riding in taxis

We use taxis to get around Lusaka most of the time. They are relatively cheap & significantly safer than the minibuses. Also, I have no idea where the minibuses are going. They don't have routes on them & will tell you that they are going to whatever place you say just so you'll get in. Then you end up in the slums & not at the grocery store. So we ride taxis. There are 2 kinds of taxis in Lusaka. Blue ones, which are "real" - registered, pay taxis, & more expensive and all other cars, most of which are interested in being a taxi for a group of white girls.


Spending so much time in taxis leads to a variety of adventures. Taxi rides start with the flagging down. Usually it is pretty easy to get a taxi, being a white girl. One day my flatmate, Nasha, & I walked out the major road to get a cab. A car on the far side of road beep (which means "do you want a taxi?") & we flagged "yes". Instead of pulling into the side road like most taxis do, this car just stopped in the middle of the road to wait for us to cross. The driver hopped out of his car, opened the trunk, & pulled out some road block flags. He proceeded to set up little orange flags behind his car so cars would know to get in the other lane. By the time he had done all of this, Nasha & I had crossed the road & were in his backseat. So he just picked the orange flags back up & we left.

After the flagging down, we go through series of negotiations:

Me: how much to emmasdale?
Taxi: 50 pin
Me: ah, no, i know the fair price. 25 pin
Taxi: ah, no, sister, fuel is so expensive
Me: yes, but i only paid 25 pin to get here
Taxi: ah, 25! no! but that is coming & this is going. it is more expensive. and the fuel increased last week. 40 pin
Me: yes, but fuel increased 1 pin & your price increased 10 pin. that is not fair. 35 pin
Taxi: ok, let go

Sometimes when negotiations don't go so well we walk off & find another taxi. Nasha & I were once at a major shopping center where the blue taxis would not give us a fair price. So we walked a bit into the parking lot & found some guy who would give us a decent price. As soon as we got in the car, a blue taxi pulled up right in front of him & another pulled immediately behind so that we could not take his car. He was like "oh, well, you'll have to go with them" like it was something that happened all the time. When we got out, the blue taxi drivers gave us a lecture on going with "the pirates" & I gave them a lecture on not trying to rip off white people.

There have been people coming from Emory to work at ZEHRP for at least 14 years. So when we hail taxis & tell them we are headed to "Emmasdale, Vubu Road", the driver often responds "Yes, I know the place" & drives us straight to our door. Apparently there is only once place full of white girls in my predominately Muslim neighborhood. At first it kind of creeped me out that half the city seemed to know my address, but now I like it because I am too lazy to give directions. And considering that I jump in cars with random strange men pretty much everyday, I figure that them knowing my address is the least of my concerns.