Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig

When Tom was discharged from the clinic we had a few short hours to run around and visit a few shops before catching the bus. 

The large buses are the main form of transportation for rural, small business owners so they take inventory for their shops on the bus.

 

Tom was taking these photos for his website so he didn't really capture how very crowded the bus station is. Do you see the carpet rolled up there on the right?

Do you see that mattress folded and ready to be loaded on the bus?

 

Just a few short years ago all the buses had racks on the roof for luggage and they would be loaded using that balcony at the top of the picture. The problem with this system was that bandits would jump onto the bus as it slowed down on the road and then toss luggage down off the bus.

Using a book to show how narrow our seats are.

Sorry this one is blurry. I felt awkward leaning over my seat and photographing people. Zambians were recently socialists and still quite suspicious of photographs. Not the soul-stealing suspicion but more stealing state secrets suspicion.

 

 One of our nighttime stops. The woman on the left is selling peanuts in the shell.

Our trip home was pretty uneventful. We made the trip in 14 hours. Not too bad. I took Benadryl and slept deeply the whole time. About half way through the trip my back hurt a lot but that wasn't surprising seeing as I'd spent the previous night sitting up next to Tom's bed and was again sitting up all night. When we got home though it became apparent that I had come down with malaria. I am fine now and nearly all the way better. It was so nice to sleep in my own bed again.