Thursday 18 June 2009

The reason(s) why it takes so long

(Tuesday, 16 June 2009)
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Why do bus rides take so long around here? How does a 45km journey (and I’m probably overestimating rather than underestimating here…) ends up lasting 1h45?
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Well, start with the road, which sucks, forcing the bus to ride incredibly slow.
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Then, continue with the road, and some clumsiness of the driver, who gets the bus stuck in a curve, requiring long 30 minutes of moving dirt back and forward to finally clear it.
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Then, think of a small village – no more than 100 or 200 people, I’m sure – where the bus stops 3 times, and not more than 50 meters apart, to get 3 different people. Just because there is no official bus stop, and people step in and out exactly where they want around here.
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Then imagine that one of the ladies who just stepped in forgot a bottle of milk at home, and asks the bus driver to wait for her to get it. But she doesn’t walk home – instead she screams her lungs out for her granddaughter, who is at home and isn’t more than 5 years old, to get it from a place the little girl has no idea about.
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Then, finally, the icing on top of the cake, the military who has asked for a free ride requests the driver to wait “just a minute”, so that he can talk on his cell phone from a section of the road where there is good reception. It wasn’t only one minute, and from the look on the soldier’s face it didn’t seem a matter of national security either. But I didn’t listen the conversation – you’re taught to keep a respectful distance from the military around here…
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So, 1h45? It was actually short!
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Bus ride back from Lake Tota - ups...


Team work: one sweats, three stare, and another one takes pictures...

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