On the road again ... Just can't wait to get where we're going. We left early this morning as we pushed off somewhere around 7:30 for our drive to Lesotho pronounced "le-soo-two". I am excited to be here, but bummed that for the next two weeks you won't have the opportunity to read
A single blog I am creating. Ahhh, the lovely benefit of not having WiFi anywhere in sight :)
Things on this trip have been really cool so far. The group is great and there honestly isn't one person who I have any issues with. We travel well, aren't clicky, and everyone seems to get along rather well. I should be getting a new roommate today which is cool, but I did like my stay with our group leader because she and I got along well. Oh well, change is a good thing.
Oh did I mention that it's freezing cold outside and that I saw a herd of wild ostrich? Love it :)
So far our ride has been 10 hours, not too bad. Or leader keeps saying we're only 18k away so that makes me think he's not too sure as to where a bouts we are on the route. I guess all that meticulous planning can be a little much. Oh well :) so the weird thing about all these places we've been is that I feel like a fish in a fish bowl with a million eyes on me. Nt sure how I feel about that yet. I mean, I get it. ... we are for sure the outcast and colors that these people don't see on a regular basis. That's ok though. Bt what I would like is just a chance to talk to and interact with them so they can get to know me and not a drive by tourist checking out the local populous.
Funny story to add to our drive though ... So going through customs is nothing short of a huge effort and patience especially if you travel by car. If you're in foot it's nothin more than a wait in line to get your passport stamped. By car however, the climate changes just a bit. Everyone at least in our experience was trying to come back home for the weekend since it was the end of the month. A lot of times people out here work for weeks at a time away from their family and come through the border only at the end of the month. So it was very packed and busy this time around.
You have to wait in ridiculously packed lines, people cut you off non stop, and if you're lucky ... you get a random search & interrogation by a police officer.
Well take a guess where this story goes...
We have all got our passports stamped, and are trying to meander back to the van to bête going. After we all get buckled in, we wait in a line of cars that takes us somewhere around 25 minutes to get up to the actual border crossing lines. We pass over the lines no problem, and plenty of vehicles are being urged through by a police officer that we can see in the distance.
As we get closer, the police officer sees Owen, a white male, and Mark our leader, another white male, in this van so he waves us off the road. This is lovely. The cop comes over to the car politely enough and asks Owen for proof of his license. Well the funny part of this story is that Owen has an active license, but the cop sees something missing and starts to interrogate Owen about why he has a gap on his information of about 3 months of not driving. Owen explains that he is normally just a verbal tour guide and not a driver, but for this trip since he is a friend of Mark's that he is driving for us.
The cop doesn't buy it, and in fact he thinks Owen is trying to pull some crap with him and makes his interrogation rather rough and is really giving him a hard time.
After close to 25-30 minutes of our van driver Owen getting totally drilled by this police officer, the cop says to him that he needs to show a receipt of proof for his active license. Let's do the math here .... his ID says his license is current, but the only issue is the gap somewhere from the last 3 months of him not operating a van (and this part is still a little unclear to me, but even Mark said he was straight to our group privately) and the cop is then asking for proof beyond that?! Awesome. The cop makes Owen search the car for a receipt, which he knows he doesn't have, and then threatens to arrest him if he doesn't show proof.
Owen tells the cop, "Sorry I don't know where it is, I've looked all over and I don't have it here" yada yada. Our leader then had to make a call to a good friend of his who we were going to meet in a few days who works rather high in government to help us. She speaks on behalf of Owen and his credentials and the the cop let's us go just like that. The cop treated this as if it hadn't even happened and was totally polite to Owen and wished us all a good trip.
I'm sorry, I am pretty sure I had already soiled my self 25 minutes ago in fear when I heard the word "arrest" and our van got silent.
Have a good trip ?!
Ass.
*Phew ... That was a close one :)
- With all my thanks :)
Location:Traveling to Lesotho
