Public transportation is always an adventure

Have you ever taken a matatu?

Last weekend I took my first matatu rides. I had been trying to avoid it, and since Nairobi has a decent public bus system, it hadn't been necessary until I arrived in Mombasa. Basically matatus are minibuses, designed to hold about 14 people, that work like a normal bus and follow a certain route picking people up and dropping them off along the way. Only they're absolutely insane. Normally in Kenya they're airbrushed with, say, a giant image of Jay-Z or Ronaldinho's face on the side with some "gangsta" message printed in huge letters across it (usually just "Gangsta"). They blast deafening music, and generally people jump out and in while they're still moving. The front seat next to the driver is the "death seat"--the worst place to be in case of a crash.


Can you spot me in this picture? (psych i found this picture online)


So, for me at least, they're kind of scary, and I had to take them all over Mombasa and to Diani Beach. And everyone looks at you like you're crazy because mzungus are supposed to take taxis everywhere, of course. I saw a couple of really intense fights between drivers over customers. At some stops a lot of matatus gather and don't leave until they're full, so people get pushed and shoved and dragged among vehicles, and some drivers get people to pull passengers out of other matatus by telling them it's not going to the right destination. I'm not sure 2 extra minutes of waiting for another passenger to arrive, or 20KSh is worth beating someone up over, but what do I know.

Matatu and conductor--yikes!

The public buses in Nairobi are a lot safer, but no less chaotic. The other day I went into town during the work day and tried to take the bus back. After 30 minutes of being pushed and shoved, watching one woman punch another to get on the bus, and watching people chase down the bus to jump on a full two blocks before the official stop, I decided to walk back. Maybe I'm too risk-averse for Kenya.