"Comedy of Errors" or "How I shouldn't have bothered getting out of bed yesterday"

Some days I shouldn't even bother attempting the day, Carpe Diem be hanged. It's like you should have a heavenly signboard over your bed with warnings that post like facebook status update lines. "Good day ahead" or "remember your makeup!" or "don't even bother, stay put". Yesterday was a "stay put" kind of a day. It finally became comical and I had to laugh or I'd just cry...

So a rather largish group of us headed out to River No. 2, a gorgeous beach, to spend the day. It started out promisingly enough, one of our group,Mourad, having already arranged for a poda poda to meet us at the dock gate to take us. Usually finding transportation the most complicated part of getting around, so first challenge met. Mourad, who is Egyptian, probably grew up bargaining 'cause he was awesome... people don't take us for rides (figuratively) when he's around; we manage to pay a fair price... he probably grew up bargaining for his candy when little, really, he was great. So we all pile into the poda and head off. One hour into the trip, on the other side of Waterloo we hear a bang! and now this sounds weird. Poda pulls off to the side of the road. Breakdown Number One.  The tyre is smoking and something is off-center in the middle.

Out we pile from the poda, after all, it's Africa, you can expect at least one breakdown. We don't even bat an eyelash. If the driver can't fix it, he'll call a friend with another poda to pick us up, so no worries. Only he wasn't able to fix it, and after waiting on the side of the road for an hour figured out he hadn't been able to locate that friend. A woman walking past said there are podas 2 towns down, so we gamely head off down the road.

Did I mention it's all flowers and butterflies right now? Dozens of butterflies, lovely flowers blooming on the sides of the roads and thick, lush greenery.

So we march a couple of km past the town of York and almost reach the 2nd town when a mini-van taxi pulls up. Mourad whips out his mad bargaining skills.

Yes, this mini-van. Yes, we are a ton of people. Yes, we fit us all in. 3 people in the passenger seat, 5 in the middle, 5 in the back, 3 hanging out the back crammed like sardines, sweating profusely, singing songs, making up games and rather enjoying the adventures. After all, we'd had our token breakdown already so we're home free now, right? Wrong. Another bang! Breakdown Number Two, and a cloud of steam rising from under the hood. The picture is not uploading, so you're gonna have to take my word on this one. This is probably the reason why they have rules about not overloading vehicles. They can't go through trecherous terrain with 18 people squashed into a 8 seater minivan. 

So we jump out, walk a few more kilometers, the engine is now cooled and refilled with water, so we pile back in.  A few more kilometers and bang! You've guessed it, Breakdown Number Three. Behold:



At this point it's close to 2 pm, having left at 9 am on a trip that should take an hour and a half, tops. So we now hoof it the rest of the way, maybe another couple kilometers. To crash land on the beach, throw ourselves in to the ocean and an exhausted nap. We left around 5 pm to head back to the ship arriving around 7:30, now having waaaay missed dinner. But I did have a "There is a God" moment when my sweet, darling roommate Rachel noticed I wasn't back in time for dinner and saved me a plate. Having had a very similar experience the week before involving two breakdowns :-) she thought maybe that's what had happened to make us late. Thank the Lord for her! So I chowed down, regaling her with the story of our adventures, finally being able to laughing merrily about it. Food is good. I crawled back into bed with the realization I should never have left the bed in the first place, but it does make for a good story.