The Minibus Diaries continued...

More times than I can count I have been told not to go into the Minibus Taxi's if it is either (1) dark outside or (2) there are no other passengers inside of the Minibus.

Well one morning last week while catching a minibus on the way to work, Alexis and I were caught in the typical conundrum of picking between two taxi's who pull up to pick us up at the same time and yell at us to jump in their taxi in order to get our business and detract us from the other taxi. This particular morning Alexis decided to take the reigns on the decision and started walking to the first taxi that pulled up. As I started to follow her, I realized that there was no "caller" by the door of the car and only one other passenger sitting in the front seat next to the driver. I called over to Alexis telling her that we should go over to the second minibus, but she was already on her way into the first taxi...

I figured it really couldn't be that bad... Right?

We both hopped inside to find the minibus literally carpeted from floor to ceiling in SHAG. Green shag carpeting on the floor, seats, walls, and yes, the ceiling. Immediately I thought, "This is how I am going to die."

About 5 minutes into our ride, the other passenger in the front got out of the minibus. The driver's accomplice was gone. Alexis and I were alone to fight off the driver to our deaths on some South African side street.

Sadly, the highlights of this story end here, because less than 10 minutes later the minibus pulled over on the side of the street at Long Street, our stop. We jumped off the bus and made a pact never to ride on an empty minibus taxi again.

Lame excuse for a shot inside of a crowded minibus taxi...

The Minibus Diaries continued...

Surprisingly out of all of the minibus taxi's in Cape Town, we have already managed to hop on the same one twice--of which Cydney obviously made friends with the driver.

While Cydney was joking with the driver, he asked where she was from, and he was SO excited to hear that we were from the states. We have received a lot of praise towards Obama from the people of South Africa, but this man was not phased that we lived in DC with Obama. He wanted to meet Oprah!! He would not stop talking about how much he wanted to meet Oprah--and I'm not surprised. Our B&B has no more than 3 television channels, and whenever it is on, it always seems to either be the news or the Oprah show.

Our driver went on to say that Mandela has a lot of cousins running around Cape Town, and started pointing out about every man on the street--at this point he was getting a little ridiculous.

The second time we were on the same the same minibus taxi, Cyndey starts talking to the driver again, and he again starts to praise Oprah. At some point he begins talking about Jacob Zuma, (the current President of SA), and makes a comment "well now that Zuma is president, rape is legal." Although the intension of the comment was to be a joke, it made the entire van slightly uncomfortable, but Lisa helped to ease the situation by jokingly saying, "okay driver, I think we will get out now!" Oh minibus taxi.

(For those unaware of South African politics, Zuma was brought to court but found not guilty of rape charges. Zuma did not deny that he had sex with her, but made the case that because she was wearing a skirt, it was "his duty" as a member of the Zulu clan. Zuma stated, "In Zulu culture, you cannot just leave a woman if she is ready." The woman also was known to be HIV-positive, and after choosing not to use a condom, Zuma "took a shower afterwards" in order to reduce his chance of getting AIDS. Disgusting.)

The Minibus Diaries

Today is the third day traveling to work via the minibus taxi & I can already tell that they will be a unique adventure everyday.

First to explain the minibus taxi's: They are basically run by self-employed duo's of men. One is the driver, and the other sits by the door yelling out to people on the street either "CAPE TOWNNNN," or "SEA POINTTTT," depending on which direction you are going to. The "caller" then collects your 5 Rand (basically $0.60) and you wait til you tell him when you have to get off.

On Monday, myself and four other girls who are interning in the City Bowl caught a minibus taxi. While we got on the crowded bus, another one pulled up behind which was rather empty. As the driver in the 2nd bus honked, our caller yelled to the other taxi "you don't even have your license!!" oh dear.

On Tuesday, our driver pulled over to pick up a passenger on the side of the road, and our caller jumps out of the minibus, runs behind it, and starts pushing the "press to walk" button at the nearby crosswalk, then runs back into the minibus, and starts laughing to himself. We all think this man is absolutely absurd, until we turn around and see the next minibus taxi behind us stuck at a red light--because of the button he pressed. And that is how to sabotage another minibus taxi. lol.

Sidenote: "minibus" is relative. They're more like soccer mom vans.