Best Cruise Ever - Part 2 Driving To The Port

The real adventure begins with the 35 mile driveand 'cent-cent' truck taxis. The name comes from
from Pointe Noire to Madingo-Kayes, a city on thethe cost of the ride: 100CFA (some $0.10). These
Kouilou River. Everyone had agreeded that thetrucks are overloaded, with cargo at the bottom of
pirogue would leave Madingo at 6 am. From Pointethe cab, passengers on top of the cargo, the whole
Noire, that would be a half an hour drive - plus thething so unbalance that the truck rolls over at the
unforeseen. Let's leave at 5 am. In the Congo, that'sleast bump. I rode one once. Just once. It was the
a two hour drive plus the unforeseen ! Let's leave atmost extraordinary and the scariest experience in my
3 am... Why so much emphasis on the unforseen?life, between the songs, the prayers and the food. I
Because of the asphalt. That's right, let me explain.din't ask what the food was made of, and I'll never
The road starts with asphalt, but not any kind offorget the smell nor the indescribable taste. But the
asphalt. Some is as old as 20 years, some justscenery was fantastic. We passed by fields of
vanished. Do you know what a pot hole is? Theretermite mounds, not the huge well known ones, but
they call it a cow hole - imagine the difference! Whysmaller seaside ones, up to 2 feet in height and a
such bad roads? Lack of finance to fix them,foot in diameter with a characteristic mushroom
torrential rains that wash out everything - don'tshape. In dense areas you can find a mound every
forget that Pointe Noire is only some 330 miles north4-5 feet, not a good place to build a wood framed
of the equator.home! But the sight of such fields is breath taking.
Quickly the highway becomes a dirt road, well notWell, at 3 or 4 in the morning, you can't see any of
completely. There is still some reminiscence of thethat, it's too dark. The sun rises at 6 am plus or
concrete road that was built in the sixties. This partminus 30 minutes and sets at 6pm plus or minus 30
of the road is the worse, the pieces of concrete slabminutes. So to see the cow holes, concrete slabs,
floating on the sand, the road foundation almostsnakes, antelopes and other Sibissi, (no sorry, no
hidden. When your front wheels hit one it alwayselephants in this part of the country) you just have
finishes with a well known 'clong clong' noise and athe headlights, nothing less, nothing more.
cost over $500. To avoid this, you have to driveWe arrived around 5:30 am at the bridge which gave
slowly, very slowly. Then asphalt comes back againus time to stop at the center and look out to sea
when you arrive next to the bridge crossing theand the Kouilou mouth's sand bar, which are oriented
Kouilou River, it's still a good quality asphalt for thewest. With the sun rising at our backs and a high tide
last 3 or 4 miles. The bridge was built in the late 80'scoming in, we were lucky to see a breathtaking
by an oil company. This concrete bridge is anscene. Waves were crashing onto the sand bar a
anachronism compared to the surrounding structures.few yards away and the sun lighting up each drop.
This road is tough, very tough, and accidents areGod's hand was not far away.
frequent. Most are caused by inexperienced drivers