Cycle for Understanding | On the Road to Nata: Our Encounter With Martin, and Sleeping Under a Gas Station Roof (Pictures Included)

On the Road to Nata: Our Encounter With Martin, and Sleeping Under a Gas Station Roof (Pictures Included)

2009-07-19 14:23

July 9th, Day 28:

Aaron woke up early to go get his test results at the Hospital, while I decided to sleep a little later because I had nothing to take care of this morning. Fortunately, Aaron test results were mostly positive. He did not have any serious illnesses, but the doctor prescribed him the same pills he was already taking. We just have to hope the pills work this time after the doctor's blessing.

After Aaron returned from the doctor, we packed up our bicycles and headed over to an internet cafe, where we would update our blog and check our email. This turned out to take quite a while, as the internet was pretty slow and kept losing connection so we had to keep signing back on to the website every couple minutes. We also had a number of days to catch up on so we had to remember all our stories and write up some nice summaries of the days past. Victor, a reporter for the Botswana Gazette, and now our African Publicity Personnel, stopped by to take a few pictures for his article and talk about the plan for getting into future media outlets Botswana and Zambia. It turned out to be around 2pm by the time we left the internet cafe, after the connection finally ceased completely and we could no longer get on the internet. We stopped by a supermarket on the way out of Francistown, because we were not sure where we would be tonight and if food would be available to us.

While the first half of our day was pretty hectic, bicycling turned out to be pretty relaxing as the wind was relatively calm and there were no large inclines we had to climb. We decided to just bike as far as we could before sundown, because we needed to be in Nata tomorrow and that was around 200 kilometers from Francistown. We were meeting Aaron's brother, John, who was flying in from Saudi Arabia to accompany us for a week as he was on vacation from his job.

During one of our ten mile breaks, we happened to see another bicyclist going towards Francistown who stopped and talked to us for a while. His name was Martin, and he turned out to be a pretty funny guy with a crazy story that kept taking twists and turns as he narrated it to us. Martin was from Zimbabwe, and he was heading back to Francistown after selling tobacco in a nearby village, which he buys in Zimbabwe and crosses the border to sell it in Botswana. He told us that the tobacco he was selling is apparently illegal in Botswana, but he has no other means to make a living so he has to sell the tobacco illegally to pay his bills and eat everyday. At another point in the conversation, Martin informed us that he has recently gotten out of prison after serving almost three years for being involved in a fight outside a night club and hitting someone in the face with a rock. He said he was charged with Devious Violence, and represented himself in court because he could not afford an attorney and court-appointed attorneys are only given for more serious offenses. Regardless of Martin's past, we were not in the slightest bit frightened by him. He seemed like a genuinely nice person who had made a few stupid mistakes, and only resorted to illegal work because he could not find a job and did not want to starve.

At another point in our conversation with Martin when he was showing us his tobacco, a police car showed up because he had seen our bicycles on the side of the road and thought we might have needed some assistance or help. Martin was a little nervous because of his tabacco he was carrying, but the police were more concerned with our circumstance and did not bother with Martin.

Anyway, we said our goodbyes to Martin, and biked a few hours more until the sun was starting to set. We then began to unsuccessfully look for a guesthouse or any place to stay. For a while, we were pretty anxious because there was nothing around and we did not feel like setting up the tent. Luckily, right before we were about to set up camp, we saw a sign for a gas station a few kilometers down the road. We were immediately relieved because we knew we could just sleep under the gas station roof if nothing else was possible.

The gas station turned out to have a little restuarant with outdoor seating under a roof, which he inquired about sleeping under for the night. The workers were a bit confused at first but they eventually realized what we were asking and said it was fine with them. Relieved to have found a place for the night, we unpacked what we needed for the night and washed up for dinner. We already had a few items that we bought in Francistown, so that combined with a few food items from the restuarant made up our meal for the night.

Later we got into our sleeping bags and laid down on the cement for to sleep. This cement floor was not as comfortable as I initially imagined and our sleeping bags are pretty light, so we were essentially sleeping on a hard cement ground with blankets rapped around our bodies. I would not recommend this to anyone trying to get a good night's rest. Neither of us really slept that well this night, as the ground proved hard to adjust to, not to mention our 6am wake up call from the morning shift at the restuarant. Regardless, we were both excited to keep on moving towards Zambia, and Aaron was especially excited to see his brother because he had not seen him in a number of months.

-Eric