Week 4 of 5 Journal of a PVC Parent

Day II Travel from Mali to Senegal (or 23 hours on an OLD bus with a crazy driver)
This trip had intrigue, bribery, violence, humor, humanity and comradary! Most of all it did not have goats tied to the top of the bus! Of the 23 hours we traveled, we had 3 2hour stops. The first stop was to wait for a second bus to make a connection, so we were stuck in a crowded parking lot with pretty disgusting latrines, which by now I could handle because it was better than the alternative! It was just HOT and dusty. We had a lunch of bananas and baguettes (by now we are getting pretty lean). It was an anxious wait because you had to be sure the bus you came on did not leave with your luggage and no one seemed to know why we were waiting. Back on board. Many hours before a lunch stop and dash to a latrine. Then the first of many passport checks started. It was a long aft of stop and go and it was getting towards evening and still no bathroom stop. Finally a stop and I saw a latrine in the distant field and some women from the bus heading towards it so I start off, telling the boys that in no way can they let the bus leave without me! The bus driver started honking his horn and wanted us back for a passport check. I looked at the woman next to me and raised my hands in a question. She grabbed my arm and we ran towards the latrine while the driver honked furiously. She handed me the bucket and she peed out back and gave me the latrine. I started to run back and again she took my arm and shook her head to say “No, don’t run” as we got back to the bus the driver honked his horn in our ears, we just got on the bus with our noses in the air as if to say “ We are women and we have the right to pee, you will just have to wait.” When we got to our seats I turned to look at her and thank her and we shared a giggle. Those kinds of moments of connection were astounding and made me feel more than OK. It is a foreign land, language and culture but we can still connect and share compassion for one another! Later another two hour stop at customs. The Nigerian Nationals were forced to pay a bribe. They were hassled the whole trip, we were not. Our Embassy is too strong in Senegal. We had started the trip at 6AM; our third stop was at 2 AM at immigration. This was a small building in a small court yard with, by far, the worst latrines of the trip (just take my word, I do not want to describe) There were three gendarmes one of whom was more official and his job was to take our passports and hand write our information on a tablet (in pencil! How official is that?) We were the third bus there and there seemed to be no hurry. It could take up to 5- 10 min per person. We were too discouraged to do the math. Finally a non Senegalese African National got tired of being treated this way and got angry with the gendarme. Suddenly we heard loud voices, a very loud slap and the crowd began to get very agitated. We moved to the back of the crowd. All I could think about were the semiautomatics the three officials had, but some people surrounded the disgruntled man and escorted him out of the courtyard until he had calmed, Whew! We finally arrived in Tambacounda at 5AM and slept until 8:30. We had much to do that day!