Crash course in Taxi riding.

So, my plan is to write on my blog every Friday. However, it is Tuesday and somehow I missed Friday. So this week I will write Tuesday and again on Friday. Today I feel like sharing some stories.
Yaounde Taxis
In my 0.1 km walk to school there are, I would venture to say, 2 dozen taxis that pass me going either way, every morning. The taxis here are mostly yellow cars that can, in American standards hold 4 passengers. When a taxi driver is driving along, his horn is his very best friend, his money maker really. They honk their horns to pick up passengers. So if the driver sees some passengers on the side of the road he will slow down and honk, the person waiting for a cab will say their neighborhood’s destination and the price they are willing to pay. If no price is stated then it will be 200 cfa (500 cfa=$1 US). If the driver is willing to go that place for that price they will honk again and the passenger gets in. If he is not willing, then he will just keep driving. See the thing is there is no rule saying the cab driver can only have 1 set of passengers at a time. He could have 4 different passengers going to 4 different places at one time. More money for him, more work for the horn. My roommate Liz and I were going to this tasty bakery this past Saturday. We thought it would be a fast trip in and out with no traffic. This was my 2nd experience riding in a cab. Liz, fluent in french, hailed the cab and said the neighborhood the bakery was in. The driver honked so we climbed in and were on our way to the bakery for 200cfa. We were soon joined be a mother and her baby girl of amount 2 months, so cute. They weren’t going far. But the driver still was not done, there was still the front seat to fill. So we keep honking and pulling over and moving on. Until we see these two women and slow down, he honks because apparently he approves of their offer. I didn’t even hear a voice, yet he could hear the specifics of what they said. These drivers have the best hearing in the world. I am thinking to myself, hmm, there is one seat and two of them, maybe only one is coming. I am not adjusted to Africa yet with that mindset. I need to switch to thinking, there is never NOT enough space to take someone else. Both these women sit on the small front seat in a very uncomfortable looking position. Finally the car is full so we move at a ‘steady’ pace, then we hit traffic. A huge tree had fallen across the road and on some power lines. When we passed very slowly I noticed about 8 guys hovered around the 1 chainsaw with several wrenches trying to fix it. I had to laugh, 1 chainsaw for 1 HUGE tree that was almost entirely stopping traffic and 8 men for that 1 tool. Finally we got to the bakery, got our goods and some avocados from the lady across the street and we headed back into another taxi and went home. (The taxi that stopped already had 3 passengers, Liz squished in the front with another passenger while I fit in the back.) A 45 minute roundtrip taxi ride for a fee of 400cfa, under $1. Quite the experience!
I have now been here just over 1 month. I still learn new things everyday and have to depend on God everyday. But these are good things I think.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Until Friday……
AMY