Traveling, PCV style

So I got to go up to the delta for a few days- 9 including 4 days of traveling!  It was a lot of fun- some PCVs in Shakawe (sha-KA-way) organized a huge half-marathon/5K run and health fair, so a lot of other PCVs went up to run and help at the health fair.  While we were up there some of us went to Tsodilo hills and on boat rides on the delta near Sepupo.

I’ll post a bunch of pictures and stories from my delta trip, but I wanted to show first how I got there and back.  Since we don’t have cars as PCVs, we rely on public transportation, hitching, and spending the night with fellow volunteers to get places.

So this is a map of Botswana with my route marked on it, from Salajwe to Shakawe and back. The green and black are the trip up, alternating with each leg of the trip.  The yellow and red are the trip home.

Day 1: Hitch from Salajwe to Letlhakeng- 1 hour.

Wait in L for a hitch for 2 hours, meet up with another volunteer going with me.

Take combi from L to Takotakwane – 45 minutes.

Wait in T for a hitch for 2 hours.

Get a hitch all the way to Ghanzi- 4.5 hours.

Spend night in Ghanzi with 3 other PCVs and a German volunteer.

Day 2: Wait in Ghanzi 1.5 hours for a hitch (now there are 6 of us).

Get a hitch to Sehithwa- 2.5 hours.

Meet up with 2 other PCVs and another German volunteer). Wait for a hitch- 1 hour.

Get 2 almost simultaneous hitches to Shakawe (There are now 9 of us)- 4.5 hours.

Return trip! (2 nights in this mess, not saying where bc I don’t know who told Peace Corps what*)

Starting from Sepupa after the boat trip, about 10 of us.

Get a hitch to Gumare- 1 hour.

Wait for bus- 30 minutes.

Bus to Sehithwa- 2 hours, about 7 of us.

Wait for a hitch- 30 minutes.

Combi/bus to Ghanzi- 2.5 hours (with some extra time to have a blow out and change a tire)

Wait for hitch in Ghanzi- 3 hours.

Bus to Kang- 3 hours- 3 of us.

Wait for bus in Kang- 30 minutes.

Bus to Morumisu - 45 minutes- my 2 friends keep going.

Wait for hitch- 1 hour.

Hitch to Letlhakeng, by way of going back to Kang to get gas and then to L- 3 hours.

Wait for hitch in L- 1.5 hours.

Hitch to Khudamalapye- 30 minutes.

Wait for hitch HOME- 45 minutes.

Hitch to Salajwe!- 30 minutes.

* Peace Corps has a policy that you have to tell them what village you are sleeping in.  PCVs have a policy of not ratting out their fellow volunteers if some choose not to follow this policy.  Hence I’m not naming where we spent the nights on the way home, because I don’t know who told Peace Corps what.  On the way up I happened to know that we all told PC where we were, because our country director was also spending the night in Ghanzi (he went to Shakawe with his family and he and his wife ran the half marathon!) and we saw him a few times there.