As mentioned before, problems in Congo usually start here, in Mbuji-Mayi. It has the reputation of "une ville chaud" - "a hot town / a heated town". Were hot refers to both the climate, as to the atmosphere. Literally everybody we met told us to avoid the city if at all possible. It should be home to some of the worst police and is generally considered unsafe.
It is true that the climate is really hot and sticky. Tropical climate at its best. The humidity seems to drive everybody nuts.
But we needed fuel. Via the friends we made in Lubumbashi we had the phone number of a Belgian guy who works here in Mbuji-Mayi for CTB (Belgian aid). We don't know him, and he does not even know we exist.
We gave him a call and explained the situation. He agreed to help us out and we were supposed to meet eachother a the filling station in the center of town.
The atmosphere in Mbuji-Mayi is impossible to describe. It seems like nobody here has normal discussions. Only heated discussions. You can hear it in their voice, as if they are constantly angry at each other. We saw a few fights when driving trough town. We negotiated a dozen or so police checks before we arrive at the Total filling station. It's the first real 'pump' we see since leaving Lubumbashi. We fill up and leave a staggering amount of cash behind (2$US/liter).
10 minutes later a Landcruiser with a Mundele in it stops, we quickly shake hands and Christian quickly introduces himself. Equally quickly we drive off again. We follow him into the compound of CTB. They have a nice office here, with bathroom and all. Unfortunately the water system is down for two weeks now, so no water. Christian has a day off today and already made plans for the day, so he cannot stay with us. But we are free to camp in the compound and use their facilities. They have two "guardiens" (guards). Christians recommends us to stay inside.
We are thirsty so we ignore Christian's advice and go out on foot to find us a cold beer. Plenty of bars here. It takes a bit of negotiating before they let us take the beer with us. It is in glass, and they need to recover the empty bottles. We have to pay a deposit and promise to bring the glass back.
People who visited the Congo's will surely recognize the "Skol' brand. Not a bad beer actually. There is a brewery in Mbujy-Mayi and only the beers that are brewed here have the diamond in the logo.
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That night we lay in our tent, looking at the stars and listening to the sound of the city. It does not sound like any other city at night. We hear heated discussions and a few fights. Also some gun shots.
