Traveling out from Icaciri is always an adventure, be it by foot, school bus or matatu. Thus, I was not so surprised when Shurie and I experienced yet another character building experience during our teacher's "Getaway"/"End of the year Party" in Sagana, a small town about 2 or 3 hours north of Gatundu that is characterized by a view of the beautiful Kenyan mountains (including Mt. Kenya) on the horizon. Traveling there on Wednesday made me profoundly homesick for mountains; I had almost forgotten how much I love them!

The journey to Sagana was like any other -- we made a few stops in Gatundu town (for the bus driver always takes tea before a trip! It is a must!) and then were on our way, stopping only when nature called.

Our lunch at the Buffalo Bay Hotel was also quite normal, besides the fact that I (a vegetarian) tried some goat intestine, aka'd as "African Sausage". I feel a little bit braver now, a little bit stronger, even.

Following the lunch/dinner meal, we took a walk around the town looking for "special donkeys" (a joke that I still don't quite understand, but which was very funny at the time.) Still, everything was so normal that I don't even know why I am writing about it, save that the extreme normal-ness was uncanny for one of our trips.

We began our journey back to Gatundu around 7pm. It was dark outside, and it is a pretty well-known fact that driving in the dark in Kenya is inadvisable. Already nervous, I hopped into the bus and tried to avoid becoming dinner for the mosquitoes hovering around the light. We began the trek up the mountain in such complete darkness that the drivers on the road would turn on their inside turn signals so that each car could ensure safe passage beside the others (a pretty smart idea, especially since the roads around these parts have no yellow lines!)

Nature called again and thank goodness, for when the men stepped out of the bus, they noticed that our front tire was low. I stepped out to take a look myself, and by "low" they must have meant "without any air at all". That sucker was flat!

I doubt that any of you have tried to change a tire on a school bus in the dark, but I can attest that it was a long, tedious process during which I did my part by staying out of the way and looking at the Milky Way and the shooting stars in the beautiful Kenyan sky. Two hours and many laughs later, the spare tire was on. We were getting ready to head out when the driver realized that a washer was still on the ground...oops! So off came the tire again, to be reassembled, all washers and bolts included!

We made it about 20 minutes down the road when we came upon a police stop. By police stop, I mean that the police had put giant, killer, yellow spikes blocking the road so that no car or bus could pass without being stopped. We were only stopped for about 20 minutes, thank heavens! And the journey continued.

30 more minutes passed, and we stopped to change the tire, again because the balance was "funny" (which was an assumption by our fellow teacher, Francis.) By this point, Shurie and I were laughing so hard that we were almost crying. I felt like asking her, "So why do we leave the school, again?" but I was laughing too hard to talk. Luckily this stop only took about one hour.

Without too much more trouble, we made it to Gatundu. The driver must have been either a) tired, b) pressed (needing to go to the restroom) or c) absolutely insane because he was going what felt like 50 miles an hour around the sharp curves and hills to the school. Keep in mind that he was also weaving back and forth along the red-clay road (on which the school bus fits exactly) to avoid the major potholes. Hence, we were riding in the "gutters" (which are more like trenches alongside the road.) It was so scary that Anthony, a 6 foot 2 or-so, strong, hefty man was cowering and squealing in the seat behind us, covering his eyes with his hands. As Shurie put it, we were on the "roller coaster of death." My favorite moment was when the Deputy Principal turned around and giggled, saying, "It's just like flying in an airplane!" I suppose if she meant that we had left the ground from driving too quickly over the crevices in the road then yes, it was quite similar.

When the bus came to a screeching (I kid you not) halt in front of the school, I let out a somewhat unplanned, "Praise the Lord!" Shurie and I laughed alongside our neighbors all the way back to our apartments, still shaking in shock.

Traveling outside of the school is always an adventure to be remembered and I don't think I will be getting back on that school bus for quite some time! Just another character building experience for the records :)