<< Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Next >>
June 24, 1998 Wed. - Saw Vumba Botanical Gardens this morning. It was beautiful. Saw monkeys too. The ride coming down from Vumba was along a very beautiful dirt road, but very bumpy. A pannier jumped off the bike. We wound up in this beautiful field, some big old plantation with workers tilling the land wearing handkerchiefs scarves and mothers with their babies wrapped around their backs. It could have been a scene out of 400 years ago. We then took a bus to Nyika 172 km to make up for a day we lost when resting in Juliasdale. All the bikes were loaded on top of the bus and the packs were fed through the window as we left. Somebody has to actually climb a ladder to the roof of the bus and hand down the bikes. I call this a "chicken bus" because people are known to bring their chickens on under their arm and all kinds of belongings are on the roof. We are staying tonight in Nyika, a rural town, with one run down motel. It looks auwful and is lacking many facilities but it is very safe. There is no money for upkeep such as toilets. There is one toilet /bath shared for all 20 rooms. Shinge organized a lovely vegetarian meal to be cooked for me. Off to bed now.
