Immediately after I had my dental appointment in Lusaka, I taxied over to Lusaka's bus terminal--always a crazy hub of activity. There I found that the busses were sold out for the next two days. Reason: Having been out of my village for 3 weeks already, I told the taxi driver to pick me up at 5 am the following morning and to deposit me on the hitchhiker's spot outside the city on the Great North Road (a 2 lane asphalt road which takes me 620 km to Mpika.
All the other volunteers seem to prefer hitching to the 12 hour bus trip and encourage me to wait for a good vehicle. During the predawn glow, I was afraid I wouldn't be seen or worse--run over, so I was pleasantly surprised that an SUV pulled over after only about 10 minutes wait. He can take me to Kapiri where I can get another hitch or even take the the train. All is well until he stops for fuel only to find out that the town of Kabwe doesn't have any. So he arranges for me to transfer to a local minibus and uses my money to pay for it. I have grave reservations but finally agree as it is a "timed" bus and Kapiri is only 50 km away. It is the local bus which stops every 10 meters of course, but we manage in a reasonable amount of time.
Now I find myself on the side of the road once again, hand waving the passing vehichles. For a second time, a nice SUV pulls over and picks me up a matter of minutes. They can take me as far as Mpika which would have been great......BUT they had to stop in Mukoshi for the brother to register his daughter in High School. When we stop for that, there is a problem and they have to come back later. So now the driver refunds part of my money and I am on the side of the road again. This time I wait 4 hours before I get a family in a nice car going all the way past Mpepo (my village). Yay! After 12 hours I am home! Cost of hitches combined: K130,000. Cost of bus ticket K130,000 Intestinal anguish--priceless!
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