Public Transport and Fast Food

To really experience and appreciate the culture one has to leave the ship and spend time in the country. This past weekend I embarked on quite the adventure of traveling upcountry to Dalaba located about 300km (186 miles) from the port in the mountains. Good thing I didn’t count on google maps for the time estimate of travel to be 3 hours and 45 minutes! Turns out the estimate does not account for many factors when taking public transport.

So here is what I learned from my travels this weekend about public transport in Africa:

1. Patience is key when making a long trek! Who knew we would spend 13.5 hours on the way there and about 10.5 hours on the way back! Good thing we planned to travel all day to get to Dalaba.

2. The taxis don’t leave until every seat is sold. Waiting, waiting, waiting…. That’s right we had the bright idea of leaving the ship at 6:30 to get to the market at 7am. The only problem is no one else decided to arrive to the market until after 10am to go to Dalaba. We waited over four hours even before getting on the road.

Anna and I "patiently" waiting for the taxi to leave!

 

3. The back of the station wagon taxi is not a good place for tall travelers and people prone to car sickness. You cannot sit up straight or stretch your legs out while facing forward. You also feel every twist and curve of the road in the back, especially when the driver constantly swerves to both sides of the road while trying to avoid the many potholes.

4. Important Lesson: do not dehydrate yourselves for fear of not finding a bathroom. First it is a terrible idea to be dehydrated especially when traveling all day in the heat. Second the car makes many stops where one can find a public squatty potty behind the local mosque or town center. If all else fails, you can always walk up to a random person’s house along the way and ask to use their outdoor facilities as we did with the help of one of the ladies in our taxi.

5. A typical station wagon by our standards would fit seven with two people in the front, three in the middle, and two in the back. We had 12 people in the taxi on the way back! Thankfully the middle seat is much more comfortable even with four people wide rather than being in the back. Two men shared the passenger seat and three women sat in the back while holding one baby and a toddler!

Don't forget about all the luggage that has to be strapped down on top of the taxi!

 

6. The people in your taxi become your community. Everyone offered us whatever food they bought along the way. Each of the women also took turns holding the baby including myself. No carseats here, which makes it easier for changing diapers in momma’s lap and keeping the baby content and well fed!

7. Remember patience is key! You make many, many stops along. We stopped over 11 times on the way to Dalaba during our 9 hour car ride. The driver made a personal stop, we dropped one passenger off along the way, then picked up another soon after. We made two stops for prayer, two checkpoint stops, and four stops to add water to the radiator to keep the car from overheating! Don’t forget about the meal stops!

8. As for food, this trip provided a whole new meaning of fast food. Nothing is better than after many hours of traveling in the hot car with no air conditioning than for someone to pass by selling cold water and drinks when stuck in traffic. Window service also includes the opportunity to purchase tissues, extra cellphone minutes, food, and even clothes!

Any place we stopped had small food stands along the road! Interesting their idea of fast food is much healthier here with many people buying fresh fruits along the way.

African Fast Food

 

9. Don’t forget that you don’t have anyway to keep your meat cold; instead you just strap a live chicken on the back of the roof so that the it stays alive until you arrive back home! We even saw a goat riding on the top of a taxi in between the luggage!

10. Just when you think your trip is going to be more successful coming home, alas problems happen that you can’t predict such as the car breaking down. So an hour outside of the port in Conakry our car pulled over due to an engine failure. Everyone sat along the road for an hour waiting for who knows what to happen. After waiting an hour we grabbed our backpacks and took another taxi home to the ship!

During my travels I counted my blessings of how grateful I am for roads back home with minimal potholes, having my own car with air conditioning in the summer, and not squishing as many people as possible into a vehicle. It seems though that traveling here is always an adventure because you never know what to expect!