Something I love (and hate) about Kenya

The public transport.

There are number of positives about the Kenyan system of intra-city transport. First of all, you never have to wait. In contrast to the Canadian system where if you miss a bus you are left standing in the wind, snow, and cold for half an hour, here there is almost always a matatu (minibus) ready and waiting when you arrive at the stop. And if not, you never need to wait more than a minute or two before one pulls up and offers you a ride. This also proves to be the case with the bodaboda (motorcycles used as taxis) on the coast. One of my favorite moments occured when I got off the matatu at the last stop, still a couple kilometers from where I stayed. As the matatu came to a complete stop, a bodaboda driver wearing a white and pink winter jacket (in the tropical coastal climate) saw me through the window and wasting no time ran up, flung his arms open wide, and exclaimed "I am here!!" I broke into a fit of giggles and happily accepted his offer for a lift. How could I say no, really? Where else do you get service like that?

Secondly, it is quite cheap. On the coast I can get a ride to the second village down for a mere 40 cents. In Nairobi, I can get from the outskirts to dowtown for 30. You just need to pay attention to how much everyone else on the matatu is paying and be ready to demand your change when the conductor (the guy who takes your money and opens the door) tries to rip you off. In the case of the bodaboda, you are also able to haggle a price that is even lower than the one first suggested.

Ruthless driving is a characteristic of most matatus. I haven't quite decided if this is a postive or negative. They don't hesitate to drive on sidewalks, cut of lories and motorbikes, or take completely new routes if they think it will get us there faster. In some cases, perhaps it actually does. In most cases, I think it just angers other drivers for the sake of moving one or two carlengths before coming to a standstill in the traffic jam once again.

I've been told that the law enforcement has vastly improved when it comes to matatus and traffic safety. At least in Nairobi. In the big city, drivers are adherent to the rule that each seat must only contain one person. On the coast, where traffic police were few and far between, the drivers and conductors make sure to cram in as many people in order to squeeze out maximum profit. Often there are 5 on a seat meant for 3 plus 3 or 4 additional people standing half in/half out and hanging on to the door frame for dear life. If you're really unlucky, one of the people you're crammed up against might be a woman on her way to a market with a bucket of large fish, the tails dangerously close to slapping you in the face.

The commute in Nairobi has downsides of its own. Namely the constant traffic jams present regardless of the place, day, or time. A couple of days ago, I was stuck in an even worse jam than usual in a stifling bus with windows that refused to open. We had moved about 1km in an hour, breathing in excessive exhaust fumes the whole time. At about that time, the two women in front of me started singing an extremely repetitive, annoying song something like 99 bottles of beer on the wall. They got down to 1 green bottle hanging on the wall, started counting back up again, and I decided I might go crazy if I sat there any longer. So I got off the bus and walked down the highway into downtown.

Overall, I quite enjoy my daily commutes to wherever it is I might be going. There is hardly a day where something amusing (or at least amusing in retrospect) doesn't happen.