BOAT DAY 1
We woke up at 5:30 am, packed and were read for the boat at 7am. The captain called to tell Emmanuel that the departure would be delayed till 8am. So we stayed at the hotel an extra hour before hitting the dock. Upon our arrival, the boat was empty, of course. No one was registered nor bought their tickets and, there was still no fuel in the boat. Suddenly, I lost hope that we would leave today at all. But this is typical Congolese business. If the boat manager has still not acquired any money from passengers, he has no money to buy fuel for the journey. He will have to buy a few barrels at a time with the limited money that would be handed to him.
So the boat, with us still on it, left without its 2 barges for Simi Simi to get fuel. We waited about half an hour before people showed up with hard hats and a big black pipe with some metal pieces that no one seemed to know how to put together. Then, they attached it to the huge fuel tank and we could hear the liquid being pumped in.
Then we sailed back, surfed a sandbank on the way, and arrived at the barges that were STILL completely empty. It rained while we were in Simi Simi so the few that had started registration had scattered. By 4pm, we set off to 20km away where we stayed the night.
Nomad Mari 