Being pulled in!

Today, Moriba and I went to the airport to exchange some travellers cheques for local currency. We took the bush taxi, as it is much cheaper than a shared, yellow taxi- these sometimes will charge an arm and a leg for a very short trip- literally- especially if it is for a toubab! The taxi took us up the main highway to the airport turnoff. The road to the airport is two lanes each way, and I would say it is in better condition than any road in the Gambia! It is only a half mile long too, and ends at the airport. Supposedly there is some sort of "Presidential Quarters" down here too, which might explain the road being in such good condition. All up and down this road, there are huge billboards praising the President, H.E. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh. He has claimed to be able to cure aids- a claim accepted by many.

So once at the junction of the airport road, we tried to hitch a ride, a very common practice here in Gambia, and is simply done by sticking your arm out horizontally while standing at the side of the road. Unfortunately, there were probably 15-20 others trying to do the same thing. Finally, a cargo vehicle with a large bucket stopped and loaded about 15 of us. I was the last one in, and as I was stepping on the hitch, to climb over the tailgate, the driver started, well I had a full arm over the tailgate! Luckily, the four gentlemen towards the back of the vehicle helped pull me in. Driving is...well...not very safe at times here in Gambia. It is very common for the bush taxi to take off from a stopping point, well before the assistant (the person managing the doors and ticketing) is in the vehicle. The assistant will usually tap the the door when he is ready. He will then run up to the vehicle, jump in, and close the door in a relatively simultaneous motion. If you are sitting closest to the side door, or the back door in some cases, you are usually having to get in and out of the vehicle as passengers enter and exit the vehicle. Coming back from the airport, we were fortunate enough to grab a minivan owned by one of the tourist resorts that was making a side trip into Brikama. Trying to get a ride from the airport can be challenging- bush taxis don't come down here- and of course the shared taxis will charge you.

I'm trying to think of some interesting things that I could share with you all about Gambia. There is no garbage pickup. So the streets are pretty filthy, for the most part, but the output of waste is significantly less than it is back home in the states. Supposedly, there is a government run cleanup crew that comes around every so often, and they want to charge a lot of money for picking up a little bit of trash. I haven't seen such an occurence yet. The country is predominantly muslim too. I believe there are about five prayer times per day. The first one being at 5:00am, which is often announced over the loud speaker from the local mosque- only about a five minute walk from the compound. I used to wake up to it when I was first here- but not so much anymore.

Until next time!