On the Roads

It's hard to describe just how shitty the roads are in Afghanistan. Think back to the worst road you ever drove in the states, like that time that you visited your friend's camp in rural Maine right after three days of rain. That last, unmarked dirt road, so uneven you had to drive 3 miles an hour or crack the muffler clean off, with potholes so enormous you had to slip into first gear to traverse them… now imagine a few more boulders, potholes, some horses, and a line of donkeys bearing straw and you have the central highway through the province of Badakhshan.

I took that road this morning east to Baharak. It should have taken two hours but a rock slide blocked the road for an hour. Luckily the slide was next to a river with a grassy field and mulberry trees. One thing about Afghans is they're always prepared to sit one out. Suddenly appeared some cushions, the hot tea, someone caught fish in the river, another climbed the tree and picked mulberries. When we started up again my driver saw my med kit and complained of a stomach ache. So I gave him one of my Immodiums which cured him instantly. "Where is that pill from?" he asked. From America, I said. "Ah," he said, quite satisfied. I wonder if the placebo effect increases the less actual health care you have. Like the way blind people become better at hearing.