After our brochettes, Phyllis gave us a
tour of her small village and we eventually made our way back to her house so
that we could head home and hopefully make it back before curphew. But of course something had to go wrong
right?? Well first off, when the moto
taxi dropped us off at Phyllis's, we asked him if he would come back to pick us
up at 6pm. The guy said okay, told us
how much it would cost and went on about his merry little way. Well 6:00 rolls around, and no taxi shows
up. Then 6:20 rolls around and still no
taxi. At 6:30 (which just so happens to
be our curphew) me and Tamika get desperate and decide to just take one of the
buses back to our village (which is an overcrowded mini-van filled with drunken
weirdoes). When one stopped near us, we
walked over to get on, but luckily (this had to be God) it was full. I'm almost positive we would have made it
anywhere but home had we gotten on that grimy thing. So there we were at 6:35, standing in the
dark, trying to waive down every taxi that passed us by so that we could get a
ride home. This wasn't working at all so Phyllis finally went to get
her dad and have him help us out a bit.
(It's pitch black outside at this point, and I was very worried about getting home safely).
Just as Phyllis's dad approached us from
the house, a motorcycle with a passenger was getting ready to take off down the
road. Her dad saw this, went up to the
motorcycle, told the guy on it to get off, and then
told us to get on. I stood wide-eyed for a split second thinking
to myself, did this really just happen?? Did her
daddy really just punk this man and make him get off the bike?? And to add insult to injury, once we both
(yes, me and Tamika) hopped onto the
motorcycle, her dad told the driver how much he was going to charge us. He said, "You will charge them 500
each." The ride should have been
1000 each since it was dark outside (prices increase at night), but apparently
her dad wasn't having that. At this
point, me and Tamika were just laughing away, amused by the entire
situation. Just before we took off,
Phyllis said, "That's my daddy girl, he don't play." We all laughed and then the driver took off
and we were on our way.
Now there have been plenty of times when
I have seen 3 people on one motorcycle and each time, both Tamika and myself
had always said that that would never be us.
Well so much for that! Here we
were doing what I'm hoping is not illegal (Peace Corps never mentioned it so I
think we're in the clear) with the driver in the front, me in the middle, and
Tamika in the back. With each bump in
the road, Tamika's helmet would come crashing into mine, and then mine would
crash into the drivers. I was getting a
worsening headache with each thump and to top that off, me and Tamika couldn't
stop laughing during the ride. It was
very scary, but very fun at the same time.
As we were laughing, and making the driver laugh in the process, we took
out our cameras and snapped some pictures of the three of us on the moto. Once we finally made it to our stop (thank
God), we paid the driver our 500 RWF each and walked the rest of the way
home. As I approached my house, I began
to get a little nervous as I tried to put together in my head how I would
explain to my host mama why I was getting home an hour past curphew. When I saw her, I put the words together the
best I could (with a little help from my sister) and my mama just laughed. Sometimes I'm not sure if she's laughing at
me or with me, but in hindsight, at least she didn't trip. The last thing I need is for Peace Corps to
send me back to America for missing my curphew.
Love and Peace Corps,
Dametreea
P.S.
I had a great time, but this definitely
can't happen again.
(Written 7/1/12 at 7:32p)
I am going to need you and Tamika to stop trippin over there. next time plan to go earlier so you can leave way before it gets dark. Don't for get that all mama's worry. You two are going to have your host mom's a nervous wreck. Oh and by the way sorry you had to eat stale bread and hot expired milk for the 4th. It makes me feel guilty because I at so much my tummy was hurting, I was eating for two...me and you. P.S. tell your host mom I said thank you caring and taking care of my baby girl.
ReplyDeleteLove U Much. Mommy Dearest
Well thank you for thinking of me and eating enough for the both of us! haha! Ily and miss you mom!! P.S. My host mom says "Muraho!" (Hello)
Delete