Day 34

Day 34
June 7th

This morning I officially left mbita. Bennett escorted me again to the
'big city' of kisumu. We opted for a mitatu over the bus this time
'round. It might have been a tad cheaper, but better isn't how I would
describe it.

For those unfamiliar with this very popular mode of Afro-transport,
let me fill you in. A mitatu is a small bus ( think volks-wagon micro
bus meets 1993 ) with generally four rows of seats, three seats per
row. the number of seats, however, holds little significance.

I'll expand on that. If you're doing the math at home that's occupancy
for 11 passengers and 1 driver, right? Of course not! This is Africa!
Some boast 'seats 17!' with vinyl script along the door. This, you
see, is a selling point, as in 'we will pack this motha' full, so be
sure to wave us down.' not that you would have to wave them down
because they stop for any signs of life near the road

En route to any destionation it's standard for the 'people getters',
we'll call them, to leave the door wide open and hang out so that more
people can be packed in. I will hand it to these dudes because roads,
here, are not really roads so much as they are well worn paths, and
the drivers drive fast and crazy.

The record today in our mitatu was 21 passengers. 22 if you want to
count the infant next to me. I mean, the kid was being breast fed, so
I think we can count him. So, 22. Bold.

Got luggage? Not a problem. What about something big and weird like a
sofa? That's what the roof's for. Maybe a huge basket of fish?
Fantastic! They turn no one or thing away. That basket of fish, by the
way, landed a spot under my 'seat'. I guess it beats my lap.

It's easy to get a little soar at the people getters for perpetually
making an uncomfortable situation even more so, but at the end of the
day, they did something amazing. They got a micro bus with a 4
cylander engine to move 22 people to a destination. That's effiencient
any way you look at it. How much did this two and a half hour circus
voyage cost? About 5 dollars for bennett and me combined. Boosh. It's
like the ultimate form of splitting a cab.

And in the mitatu world, style is everything. If you're a mitatu
driver and you don't gots a combination of the following: a decal of
some American pop singer from 1998, a politician (that you like or
dislike), some random english phrase like 'AGAPE' or 'DIGITAL OUTPUT
STRONG' and of course some hot pinstripes, you're in the wrong game
pal. How about you go deliver milk or something? They dress to impress
and they impress me everyday with their originality and irrationality.
Then again, in africa that statement is not specific to public transit.

-cheers