Does this look familiar? If you answered that it looks like they are waiting on the ferry from Mwanza you are correct.

We checked out of the Gold Stone this morning at 6:00 AM after Anthony woke the front desk clerk up. We loaded all our luggage into the family truckster and headed to Mwanza for another day of shopping. Our destination was Mincon Drilling Supply to see if they have a coupling and a rock bit. We first stopped at Nyuati Drilling on the way into the city and after writing our names in the visitors log (every place has one) we spoke to the lady and they do not do parts but actually drill. They did have a deep manual well pump. On to Mincon where we arrived at about 9:00 AM. We met with Wim and although he has nothing that will work he said he would reach out to his contacts in South Africa. We had passed a Scania truck dealer that also did parts. They man there said they had nothing to give us when he learned it was not for Sania equipment.

We then stopped at a Mining and Construction Parts store. They had a very well equipped shop but did not have a coupling. It was time for breakfast so we went to the now familiar Pizza place for samosa (a vegetable filled triangular pastry, fruit plate, toast and an egg roll.

Egg Roll

We then went to the bank and on to Manji’s to purchase a paint compressor for Sixtus our driver. Sixtus and his wife have 6 children. The oldest son helps his mom run their gold mining business. Their youngest daughter is in her last year of high school (Form 6) and wants to be a doctor. Sixtus is a very educated man and an accomplished soccer player and he earns money on the side as a mechanic. The compressor will allow him to paint vehicles. Once done, decided to try one more place for the coupling. Again, no luck but the guy knew a guy. He jumped into the now very crowded Toyota Land Cruiser and directed us back across town to what we would call a true junk yard. They don’t throw anything away, especially metal

We thought we had finally hit pay dirt but the coupling was 3/4″ and not the required 1″ shaft. While this was occurring Denny was watching the vehicle with Sixtus and feeding the kids that came around Dum Dums. A Dum Dum is not very big but one of the kids cracked it half to share it with his friend until offered another and the friend got the licked pieces and the boy got a new one.

We piled back into the vehicle and went to one last stop, Manju’s (no not a misspelling of Manji’s but a competitor). The lady was helpful but had to contact others to see if she could get the coupling. Another frustrating day but we made a lot of contacts. We headed to the ferry to go to Nyampande and then Isole to pay all the workers for their efforts. We are now waiting for 3rd ferry to see if we get on. The queue is long so we may have to wait for the next. Welcome to African time!