August 24, 2012, Thursday, Cont'd.: OR, put another way, "all Hell breaks loose!"
OMG'sh,.....There is a new & unique meaning to the word "road" in the Congo! 95% of the time 'road' means a narrow, windy, path through the jungle,-which is taking over from both sides! Oh yes, there WAS a 'road' here,....like back in the 1960's,.....but no one keeps/kept it up, so the jungle just has taken over. Couple that with a torrential rainy season,..and it becomes a treacherous path!
The path features slippery, stinky, red mudpits of brackish water,-big enough to swallow a VW bug!! Since there is no way around many, many of these,..you just have to hang on as your piki piki driver goes right through the puddles,-splashing the above brackish water all over both of you! Our drivers wore knee high rubber boots. (We had no such thing!). The trick is to not fall off the bike into the mud or river. Our bikes fell several times. BTW, my driver, bike & me slipped off a log and fell into the river, mudpit, whatever you want to call it. At least the water was 'trying' to flow at this site! (Gallows humor!). Upon picking ourselves up, getting the bike & us upright, and, a deep breath,-we took off again! No harm, no foul,...-or so we thought! Another time I was attempting to help Kathy across a 'bridge' on foot, when I lost my footing & went into the mud again! Later that night I discovered my domestic US cell phone had fallen off my belt holster,..and 'drowned' in the river! Gone forever are my contacts, emails, & my 150+ tunes! The Africans will retrace this path tomorrow, & said they would watch for it on the road. By the way,..those odds are SLIM & NONE!! It was gone forever. OMG'sh, there was also sawgrass slapping us hapless motorbike riders; fallen trees to either duck under or haul your bike over; - rivers with questionable "bridges",- aka logs over the water; snakes, crocodiles???!!!!;...& huge rocks. I failed to mention the drops along the side of the path when climbing mountain escarpments, or meeting other motorbikes or bicycles without any lights or warning, or the women walking the path carrying unbelievable loads on their head,...or the cows being 'herded' along the path! BTW, all 3 bikes fell several times,....that's why you don't want to see what we looked like AFTER the trip to Katshungu!! I swear there isn't even 1 stretch of smooth road in the whole jungle Interior!! My 'insides', 'backside' & 'bones' have been re-arranged time after time! I lost count how many times we had to dismount & push the bikes thru the muck...........remember,..all of this in the dark of the African night!
As mentioned, my piki piki driver was a surly young man! His favorite expression was a scowl,..you've seen the type! He constantly complained that the "Muzungu" he was carrying didn't know how to ride on the back of his bike,..........Finally, he stopped the caravan & ceremoniously began to berate me in Swahili about my lack of skills. The speech ended with him refusing to take me even another inch!! So, as happens in the Congo,..negotiations ensued. Tom told him to "haka makalele yako!", which means literally to stop your laughing(at the white man)!! Put another way,....it can mean, 'shut up', or 'get over it!' For good measure, as the driver lit a cigarette, Tom said, "& by the way, that cigarette will kill you!" The drama was 'ON', in earnest,..and it was nearly dark, to boot! I was transferred to the cargo motorbike, driven by Songa, a nicer young man from one of the mission schools, who works in the hospital at Katshungu. Fine by me!!
We arrived @ Lugungu, a village along the path, at full dark,..with a LONG way to go, and Tom's headlight not working on his bike! Had a meeting among ourselves along the road. Our choices were to sleep by the bikes on the ground, or press on thru the night, -with the biggest mountains still ahead of us. We tied an LED (Chinese) flashlight on Tom's piki piki and decided to press on to Katshungu, thru the night. My new driver, Songa's, contribution to the decision was that the road ahead would be MUCH WORSE! He wasn't kidding,.......ROUGH, SLOW, ROCKY, BUMPY going in the dark,....had we known, we'd have passed on the decision to go to Katshungu.......too late now to change.
Then, it began to lightning in the East! What else could happen???? Tom was reminding me, I told you it won't be EASY!" Yeah, right, Tom,.....Finally, we reached the top of the escarpment, and took a break on top of the mountain,...so dark you could barely see your hand in front of your face,..but, PTL, not raining. I have named this mountain "Telephone Hill". On the top of the mountain there is a path leading to the very summit in the forest. If one stands just right under a specific tree,....thru the wonders of atmospheric changes one can receive a poor, slight cell signal!!!!,...in the forest, in the middle of NOWHERE!! Say it ain't so, Mabel! The signal is good enough in an off and on way to 'talk'...........Now we were only about 7 km from our destination, Station Katshungu,-down the 'short' side of the mountain. We passed the hydro-electric plant that several Missions/missionaries had built across a rushing mountain river. Even in the dark we could hear the rushing/roaring water. (The soldiers had come several times, and for no good reason have trashed the electric plant,.....just because they CAN!!) Wow!
After ALL that, we arrived Station Katshungu at 8pm. Over 3 hours to cover the route we had been told would take 1.5 hours! The pastor & other locals had waited for us until 7:30,..then they had given up. Despite some people having left,....we had a BIG welcome, singing, praying, from Pastor Masudi & his extended family. WONDERFUL! (Tom & Kathy had taken a wrong turn in the night, & finally showed up about 20 minutes later!).
My very small room at Pastor Masudi's...
Water well at Station Katshungu
Makeshift 'toilet' over hole in the ground....
We were fed supper of rice, Sombe(greens), bugali(manioc), & fresh pineapple. This station still has deep groundwater wells installed by some of the missionaries,..so we could drink the water without having to boil it for 30 minutes to an hour. We committed ourselves to God's care,.& .drank deeply & gratefully! Masudi's wife gave us each a pan of warm water to do a 'spit bath' in our rooms to get rid of the muck, mud, & stench! PTL! WOW! (She would hand wash our muddy clothes next day). I had one room in Masudi's mud/stick house, the family another room, & Tom/Kathy a third room. The fourth room was occupied by Masudi's grown daughter & her kids. The rooms were small, with dirt floors, and a low platform for lying on, & a mosquito net. I did have a window!,..is that a good thing???? Never mind. The 'toilet;,..a hole in the ground, was 'down the path',....but look at THAT! Pastor Masudi had built a small wooden device to make things easier for the "Muzungu's". God bless that man!!.........Went to bed about 10pm,..EXHAUSTED,..and dreamed of yesteryear in the Congo! No matter that the bed was HARD,...and, a huge thunderstorm broke over us! Love the sound of the rain on a tin roof,..but this will make the paths even more impassable,..for our scheduled trip to Station Katanti,-my home-, tomorrow,........STAY TUNED,....... OH!, with the low window in my room,..& the rainstorm,..'things' became easier to avoid walking to the toilet down the path,....you figure it out!,....
Rogers, Banwamazi
