We Made It!

Wow, what a day... or two or three.

I informed you in my last post about all the troubles we were having getting to Aizawl. Well, we are finally here, but not without a story to tell.

After we made it back to Shillong last night, we ate dinner and made plans to head out for Aizawl around 9:00. While we were waiting for the vehicle to arrive, we made good use of the time by playing with the kids that we have come to love over the last few days. It was so good to see all of them again, even though we had only been gone for a day.

Finally, around 10:00, the "sumo" arrived. We loaded up our stuff, said our goodbyes once again (I think it was harder the second time around), and headed up the street to meet a few other people who were traveling with us. Once we finally had everything loaded up, we started out. There was just one more thing we needed... fuel. The only problem was that it was now 11:00 at night, and none of the fuel stations were open. We had a fifteen hour drive ahead of us... we needed fuel. After taking another hour trying to figure out what to do, the driver decided to start driving. An hour so or so into the trip, we found an open station and fueled up, so we were good to go.

The other guys and I dozed off here and there and even slept a little as much as the bumpy, windy roads would allow. Daylight came, and still we drove on.

The first few hours of the new day were uneventful, but that all changed when we arrived in the little remote town of Vairengte. Here we crossed the border from the state of Assam into the state of Mizoram. Everything went smoothly there.

The pastor of the local EFCI church in Vairengte had received us at the border and made sure all our paperwork was taken care of. After that, he had gone on ahead to the church, where we were to stop for tea. During the very short drive from the border crossing to the church, however, suddenly two guys started yelling at the driver of our vehicle and told him to stop. He stopped and they came and yanked open the driver's door and tried to get him to get out of the vehicle. A heated argument broke out.

At that time, we were just down the street from the church, and the pastor, hearing the commotion, came running. He convinced the guys to let our driver go, and we drove to the church. My group got out and started enjoying our tea and snack, but no sooner had we started and the guys from down the street saw that our driver had stopped and came after him again.

Again, an argument broke out, this one lasting for more than half an hour. It seems that these local guys were accusing our driver or one of his friends of doing something to them or stealing something from them the day before, and they were out for revenge. Finally, the local police got involved, and off we went. All was good, or so we thought.

When we reached the next checkpoint (there are quite a few along this road), they told our driver he had to pull over. Apparently someone had called from the situation before, and told the officers at this checkpoint to keep the vehicle until they got there. A few jeep loads of officers pulled up. Once again, they questioned out our driver. Finally, one very official looking man came out. I asked him what was up. He said nothing, that it was just a misunderstanding, so once again, were on our way. Oh, the joys of traveling in India.

Finally, around 5:30 this evening, we finally reached the home of Paul and Joyful Chonzik. Paul and Joyful, along with their daughter, Jael, were a part of the 2006 choir. How happy we were to finally get out of that "sumo". We got cleaned up and ate the wonderful meal Joyful had ready for us.

We are going to spend the day tomorrow resting up and enjoying a day around town here before heading to the "hills" on Saturday.