Lions, Flat-tires, and Bears (well, hyenas that look like bears): Part I

So the next morning, after the powerfully-awesome homemade passionfruit juice, Matthew and I boarded the bus to take us on the 6 hour trip up to Arusha, the northern town where most Safaris operate out of. Our ride was interesting, to say the least. We actually got great seats, sitting way up in the front, where we could roll down the window and let the breeze convince us that it wasn’t 100 degrees outside.

After a bit, we stopped to eat. Matthew and I got out, walked around a bit, eventually settled on the old-school favorite “Chipsi Mayai” which is basically a French-fry omlette infused with greatness. Then we realized that the place we were leaving was, aptly, named “Shabby Restaurant.” No matter, we got back on the bus and were ready to go. Little did we know, however, something went down at El Shabby Restaurant. I don’t know what, I don’t know who, but something brought something bad onto our bus. Cause next thing we know, cockroaches. Not just one, or five, but lots. And they’re coming from behind our seats, crawling on our legs, on our bags. We started smashing them, and then just eventually gave up and let it happen. I mean, come on, its called Shabby Restaurant, what do you expect…

Everything was cool, cause we were only about 2 hours away from Arusha. We would take continual stops, the bus would make weird noises, this is all normal. We make another stop, bus makes a weird noise, then Matthew and I notice people are looking around, not happy. Then people start getting off. We’re confused. Finally I ask someone, and he tells me “Bus is broken, wheel.” I think to myself, come on, nobody in Tanzania ever let a flat-tire bring them down, this should be a 10 minute fix. But everyone’s getting off, so Matthew and I do the same. We walk over to inspect the damage, and then we realize that yes, “Bus is broken, wheel.” I don’t know enough about cars, but it looked like the damn axle broke, the thing was so bent out of shape. We walked over to the side of the road and set down our bags. After about an hour of waiting in the pure, unadulterated sun, another bus, completely full, offered to take us on. We jumped aboard, and road the rest of the way into Arusha to meet Alex and Paul, who were waiting for us at the hotel.

"Looks broke to me."