Transportation

I will now take this opportunity to explain to you the tranportation system of rural South Africa. As I've said in previous blogs our village is about 80k outside of a town called Kuruman - which is also our shopping town. There are a handful of small shops (referred to as Tuck Shops) in our village but you can really only get the basics there - bread, eggs,corn meal, giant bottles of sprite and fanta, chicken spice, soap, etc...you know the basics. On occasion some shops also have onions, tomatoes, and potatoes. Unfortunately we have yet to find a way to live only on the foods that the tuck shop provides so we go to Kuruman about every other week or so to get groceries. We've also gone there on occasion to run errands for the school - printing photos for the cross country team, etc...So, anyways, the point is, we go there on a fairly regular basis.
When venturing to Kuruman we have three options: Taxis, the Mega Bus, and Baakies

Taxis:
Taxis in South Africa are not the same as Taxis in America. In South Africa, taxis are large 12 to 18 person vehicles called Kumbis. Some Kumbis are well maintained and clean. Some are covered with colorful stickers, have doors held shut by rope, and sound like the entire underpart of the car is going to shake loose at any moment. You pretty much take whatever you can get. You have two options for getting a place on a taxi, you can call ahead of time and reserve a spot, or you can stand on the side of the road and wait for one to pass. All towns and cities have large taxi ranks where all taxis drop off their passengers. Just like the taxis themselves, taxi ranks come in varying conditions and ellicit varying reactions upon arrival, ranging from - "wow, this one has organized rows with signs" to "wow, this one has the distinct smell of urine in the air and that guy looks like he's probably gonna mug me." Getting home on a taxi is just as easy as getting to town. You generally show up at the rank, find your designated row or ask around to find the location of your village's cluster of taxis and hop on. Taxis don't leave at designated times, they leave when the taxi fills up. Asking the driver what time the taxi leaves is pointless and futile because he will most always give you some random and probably completely innacurate time. Most people just get on and sit and wait until it fills up. Taxi drivers are generally pretty nice guys, they do what they can and try to answer your questions and get you where you need to go, but it is still a business so, despite the fact that there is a clearly posted limit stating how many passengers each taxi can accomodate, they WILL cram in as many passengers as they can and, from my experience, it seems that babys and any children under the age of 10 don't count when trying to assess whether the taxi is full. Thus, a very roomy 12 person taxi can at any point turn into your worst nightmare - you clutching the edge of the seat trying not to fall off and 15 other people trying to do the same while balancing bags of food and screaming baby's on their laps...all while riding along a very bumpy dirt, gravel road for about an hour and a half. It is also worthwhile to mention that taxi drivers seem to be very territorial about their music and most have installed gigantic speakers throughout the taxi to make sure that everyone can hear. The music usually falls into one of two categories - the dreaded, inescapable, house techno crap OR the Weekend at Bernies theme music...the latter being the obviously more preferrable of the two. (Side Bar from Tony - Most taxis have a 1000watt amp with 2 12's)

The Mega Bus
The Mega Bus is just like it sounds. It's a gigantic bus. There are many Mega Buses that have routes through the rural villages and drop off at the Kuruman taxi rank. The Mega Bus runs on a very regular schedule so you don't have to sit around and wait for it to fill up, plus their Maga-ness means there's a lot more room to spread out. It's also 6R cheaper. The only down-side to the Mega Bus is that it doesn't run on Sundays and there are occasional fights because someone stole someone elses corn meal or someone is passed out drunk in the middle of the aisle.

Baakies
Baakies are trucks. Some baakies have campers over the top and benches in the back and operate as taxis. It is against Peace Corps policy for us to use these unless we are able to get a seat in the front with the driver. This is probably for good reason and I would imagine that riding in one would be like multiplying the shittiness of those really bad taxi experinces by 3. I mention it because it is a means of transportation that many local people use to get to town and from village to village.

For probably obvious reasons, we try to take the Mega Bus whenever possible. We also feel that, in the event of an accident (which is probably high as car accidents are the leading cause of death in South Africa), our chances of death (based on size, overall condition, and people to space ratio) seem to be much lower in the Mega Bus versus the taxi.

I hope this has cleared up any questions that you might have on how we get from point A to point B.
That's all for now!
Kim and Tony