A Grueling Experience

Family...

Well, this train ride has been a grueling experience. With five hours left to go, my neck and shoulders are beginning to ache from three days of cramped inactivity.
I've seen a little of the country side, which is much like one would find anywhere, with it's greens and browns under a very blue sky. Here and there are herds of long haired goats. Their herders stand in the road side or sit picturesquely in the shade of a near by tree, with gnarly staffs and conical, straw hats. There are a lot of corn crops, their silky tassels hinting at the ripeness of their fruit. It has been pleasant to sit on one of the little, backless bucket seats by the window and watch the world sluggishly roll past. But, as those seats are quite uncomfortable, I've spent most of this journey lying in my bunk, above two others, with about three feet of head room. The forced rest has been a disguised blessing: I feel much more alive today than I did yesterday.

I found the train depot, yesterday, as you may have gathered. After paying the taxi driver, and hoisting my luggage out of the car, I began to walk in a generally unspecific direction. Before long I spotted a police officer on the corner. Showing my ticket to him, I pointed in several directions at once, and shrugged my shoulders. He obligingly gesticulated, grunted in four or five different tones, and made me to understand that I was to walk down to the nearest crosswalk and cross the street. This I did, and found myself before an impressive, stately building, pressed in on every side by a throng of people all heading in the same direction. For reasons ambiguous, only one person was permitted to enter the building at a time. So the surging crowd outside pressed and pulled together, moving like a strong current of water, while one individual at a time burst through the doors, much like a wet watermelon seed. Once inside, of course, the crowds thinned a bit.
I wandered around the depot for a while, until I eventually spotted a billboard above 'Waiting room number 4' that had numbers to match those on my ticket. I stood, looking around me uncertainly at the hundreds of people crowded, sitting, into this large room. Spotting an official at the very back, I picked my way over to her, and showed her my ticket. She unexpectedly punched it, and opened the little gate in front of which she stood, ushering me through.
I followed several corridors for an eternity, until my whole body began to ache from the weight of the two backpacks I carried. None too soon, a long cement hall opened on the left to a flight of stairs. Up these, and there was a train, with an officer standing at the door of each car. Again, out came the ticket. Again I was gesticulated at, and understood that I was to move further along the train. At every car I stopped, showing my ticket, was pointed in one direction or another, until at last I gave my ticket to an officer who scrutinized first the ticket, then myself, then stepped aside to let me in. Without too much more ado, and with the help of some helpful fellow passengers, I found my bunk, stowed my bags, and settled down for a very long ride.

I must leave you now.
Much love,
Elisabeth