down town KRT

Scenes from downtown and around town. Traffic was bad today since Thursday afternoon is equivalent to our Friday afternoon. Everyone is trying to beat the traffic and get home to start an early weekend. Tomorrow, Friday, starts the weekend and noon time is the big prayer time. We drove by an old mosque, remnants of the Turkish presence here a few centuries ago.


Just like any other African country I've driven/ridden in, one braves the law of the street, the only rules are those that allow you to keep moving forward. It's offensive driving, both in the sense that most in the West would be offended, road rage boiling over into unreasonable actions, as well as offensive in the sense that you fill the gap in front of you, you keep moving, you cut people off because you need to keep your bumper moving. Despite the horns and hand motions, people don't take it personal, irritated and with good reason to put on an angry cursing face, but not road rage pull out the baseball bat and go nuts - although I'm sure that happens - probably with a cricket bat or cattle herding staff. There are signaled intersections, but after that it is essentially a free for all in which wit and craftiness in filling of the void is essential. I found myself on more than one occasion, instinctively slamming my right foot into the passenger side floor board, as if I had any control of stopping the vehicle. I've grown accustom to this sort of driving and for the most part put my full trust in the ability of the driver. You could ride with blinders on, but then you would miss all the excitement and adrenalin. The saving grace to this sort of insane traffic is that the speed is rarely high enough to cause to catastrophic of a collision, although I have witnessed a few accident scenes that would argue against that - complete with blood on the ground or a body that you wish you looked the other way.

The permit process has taken a turn for the worse and has to be re-started with a different process. There is no checklist or forms to download on line. You must rely on the bureaucratic process, of which you are constantly seeking that one individual who has the 'stamp' or the signature. This is the way of Africa - you may have a full day but have nothing tangible to show for. What you DO have though, is a better understanding of the system - whether it will work that way next week is anyone's guess; you also know what not to do next time; you know who to talk to first next time; you have an endless list of 'lessons learned', but what you still don't have is what you set out for. Time is endless here...the continent has been around for ages and it will continue to be around...why rush it's tea time!