Come along with us on our big bus trip! I’ll tell you all about it…
On Friday we
talked about trying to get tickets for the following Monday to take the bus to
Togo. JP made some calls and had a
friend go to a few bus stations in Bamako to try to find some tickets on the
bus. It would be cheapest and easiest to
get on a bus that would go straight through from Bamako all the way to Lomé
instead of trying to piece together different segments of the trip. So we would need to get a ticket in Bamako to
save our places, but we could just get on the bus when it stopped in our town
on the way. Well, we learned that the
tickets for Monday were sold out, and the next bus after that would mean
waiting a few more days… or we could go on Saturday, as in tomorrow!
So a little change of plans there, instead of the whole weekend I had less than a day to get everything in order and set to go. Saturday morning I was running around making copies, dropping off posters and fliers for upcoming English classes, going through the contents of the fridge to make sure that was in order, and getting everything else arranged for us to be gone for 2 weeks. Oh, and packing suitcases. All of the pre-travel preparations are for me the worst part of any trip, especially packing.
We were supposed to be at the bus station at noon on Saturday. The bus had left from Bamako early that morning. JP came home at 11:35 from getting his hair cut in town and jumped in the shower. I’m not complaining, this doesn’t surprise me anymore, but his last minute-ness does add to my stress a bit. The mechanic was outside waiting to bring us to the station at 11:40.
We somehow got to the station at noon and the bus wasn’t there yet. Phew! We found a bench to sit on to wait. We waited. Then we saw a man making/selling sandwiches. We hadn’t eaten lunch. So we each got a sandwich. The man cut everything (the bread, tomatoes, onions) with a big sword-knife. I asked and he was fine for me to take a picture.
So a little change of plans there, instead of the whole weekend I had less than a day to get everything in order and set to go. Saturday morning I was running around making copies, dropping off posters and fliers for upcoming English classes, going through the contents of the fridge to make sure that was in order, and getting everything else arranged for us to be gone for 2 weeks. Oh, and packing suitcases. All of the pre-travel preparations are for me the worst part of any trip, especially packing.
We were supposed to be at the bus station at noon on Saturday. The bus had left from Bamako early that morning. JP came home at 11:35 from getting his hair cut in town and jumped in the shower. I’m not complaining, this doesn’t surprise me anymore, but his last minute-ness does add to my stress a bit. The mechanic was outside waiting to bring us to the station at 11:40.
We somehow got to the station at noon and the bus wasn’t there yet. Phew! We found a bench to sit on to wait. We waited. Then we saw a man making/selling sandwiches. We hadn’t eaten lunch. So we each got a sandwich. The man cut everything (the bread, tomatoes, onions) with a big sword-knife. I asked and he was fine for me to take a picture.
We ate our sandwiches and waited a bit more.
Finally at 12:45 JP went to ask the guy working for the bus company when
he expected the bus. The guy said that
the driver had recently called saying they had broken down or had to replace a
tire or something, and they were still about 3 hours away. I said, “Let’s go home!” We took a taxi home. I was happy to be able to take a shower and
have a rest. It’s so humid this time of
year in Mali that you can just sit still and be dripping in sweat even though
it isn’t all that hot (mostly in the upper 80’s.) I wanted to start the long trip feeling as
fresh as possible. I was expecting that
there would be air conditioning in the bus, so once we got in the bus we might
even feel cold!
At 4 we went back to the bus station (the mechanic came again to take us) and didn’t have to wait too long before the bus arrived. They put our little suitcases under the bus and we brought our backpack and handbag up in the bus with us. We found seats and sat down, and it was then that I looked up and around and realized that the bus did NOT have air conditioning. I confess I experienced a little moment of panic and told JP that we should probably just get off the bus, that I didn’t think I could handle the expected approximately 30 hours straight of travel with no A/C. The next available tickets were for 4 or 5 days in the future, plus they probably wouldn’t give refunds for the tickets we already had, so we stayed put.
It was suffocatingly hot when the bus wasn’t moving and at least breathable if the bus was moving. There were no windows that could open; the only air came from a vent on the ceiling that had to be propped open with old plastic bottles. Except when it started raining and then they had to shut the vent so that water didn’t pour in. Then it felt like we were suffocating again. And it didn’t smell nice in there, so it was like gross stinky suffocating.
At 4 we went back to the bus station (the mechanic came again to take us) and didn’t have to wait too long before the bus arrived. They put our little suitcases under the bus and we brought our backpack and handbag up in the bus with us. We found seats and sat down, and it was then that I looked up and around and realized that the bus did NOT have air conditioning. I confess I experienced a little moment of panic and told JP that we should probably just get off the bus, that I didn’t think I could handle the expected approximately 30 hours straight of travel with no A/C. The next available tickets were for 4 or 5 days in the future, plus they probably wouldn’t give refunds for the tickets we already had, so we stayed put.
It was suffocatingly hot when the bus wasn’t moving and at least breathable if the bus was moving. There were no windows that could open; the only air came from a vent on the ceiling that had to be propped open with old plastic bottles. Except when it started raining and then they had to shut the vent so that water didn’t pour in. Then it felt like we were suffocating again. And it didn’t smell nice in there, so it was like gross stinky suffocating.
We had to
cross 2 borders: the one between Mali and Burkina Faso, and then between
Burkina and Togo. That takes time when
it’s a whole busload of people needing to get through. We had to all get out and get back on the bus
6 times to show our passports. At one
place we all had to bring all of our luggage from under the bus and open it to
show inspectors.
Thankfully the bus didn’t break down. It was slow with all of the long stops, but it could have certainly been worse! However, about halfway through the trip I was really regretting that we didn’t decide to fly. It would have cost us at least $500 more to fly, but at that point I was thinking it would have been well worth it.
I made efforts at sleeping. JP is a champ at sleeping on public transportation. We found some rice and sauce to eat on the roadside on the way. We didn’t find many places to go to the bathroom that could be identified as a bathroom.
But JP did find a bathroom after much searching at one stop. Everyone else was back on the bus after what was supposed to have been a quick stop, but JP wasn’t there. I didn’t know where he had gone. We all waited. And waited. It was at least 10 or 15 minutes of waiting that felt like eternity to me. I was afraid they were going to make me collect our bags and get off the bus and then leave without us. I could hear people saying in Bambara, “it’s the white lady’s husband,” and “maybe he is sick, “ “maybe he got lost,” and “maybe he has diarrhea.” The bus company man came and asked me if I could try calling JP on his phone to figure out where he was. His phone was on my lap, so that wasn’t going to work. A few guys got out of the bus and went to do their prayers. Finally JP came back and no one said anything to him and the bus started driving again. He had been pretty sick and it took a long walk and lots of asking to find a bathroom (meaning a hole in the ground surrounded by walls and a plastic kettle of water as opposed to a bush.) So that was the “exciting” moment of our trip.
Otherwise there isn’t much else to say. It took us 31 hours to get there; it was midnight when we got to our hotel to sleep (after nice hot showers to scrub off all of the bus grime from a 31 hour trip!) My feet/ankles/legs were ridiculously swollen, but I’ll make the next post to show you that.
Thankfully the bus didn’t break down. It was slow with all of the long stops, but it could have certainly been worse! However, about halfway through the trip I was really regretting that we didn’t decide to fly. It would have cost us at least $500 more to fly, but at that point I was thinking it would have been well worth it.
I made efforts at sleeping. JP is a champ at sleeping on public transportation. We found some rice and sauce to eat on the roadside on the way. We didn’t find many places to go to the bathroom that could be identified as a bathroom.
But JP did find a bathroom after much searching at one stop. Everyone else was back on the bus after what was supposed to have been a quick stop, but JP wasn’t there. I didn’t know where he had gone. We all waited. And waited. It was at least 10 or 15 minutes of waiting that felt like eternity to me. I was afraid they were going to make me collect our bags and get off the bus and then leave without us. I could hear people saying in Bambara, “it’s the white lady’s husband,” and “maybe he is sick, “ “maybe he got lost,” and “maybe he has diarrhea.” The bus company man came and asked me if I could try calling JP on his phone to figure out where he was. His phone was on my lap, so that wasn’t going to work. A few guys got out of the bus and went to do their prayers. Finally JP came back and no one said anything to him and the bus started driving again. He had been pretty sick and it took a long walk and lots of asking to find a bathroom (meaning a hole in the ground surrounded by walls and a plastic kettle of water as opposed to a bush.) So that was the “exciting” moment of our trip.
Otherwise there isn’t much else to say. It took us 31 hours to get there; it was midnight when we got to our hotel to sleep (after nice hot showers to scrub off all of the bus grime from a 31 hour trip!) My feet/ankles/legs were ridiculously swollen, but I’ll make the next post to show you that.
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