Life in Ethiopia is unpredictable. Transportation can be a
little crazy at times. The best we can tell thus far, no one owns a personal
vehicle (except maybe a dump truck for hauling wheat) in our little farming town,
Alemgena. Also, the big regional capital city of Robe is only 25 kilometers
away. When you combine these two factors, it makes for some very crowded public
buses. Then you add in the very significant variables of market days and
unexpected local holidays and events and it equals = FUN!
There are two types of buses that run between our town and
Robe: minibuses (which are actually all white Toyota vans) and big 25-passenger Isuzu buses.
The van’s seating capacity is about 11 people. The average number of passengers
when one leaves Alemgena is around 22. The record for a van ride we have been
in is 27 people. It was so crammed by the time we started rolling I could not
even turn my head 90 degrees. Normally, there are people sitting in laps,
crouched leaning on each other, and (on the big buses) four or five sprawled
out or tucked in between the front seats trying to keep from falling into the
stick shift. Oh, and there is the metal bars digging into your knees and the
fact that opening windows to get a little airflow is mostly frowned upon (we don't know why?).
Despite this, we have been adjusting to the bus rides well.
Ethiopians are largely very kind and friendly, especially to foreigners. Frequently,
the driver or bus attendant insists (sometimes aggressively) we sit in the
front of the bus. Also, we are at times given priority over others who have
waited longer to get on buses if there are large crowds waiting. We felt bad
about this, but have recently come to accept it as part of life. I have really
only seen one or two people ever complain about the bus situation or
conditions. Most times, people seem quite grateful just to be on a bus and
going somewhere. For longer bus rides, many men show off nice suites and seem
proud to be able to afford the bus fare. Passengers generally respect each
other and try to help everyone get their bags on and off in one piece,
especially the older women. It is said that if you want to have good bus rides
in Ethiopia then make friends with old ladies, because they don’t take crap and they get
things done.
On only our second trip to Alemgena, one of the back wheels
fell off our minivan. It was lucky it wasn't the engine because most vans have several hundred thousand miles on them. It was actually an overall pleasant experience and all
the passengers did not seem surprised. Apparently, all the lug nuts popped off
or loosened and the wheel slid off and the bus slumped to one side. We all got
out and sat in the grass next to the dusty dirt road while a group of guys took
turns trying to straighten and bent lug by hitting it with different metal
objects. Someone pulled out their cell phone and forty minutes later another
mini-van sped by and dropped off the parts and tools we needed and we on our way in no
time. AAA, Ethiopian style.
On Ethiopian Christmas Day (Jan. 7th by the American
calendar) I was sitting in my window seat of a large Isuzu bus waiting to leave
and a young guy in a South Park T-shirt reached over me and pulled a baby in
through the window. We all laughed. I assumed it was his baby. Earlier that
same day on a different bus we made the mistake of being the last ones off the
bus. Before we could exit a crowd trying to get on the same bus flooded in and
pushed us backwards. Jill was in front and managed to shove her way off. It
took me five minutes before I could crowd surf my way over the mob. The funny
thing is that there appeared to be enough seats for everybody. Even as I was
swallowed by the mob everyone (including me) smiled mischievously as if they
knew how ridiculous and amusing the whole scene was.
On big market days (2 times per week) there are usually lots
of travel opportunities but the time of day is critical. Depending on the time
of day or if you are coming or going from the market town, many scenarios could
play out. Best scenario- you could immediately get on a mostly full bus and
comfortably leave, or you could get on an empty bus and wait two hours for it
to fill up, or (worst case) wait standing in high alert in the road for hours
with a huge crowd waiting for the only bus of the morning (which could appear
at any time), and hope that having your name on an mostly insignificant list and being
a foreigner will help get you on, but knowing that it will likely be your
ability to elbow people out of the way the quickest that will get you a seat.
And the price of bus fare can increase by ½ just from there being a market in a
nearby village or if the bus is not filled to capacity and the driver needs to
be somewhere.
So, for now we have decided to keep a detailed travel log of
our bus adventures. Like most everything else here, it seems to be just a
matter of understanding and adapting to a very different culture and way of
doing things. The more we experience and think about it, it’s really a pretty
simple transportation system, just a world away from ordinary (if such a thing
as ordinary actually exists).
