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| All aboard! |
Today is Saturday, February 6th it’s 7am, we’ve
been up…well, let’s just say most of the night, lol. We left the Accord hotel
yesterday about 930am, late start to say the least. By the time we reached the
border it was almost 3:30pm. Our driver, Theo’s phone wasn’t going through so
we kind of just waited around, got our exit stamps and then we were greeted by
a young man named Levi. He said he was the one waiting for us to take us to
Uvira. The guards wouldn’t let any one car go across the border so we hired a
bike pusher or a ‘kinga’ to take some of the luggage and we all walked across
with the rest of the bags. Upon saying goodbye to our driver Joseph, we tried
to pay him another installment but he wanted more money, so sadly we said we
would just give what we owe to his boss upon our return. It was upsetting
because we really got to know him over our 6-hour drive and shared stories etc…
We will most likely take a bus on our way back as we won’t have as many bags
and we will be in no rush.
Once we crossed the border it was more or less smooth
sailing to the Fizi hotel, it took just under 2 hours of driving that would
bring my mom to her knees lol. With the occasional stop for roasted corn and
bananas to help with our hunger, it was a straight shot. Oh, and we had to pass
through a river- literally through a river lol, not over a bridge.
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| The OKAKO |
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| The Kinga, getting our bags across the border |
As soon as we got to the hotel I asked for some hot water,
Rocco and I shared a cup of noodle and showered (with cold bucket water!) and
fell asleep. Ethan and Kaka went downstairs and waited about two hours for fish
and foo foo. Once he came to the room we were out cold, all three of us. Until
about 2am….then the electricity went out which means the fan went which means
we all started sweating throught the sheet. So Ethan got up to open some
windows (we were securely under the one mosquito net!), and the rain started
down. It was pouring, thundering, lightening, we all woke up including Rocco.
We watched a bit of the storm show then fell back asleep till about 3:30am when
a very loud car pulled up off the main highway and started yelling, music
blaring etc. We had a laugh and summed it up….T.I.A (this is Africa). Not even
20 minutes later Ethan jumped up in a fright and turned on his flood light only
to find a cockroach about three inches long- 3 INHCES, that was IN OUR BED! He
felt it crawling on him and well; let’s just say its life was short lived after
that.
Rocco and I have been up since just before 6am and we are
awaiting hot water so mom can have some coffee before getting our day, i.e.,
long journey part two, started!
The boat will leave later this afternoon and arrive in
Kalemie tomorrow early morning, around sunrise. Today is a lot of organizing, admin computer
work!
And, as I sit here looking out into the streets of Uvira,
smelling the rainy wet streets and surrounding fires burning, I can’t be any
happier to be exactly right here, right now.
-k
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| Ethan in the background, crossing Rwanda/DRC border |
Today is actually Tuesday; we were on the OKAKO (boat) all day and
night Sunday. When kaka got back to the Fizi with our tickets he had some bad
news…there were no ‘rooms’ available so, he got the ‘first class seats’ on the
boat. Which just means we are upstairs instead of downstairs and paid $4 more
for each ticket basically, to have a chair. This really was bad news because
after the sleepless night prior, I think we were all kind of looking forward to
a little shut-eye. We got to the port early, partly because we had no choice as
we had to check-out of the hotel, secondly, we needed to get our places on the
boat to store our ridiculous amount of luggage (9 bags now including
carry-ons)…sigh.
The port was, as usual, a complete mad house. Rocco of
course fell asleep en-route to the port in the taxi van, so I was occupied with
him. Thankfully, and really, I am EVER so thankful! For Ethan and kaka as I
literally sat on a rock next to ladies selling ground-nuts and water while they
had each and every bag checked by the DGM then organized the storage of the
luggage for the entire trip- I only boarded the boat with a sleeping Rocco once
everything was settled. Of course we were also the first ones on board, which
was fine because as you can see from the pictures it was not an easy task
getting on board this boat!
Rocco woke-up shortly after 2 hours and the boat, which was
supposed to depart at 5pm only left 10 to 6pm local time. We met some new people and said hello to a
few familiar faces, got situated took a few pictures and then ordered our much
anticipated beans and rice (which we were certain would take a few hours- at
least). By 8:30 pm we were enjoying our lunch/dinner, (just shy of 2 hours). Then,
the news of the match (DRC vs. Mali) came through the radio and the entire boat
was soon consumed with cheer and celebration. Even Rocco was yelling goal and
cheering, success for Congo!
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| Luggage- yikes |
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| Finally, arriving in Kalemie |
By 9pm we were tired, long day the long journey was in
motion and it was time to close our eyes, windows open and the breeze was
fantastic and fresh. Only I couldn’t
sleep L I
couldn’t get comfortable, we made Rocco a bed out of two of the four seat so he
could sleep (and boy did he!), Ethan and I shared our space and kaka found a
couple empty seats he was able to stretch out on. Soon our surrounding area was emptying seat
after seat and as I looked around I looked down and noticed everyone had made makeshift
beds on the ground and they were sleeping on the life vests. I was tempted but
since I had seen a cockroach or two crawling around earlier I just couldn’t
muster the act…until I couldn’t take it anymore that is! I was so tired, tears
were beginning to form and in seconds I was laying on the floor, in between the
four chairs sprawled out on three open life vests, fast asleep. Rocco rolled
right down on top of me within maybe an hour of my slumber and with that we
were two snuggling sleepy slumbers’. I stayed this way till about 3:30am with
the occasional (every 20 minutes) position change to the position of back pain,
lol. We were up by 4:30am, Rocco and I,
kaka and Ethan joined our morning party by 6am and we all felt fresh albeit
still exhausted. |
| sleep? |
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| So happy to be with friends in Kalemie! |
Mama Tete was waiting for us, Rocco ran up to her to greet
her yelling, ‘Mama Tete, mama Tete!’ it was too sweet. He has been asking about
all of his ‘friends’ in Africa, and the anticipation to see them and play with
them was killing him! Finally, getting to the house and greeting everyone, we
showered, situated then I fell asleep for two solid hours lol. Kaka went home,
Ethan and Rocco were downstairs when I woke-up waiting for Servant and Michelle
to get home from school. Within minutes of me joining them the kids arrived and
it was playtime! Mama Tete had the girls (mama Claude, mama Jeda, and her two
daughters Aliance and Antoinette) prepare lunch/dinner. We were again-
starving. By 6pm we were being served rice, beans, ‘sauce de tomat’ and koko
(chicken- personally, I opted for a bag of soya for my protein!). Rocco of
course, falls asleep in my arms AT THE TABLE just as I am filling my plate L
and, he slept pretty much through the night - waking up twice once at 3 and 4am
to play lol…he was so exhausted.
Papa Guy Marie arrived from Lubumbashi last night around
830pm, he was there for work (OCHA) and came up stairs to greet and welcome us.
He had Ethan join him downstairs for a celebratory drink and I fell back asleep
with Rocco. All the kids were playing with the toys Rocco brought and everyone
was just happy, it was nice to fall asleep to.
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| ahhhhhhhhhhh |
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| Our view (for a few days!), thank you Guy and Mama Tete! |
It’s now almost 8am, I am going to get ready to jump on a
motor taxi and head to the office, I have no sim yet so no local number and
thus no way of getting in touch with kaka.
I will hopefully be able to connect today and we will get
some answers as to our program for the next week at least. Then again, TIA and
‘programs’ always change J
Until next time,
k
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| playing with cousin Evan |
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