to push it nor pop the clutch when we were out in the boonies. (My Kiswahili was good enough to make them understand but they insisted that it would be no problem.) We did push it to a start and then the man stopped and promptly opened the hood. As the now crowd of five guys hovered around the engine our friend Adam zoomed past on his bike and I yelled to him that he had left his cap at our house. He circled around and we spoke a bit about the Cruiser. He, at first said, “Hamna Shida” (No Problem). But, on closer inspection and a brief chat he changed his tune. It seems he had been driving this vehicle the week before as an ambulance and had picked up a patient, climbed back in and the darn thing wouldn’t start. “shida, shida” (Problem, Problem). So with Adam’s assistance the guys, now 8 of them agreed that I should have a different vehicle. To get this done they would have to call someone who had already left, to return and switch with another vehicle.
So I thanked Adam and walked back home to wait the “5 minutes” for the other car to return. Five Minutes here usually means 30 but in this case it really was a five-minute wait. To my surprise the car that returned had been carrying the Matron and some other rather official looking folks. The Marton was pleasant to me but very upset with the situation. We shook hands and said our greetings. The driver removed some supplies from the back and handed me the keys. Not wanting to have anyone grab them back I quickly hopped in and for the first time in a month or two started the Cruiser and eased out the clutch. I felt as if I were on the first tee at a nice golf course being watched by the entire clubhouse as I took my first golf shot in a couple of years. But my anxiety was unfounded as I expertly shifted into reverse with my left hand and backed cleanly out the gate and drove the 25 meters to the house.
Abby and I sadly loaded the Cruiser and mounted up; Nik had some work to do and though she wanted to join us, she had to get some important work completed. So we waved goodbye and drove slowly through the hospital compound to the gate. “Wapi?” (Where) said the guard and I told him Bisutu. He opened the gate and in ten meters we hung a left and headed down the hill and into the savannah.
The road drops quite sharply out of Haydom and we soon crossed the river on the bridge, which is about 3 meters above the water. At this point Abby set the mood of the entire trip by saying, “oh its very beautiful.” I smiled, agreed and shifted into third.
We drove on with me dodging ruts and bumps and Abby marveling at the view and humming a nice tune. We drove over an area that saw the road nearly washed away entirely from the left and then the right. The river had meandered into the road and there were small cliffs, about 4 meters deep and eating into about a third of the road. Abby didn’t especially like this but we passed it in no time. We had a great view of the area as we bumped along, but the vehicle is a newer one so the bumps were not too bad at all. We came to a large bridge over a mostly dry river and saw to the right a wagon pulled by two cows in a deep part of the river. There were two boys on the wagon filling 45-gallon drums with the chocolate brown water and a third resting beside it. After we crossed the bridge I pulled off onto a flat grassy, or at least it was during the wet season, to see if they would let me take a picture of them. They were excited by the idea and smiled wide as I put the camera to my face. I noticed that they had a spear lying on the ground near them and commented on how nice it was. One of the boys came over and picked it up and they all posed again. It was really great to be out in the middle of nowhere speaking a new language and being understood, and having this little group enjoy having their picture taken. The groups of three turned into 7, as four boys came out of nowhere and they all had a good laugh at the pictures. I thanked them and returned to Abby, waiting in the truck.
We continued on and soon the lake came into view and the flooded town of Bisutu grew around us. The flooding explained the Restaurants now taking shape within the cavernous openings within thorny trees along the road. I assume these are run by and for people who have had their homes overrun by floodwaters. I mentioned the fact that these were restaurants to Abby and she said that while they are nice we wouldn’t be able to read the menus and therefore we probably wouldn’t get anything we wanted. We made our way toward the lake and came to a spot where they were fixing the road. The water truck pretty much ran us off the road. Well, he was only crawling along but he waved at us madly to keep moving, so we passed him and the grader and drove along the now narrow and soft road until it passed over a dry stream and the roadwork stopped. It wasn’t as if we could put it in fifth and set the cruise control at 90 because the road dipped and curved with huge ruts and sharp curves until we came to a straight flat section with a nice flat area between the lake and the road.
We pulled off the road and stopped to start our bird watching and I threw a shuka over the hood of the truck and Abby say out in the middle of the hood with me on the edge. We took a few sips of water as we used our two sets of binoculars to scope the area for birds. A pair of Datooga men passing on the road stopped by to say hello and we talked a bit in my broken Swahili about where we were all from and what we were doing. They had a good laugh as they each looked through the binos. We were joined by an older man who also took a look. I don’t know if they saw anything but their faces lit up and 
they thanked me for the experience and went on their way. The birds were few in this spot so we moved on down the road a ways until we could hear the sound of many birds nearby. We again pulled off the road but stayed in the vehicle and I took a few pictures while Abby looked through her binoculars. As we were stopped a man cycled by with a large wooden crate on the back of his bike. I am always saying hello to people and this was no exception; I’m glad I did as the man pulled a pineapple from the crate and offered it to me. I asked how much, for 1000 shillings I jumped at the chance to have a different taste and selected a seemingly ripe one. We talked a bit and then he went on his way. I assume he was off to Bisutu to sell his crate of pineapples, and while I’m sure he wouldn’t get 1000 each for the rest I was happy and so was he.
We soon realized that it was closing on lunchtime and flipped around for the drive home. We made good time on the way back as we weren’t looking for anything and I was getting used to the roads. We stopped for Abby to take a picture of some nice blue flowers and then stopped to pick up a man and a woman walking our way. The woman was going to Haydom with her baby on her back, about 10 – 12 Km and the man was going to a small town on the way to Haydom. They were happy to get a ride and I was happy to give it. Abby wasn’t sure about it at first but was soon back to humming a tune and chatting. I had met the man somewhere before and he also recognized me. We soon dropped him off and kept going toward home. We turned to head up the hill to town and crossed the river we had seen on the way out. I told Abby where we were and said she may want to have a look, just as I notice a few naked men bathing in the river in plain site. “Maybe you don’t want to look,” I said, and as it turns out she was too interested in the road ahead. We went he 500 meters more up the hill and dropped the Mama off at the gate and went home for lunch. We were satisfied with our time away from home and looked forward to taking Nik with us the next time.
The guys at the garage were ready for me and the headman led me out to my weekend machine. He handed over the keys and I climbed in behind the wheel, on the right side. I wanted to make sure I got the glow plug deal all sorted out and asked if there is anything I should know before I fire it up. Another man approached and said something in Kiswahili; I assumed by his body language that he wanted to give it a try first. I climbed out again and we switched places. He then orders the other two guys standing nearby to start pushing. I couldn’t figure this out and kept telling him to start it up. We proceed out of the garage gate as he signaled that he wanted to bomb start the damn thing by going down a small hill. This did not build my confidence in the ride and I told them that my 7-year old daughter would not be able to push it nor pop the clutch when we were out in the boonies. (My Kiswahili was good enough to make them understand but they insisted that it would be no problem.) We did push it to a start and then the man stopped and promptly opened the hood. As the now crowd of five guys hovered around the engine our friend Adam zoomed past on his bike and I yelled to him that he had left his cap at our house. He circled around and we spoke a bit about the Cruiser. He, at first said, “Hamna Shida” (No Problem). But, on closer inspection and a brief chat he changed his tune. It seems he had been driving this vehicle the week before as an ambulance and had picked up a patient, climbed back in and the darn thing wouldn’t start. “shida, shida” (Problem, Problem). So with Adam’s assistance the guys, now 8 of them agreed that I should have a different vehicle. To get this done they would have to call someone who had already left, to return and switch with another vehicle.
So I thanked Adam and walked back home to wait the “5 minutes” for the other car to return. Five Minutes here usually means 30 but in this case it really was a five-minute wait. To my surprise the car that returned had been carrying the Matron and some other rather official looking folks. The Marton was pleasant to me but very upset with the situation. We shook hands and said our greetings. The driver removed some supplies from the back and handed me the keys. Not wanting to have anyone grab them back I quickly hopped in and for the first time in a month or two started the Cruiser and eased out the clutch. I felt as if I were on the first tee at a nice golf course being watched by the entire clubhouse as I took my first golf shot in a couple of years. But my anxiety was unfounded as I expertly shifted into reverse with my left hand and backed cleanly out the gate and drove the 25 meters to the house.
Abby and I sadly loaded the Cruiser and mounted up; Nik had some work to do and though she wanted to join us, she had to get some important work completed. So we waved goodbye and drove slowly through the hospital compound to the gate. “Wapi?” (Where) said the guard and I told him Bisutu. He opened the gate and in ten meters we hung a left and headed down the hill and into the savannah.
The road drops quite sharply out of Haydom and we soon crossed the river on the bridge, which is about 3 meters above the water. At this point Abby set the mood of the entire trip by saying, “oh its very beautiful.” I smiled, agreed and shifted into third.
We drove on with me dodging ruts and bumps and Abby marveling at the view and humming a nice tune. We drove over an area that saw the road nearly washed away entirely from the left and then the right. The river had meandered into the road and there were small cliffs, about 4 meters deep and eating into about a third of the road. Abby didn’t especially like this but we passed it in no time. We had a great view of the area as we bumped along, but the vehicle is a newer one so the bumps were not too bad at all. We came to a large bridge over a mostly dry river and saw to the right a wagon pulled by two cows in a deep part of the river. There were two boys on the wagon filling 45-gallon drums with the chocolate brown water and a third resting beside it. After we crossed the bridge I pulled off onto a flat grassy, or at least it was during the wet season, to see if they would let me take a picture of them. They were excited by the idea and smiled wide as I put the camera to my face. I noticed that they had a spear lying on the ground near them and commented on how nice it was. One of the boys came over and picked it up and they all posed again. It was really great to be out in the middle of nowhere speaking a new language and being understood, and having this little group enjoy having their picture taken. The groups of three turned into 7, as four boys came out of nowhere and they all had a good laugh at the pictures. I thanked them and returned to Abby, waiting in the truck.
We continued on and soon the lake came into view and the flooded town of Bisutu grew around us. The flooding explained the Restaurants now taking shape within the cavernous openings within thorny trees along the road. I assume these are run by and for people who have had their homes overrun by floodwaters. I mentioned the fact that these were restaurants to Abby and she said that while they are nice we wouldn’t be able to read the menus and therefore we probably wouldn’t get anything we wanted. We made our way toward the lake and came to a spot where they were fixing the road. The water truck pretty much ran us off the road. Well, he was only crawling along but he waved at us madly to keep moving, so we passed him and the grader and drove along the now narrow and soft road until it passed over a dry stream and the roadwork stopped. It wasn’t as if we could put it in fifth and set the cruise control at 90 because the road dipped and curved with huge ruts and sharp curves until we came to a straight flat section with a nice flat area between the lake and the road.
We pulled off the road and stopped to start our bird watching and I threw a shuka over the hood of the truck and Abby say out in the middle of the hood with me on the edge. We took a few sips of water as we used our two sets of binoculars to scope the area for birds. A pair of Datooga men passing on the road stopped by to say hello and we talked a bit in my broken Swahili about where we were all from and what we were doing. They had a good laugh as they each looked through the binos. We were joined by an older man who also took a look. I don’t know if they saw anything but their faces lit up and 
they thanked me for the experience and went on their way. The birds were few in this spot so we moved on down the road a ways until we could hear the sound of many birds nearby. We again pulled off the road but stayed in the vehicle and I took a few pictures while Abby looked through her binoculars. As we were stopped a man cycled by with a large wooden crate on the back of his bike. I am always saying hello to people and this was no exception; I’m glad I did as the man pulled a pineapple from the crate and offered it to me. I asked how much, for 1000 shillings I jumped at the chance to have a different taste and selected a seemingly ripe one. We talked a bit and then he went on his way. I assume he was off to Bisutu to sell his crate of pineapples, and while I’m sure he wouldn’t get 1000 each for the rest I was happy and so was he.We soon realized that it was closing on lunchtime and flipped around for the drive home. We made good time on the way back as we weren’t looking for anything and I was getting used to the roads. We stopped for Abby to take a picture of some nice blue flowers and then stopped to pick up a man and a woman walking our way. The woman was going to Haydom with her baby on her back, about 10 – 12 Km and the man was going to a small town on the way to Haydom. They were happy to get a ride and I was happy to give it. Abby wasn’t sure about it at first but was soon back to humming a tune and chatting. I had met the man somewhere before and he also recognized me. We soon dropped him off and kept going toward home. We turned to head up the hill to town and crossed the river we had seen on the way out. I told Abby where we were and said she may want to have a look, just as I notice a few naked men bathing in the river in plain site. “Maybe you don’t want to look,” I said, and as it turns out she was too interested in the road ahead. We went he 500 meters more up the hill and dropped the Mama off at the gate and went home for lunch. We were satisfied with our time away from home and looked forward to taking Nik with us the next time.
