A chapas is never full
From Crossing the border to a different "real" Africa in Pemba, Mozambique on Feb 19 '07
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(Nicks story).
Imagine getting picked up by a 24 seater minibus. Imagine that on the back 4 seats there are 8 people...and the same on the next 4 seats and so on until there are 48 people on the bus. Now add people standing in between legs, add chickens, Dvds, children, food, and grain. Now take out all the suspension, remove a/c, stop every 50km, turn the heat to 100+ degrees, add sweat and stay on it for 8 hours...sounds like fun?
it just kept getting worse.........
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And that's not even close to describe the journey from Ihla to Pemba, the Northernest most part of our Mozambique trip.
We set off from our guest house after three nights of no a/c or running water at 3am and got a chapas to the main bus station (well, garage sandy area). We then had a 90 minute trip to a junction in the road where we were to catch the next bus to Pemba. So at 5:45 we got on the 'direct' bus to Pemba. It had a about 24 people in a 24 seater....not bad? I sat in between a man and wife on a bag of grain while Ronnie traveled first class in the front seat. So the bus went forward and slowly began to fill up. It got hotter and it got fuller. After about three hours I didn't think that it could get any worse....but I was wrong. At stops people were climbing in the back windows as there was no way that they could get in anywhere else. I made my space but still had a groin poking in my right ear, a backside in my left ear and a backside about 10 inches from my face. I told the ticket man that I wasn't moving anymore but somehow we got more people on...I counted from my space 48 people. Still, there was only 4 hours to go. We got stopped by the police...who delayed the driver for 30 minutes but didn't think about looking in the bus!
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Anyway, all through I kept thinking that it couldn't get any worse....I spent most of my time sucking my thumb and going to a 'happy place'! Then, with an hour to go the 2 yr old on his dads lap next to me decided he had to projectile vommit...everywhere! Laugh.....I tried!
Never have I been so happy to arrive somewhere. We got off at Pemba and caught a $2 cab to the Pemba Beach Hotel that had rooms at $345 a night...so we shared a great lunch and moved to our cheap, damp hotel further down the road and were sound asleep by 7pm!
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It's brilliant travelling!!!
PS. Roni asked the driver the most number they had ever had in the chapas...it was 55!....I guess I was lucky that I could only count 48...but then again all I could see were backsides whichever way I looked!
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