Well, I got to the bus stop just before 10am and the bus arrived at about 10:45am and we were all hustled on with our suitcases in the aisle and drive the 20 minutes to Kabanga, at the border where we and our luggage were tipped off and the bus dissappeared over the border to Burundi. We just sat there and at 12:30 another bus from Burundi came and picked us up. I got a seat at the back of the bus, with the seats in front stuck in the reclined position so we had no leg room. The ride was certainly an experience. The bus stopped several times an hour to either pick people up or at police check points. It also stopped regularly for toilet breaks, just on the side of the road. Most of the passengers were men and most 6 year olds have better bladder control than them as we had to stop about every hour for nearly all of them to go!
The bus was meant to get to Dodoma at 11pm and I had a taxi waiting for me at the bus port but by 12pm we were still 250km from Dodoma and had to stop in a petrol station for the night and start again at 5am the next morning as buses are not allowed to travel between 12pm and 5am for safety reasons. Well we sat on the bus, fortunately it was cool by then, and the people infront of me talked the whole night so I didn't get any sleep.
W started again at 5am and arrived in Dodoma at 8am. Stephen, the taxi driver picked me up and took me to Heather's house where I collapsed for the rest of the day. Heather is a short term missionary in Dodoma who I had arranged to stay with while I visited Stivin, our compassion sponsor child. Stehpen is the taxi driver she always uses and he was really helpful.
