67 Miles
Tsootsha – Junction
Steph:
We only had to ride about 10 miles to
Tsootsha, a little village by the road. It was important that we find
water, because we were low and I could tell it would be very hot that
day. The first thing we saw was a closed, abandoned, slightly
destroyed Shell Oil station. The only thing there were two shy
donkeys. After a few more min of cycling we arrived in Tsootsha. I
saw some trucks parked off the main road and figured there would be a
gas station or shop there. A nice lady filled up one of our water
bottles and told us the shop by the petrol station would open at 8
(only 20 min from then). So we sat by the curb and watched this
little town wake up. I liked it. People were super polite and
interested. One young man named Jethro came up to us and asked where
we came from and where were going. After telling him that we were
raising money for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust he nodded and
said, "well, I only have 7 Pula to give you" (about a
dollar). I thought he was joking and said, "any little bit will
help". He smiled, nodded and left. A few minutes later, he came
back with two coins and wished us a safe journey. I was so amazed and
grateful. The people here seem less reserved than in Namibia. When we
say hello, they say it back and add something to it, rather than just
starring at us like aliens. Which, by the way, I'm completely aware
we look like. We really do look so silly in our helmets and
ridiculous bicycles.
After leaving Tsootsha, it got hotter
and more windy. There were some people working on the side of the
road, clearing out weeds. They saw us and asked for water. I stopped
and they came running over, just the men. They drank almost all of
it. It was silly, but I thought it would be ok since the next town
was only 10km away and we could just refill. I immediatly regretted
it when a woman from the next group of people we saw asked us what we
had given the men. We told her and she said, "well if they got
water, then I want sweets". Really? You want sweets? Erik told
her we had no sweets and that they had taken all our water and we
took off. It was dumb. We clearly got taken advantage of. We were
even more mad when we found out this next village was 5km away from
the main road. Another headwind. It could've been worse though. This
village, Chobokwane, clearly does not get many visitors. The children
started screaming when they saw us ride by. There were signs pointing
towards the "Chobokwane Camp Site", so clearly, we followed
those, thinking there would be water there. The final sign pointed to
a sand road that went nowhere with 5 cows just standing there chewing
on something (sand?(erik adds: their cud)). There was a hut off to
the side with some children running around it. As we got closer, we
saw a group of women lying in the shade gossiping. The very large one
filled up a few of our bottles and asked if we wanted to see the Camp
Site. We said "sure" and she said, "It's under
construction". Haha! We looked around and there was literally
NOTHING there. Oh wait! No! There was one half built hut very sadly
sitting in the sand. I politely asked when it would be done and she
said, "maybe next year". Can I just point out that these
guys had posted signs MILES before the village, miles after the
village and ALL over the village. It was pretty funny. As we left the
woman laid back down on the ground and continued chatting. I have a
feeling that the Chobokwane Camp Site will look about the same next
year. We ended up getting the rest of our water at the Police
Station where we kind of, interrupted a Town Meeting. A lot of very
well dressed men sitting under a tree discussing important matters of
the village. Very nice people. As we rode off, the whole place either
shouted, waved or just stared at us. One man started jumping up and
down and sprinted towards us yelling in a language that was not
english. We stopped to say hi and it turned out to be a old bushman.
He smiled his toothless smile, grabbed my hand and kissed it. He did
the same to Erik and talked and talked and talked. We just smiled
until he had finished. When he was done he paused and then just said,
"Pula! Pula! Pula!" (botswanian $). This little rascal just wanted our
money! Erik couldn't help himself and gave him a few. Even though he
was clearly not starving to death.
But seriously, we can't keep doing
this. We need our water (my bad) and we definitely do not have and
cash to spare. That sounds horrible, I know. But, unfortunately, it's
true. Oi. So that was our lesson for the day.
Noted.
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| The "Camp Site" Haha! |
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| Pretty cute kids though! |
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