Transportation Adventures

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. 7^th 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).