My attempt at the creativity

We all have one in our life.  It’s the place on the main road where you go to catch a bus.  It’s the place where you wait for hours and hours, and then for a few more hours.  It’s the place where the hot sun slowly drains away your will to travel, and you begin to doubt your reasons for ever leaving your village.  It’s the place that makes you happy to squeeze onto a twegerane and put up with the vomit therein entailed.  My place is Cyome.

Today’s post is the end result of the worst day of travel I have ever had to endure.  Any day that starts with a two hour wait in Cyome is bound to go badly, and fate did not disappoint.  In an attempt to alleviate our boredom and save our sanity, Alanna and I started singing the blues.  Literally.  So, readers, here’s a rather poetic slice of life up in Ngororero district.

The Cyome Blues

Been sittin’ in Cyome for a long while.

Gonna be sittin’ in Cyome for a long, long while,

watching the crazy guy wanderin’ by,

swingin’ his level and scythe.

His shoes don’t match:

sandal on the right

rainboot on the left,

ready for anything,

but only halfway.

Waitin’ in Cyome, not a car for miles.

Watchin’ the river flow by for miles and miles.

Watchin’ the people watchin’ me.

Kids playin’ football in the street,

avocado pit ball—

Saturday’s market

bouncin’ quick off pavement

and cracked bare feet.

Sittin’ in Cyome beneath that sliver of shade.

‘Safe journey’ ‘Welcome to the west’

faded letters above my head.

Sun on my shoulders

sunburn on y mind

women with umbrellas go walkin’ by.

Down in the fields,

idle gossip busy hands,

no breeze to be found,

sweat and turned earth in the air

clingin’ the bicycles pedalin’ past

on tires worn bare.

And time shimmers still in these afternoon miles

the way life’s gone on in Cyome for a long, long while.

In other news, I discovered yesterday that I am in horrible shape.  This was not necessarily an unexpected revelation, but the timing could have been better.  Learning of your incredible patheticness while climbing up a volcano is not pleasant.  But I'll blog about that another day...