First off, there was only one ferry working that day, and the ferry only held two trucks or several cars, and then however many people can cram on. As usual, there was quite a line-up for trucks to get through, so our Tucan truck patiently waited in line. First in line was a passenger bus that slowly attempted to load onto the ramshackle ferry, but only made it halfway on before it broke down – straddling land and vessel and effectively blocking anyone else trying to board or depart.

In itself, that’s not entirely troublesome – old buses break down. The amazing part is that nobody did anything about it. Passengers filed off, men looked around and stared, and several people sought shade to take a nap. Amazingly, after one hour of nothing happening except the ferry line extending, there was still absolutely no progress.

By this time it was past noon, the sun was high in the sky, and shade was a rare commodity, so our new group of Tucan passengers huddled under umbrellas, talked to the locals, and just sweated it out with the rest of the Africans.

Finally, after three hours of zero progress, a couple men boarded the bus, women brought over a few wooden planks to assist the broken vehicle, the engine started, and the bus miraculously embarked on the ferry. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to us Westeners, but I guess This Is Africa.