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I want to tell you about my trip to Musto and Mat (towns have been renamed for internet use.) Making Muddy TracksGranted, in the south, roads are impassable during rainy season, but here in the Sahara, “the rain just packs the sand and makes it easier to drive.” At least that was our theory for planning our women’s conference in September. It was Rick, the pastor, and us 6 ladies that took off in our old car in order to go to a women's conference during rainy season. What a trip. (Rick made us promise we would never do a rainy season conference again.) We had no trouble while on the main road that the road company had fixed up. We got off the road to get a drink at Nagor and then took a secondary road (dirt tracks through the sand, but pretty well traveled) to Mounds and Meresh. At the second town, the pastor asked us to stay and have a meal when we stopped to greet him and get a drink. (No McDonalds to get cold drinks from, as you know.) We said it was already afternoon and we really couldn't stay, but we could take some tea. The pastor and his family are quite cut off and we can understand that he would want to have some fellow Christians to talk to. I was kind of car sick and it was a welcome pause for me, too. Well, tea never took so long to make and then it had to sit and cool some, and then, since the meal was almost finished, we had to stay and eat it. Instead of 20 minutes, we spent an hour and a half there and we still had a long trip ahead of us; but, as he said, it was only a two hour trip and we would get there before sundown. Right.
Then, when it was getting close to sunset, we saw the road drive directly into “a lake.” Since a track turned off to the right, we followed that. We tracked on and on along side that lake but we never found the end of the lake before the track we were following ended. We did a u-turn and went back to the main road. By now the sun was seriously setting. What to do? We went to a village close by and got some vague answers about trucks going through [the Deep Water] and others going around it. Where? Oh, over that way somewhere. We tried to find a track going around the lake in the other direction, but it was getting too dark to see and we almost got stuck again. Back we went to the main road. There we saw two men walking knee-deep through the "lake" towards us. So we followed the road right into the water and promptly got stuck. Again, Rick was able to get us out. The men came and told us that yes, this was the road to follow; the other trucks get through. But straight ahead of us were some trees and we couldn't see where the track was. One man was willing to wade back into the water to show us. Too bad I didn’t have a movie camera. Following a rut when you can't see it is not easy and the track was slippery with mud, as well. The women laughed with glee as the man slipped and slid and landed in the water trying to show us the way. We slowly followed him through 2 1/2 feet of water until we found the place where it was a straight shot. Then we passed ahead of him. On the other side we stopped to give him a gift for helping us out. In his haste to get the money, he slipped and fell another time, causing the women (once on our way again) to cackle and double up with laughter for a good stretch of the road.
Now we were trying to follow the tracks in the dark. That was bad
enough but we
Just before reaching Musto, there was a mud hole where the track
was so deep Finally we got to our destination at about 10:30 pm. What we thought would be a 5-6 hour trip took us 12 hours! And you know what? We were the first ones there! The other women from the "nearby" towns took public transportation (market trucks); they didn't show up until mid-morning the next day having spent two days on the road. The drivers didn't want to take the women because "they wouldn't get out and push like the men do". (Though our carload of women sure did.) Because of the traveling difficulty and because of the semi-famine conditions, we cut our two-day conference down to 3/4 of a day so they would be able to get a ride back after the market day. But by God's grace, we were able to cram our work into that time frame. After the conference, I said goodbye to Rick who was going back to our village with the women. (I was going on to Mat.) You will be glad to know that their return trip went well, which shows that there is a definite advantage to traveling in the daylight. |
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What
we didn't know was that the road from Meresh on, was TROUBLE. When
we had traveled the road in the dry season, we couldn't tell there were
low areas that flooded when it rained. Now, all the low areas had
standing water. Several times as we drove along, a grassy area hid
the water and mud just below the surface and we got stuck. By
Rick's fantastic maneuvering, we were able to get out of it -- most of
the time. We had to get out of the car once in that area and push
and dig with our hands, but the women were good sports.
got into some wet patches and got "everybody-out-of-the-car" stuck
again. We all climbed into the gooey mud in the dark and had to
dig out. Then, everyone got behind the car to push. “Yalla,”
we’d cry and everyone put their backs into it. Once Rick got the
car going, he wasn't going to stop until he was out of danger so he
drove a fairly long stretch to where the car was on firm ground.
We had to "muck it" in the darkness; the mud was soft and we would goosh
in up to our ankles. Of course, we had to go barefoot because the mud
would suck anything off our feet, but then there were hard clumps of
dirt and stalks in some places which were hard on the tootsies.
Suddenly Sila started laughing. "This is like walking through baby
poop," she remarked. Very. Funny.
that once you entered it, you couldn't open the doors to get out.
We tried to find a way around it to no avail. Then two cars came
through there; one got stuck and it took a while for him to get out.
They said there was no other way. We all got out and walked along
the track, but Rick was able to get the car through without our help.