Personal Space on Hiatus

September 28...

Today I made the trip from the town of Iringa to the village of Kilolo by bus; the People's Chariot. I will make this trek every week after I finish teaching to get to the Wingfield's home in Iringa. Getting there and back is always an adventure but it's particularly interesting when I ride the bus.

If it hadn't already happened, it is safe to say that I have now lost all my North American sense of personal space when travelling in vehicles. If anything, my daily commute to York University on the TTC at rush hour has prepared me well for this trip; but even at it's most crowded the bus in Toronto could not compare to the buses here. By the time the bus was in full motion every seat was filled (some with more than one person) and the isle was completely full. I was lucky that I had a seat and that luck can really be attributed to the fact that I arrived an hour before scheduled departure. I learned that lesson the hard way last Sunday when I arrived fifteen minutes early to the find both the inside and roof of the bus completely full (and when I say full, I really, truly mean it). This week I had the foresight to arrive an hour early and miraculously found a friend at the bus terminal gearing up for the same trip. He kindly helped me find the right bus and we got a seat together.

That's another thing I have to get used to here in Africa: time. Things just happen different here. When something is supposed to happen at 4 that really means it's starting at 5. And though the trip from Iringa to Kilolo really only takes 45 minutes to an hour by car, the bus trip, all stops and waiting included took me 4 hours. And that's making pretty good time. People just have a different pace here. It should also be noted that the roads in most of rural Tanzania would attract an extreme off-roading crowd were they back home; so that makes travel time much different too. But I'm adjusting and really, the trip was pretty good.

It was a bit strange to see the things people bought on board though. I mean in Toronto, I've seen people bring on small pets occasionally and only during the designated hours. So seeing a cat or even a small dog would be no surprise. A fully grown chicken though?! That made me take a second look. At first I thought it was dead. Its handler had its feet bound and it really seemed quite lifeless. Upon further reflection however, I realized that it's eyes were blinking and would occasionally ruffle its feathers. I was surprised at how calm it was. I really thought that any animal (let alone myself) would get fidgety on such a trip. But this bird, in a plastic bag mind you with its head sticking out the top, was completely content, though I'm sure PETA would have had a fit. Very strange indeed; at least for me.

As I had the isle seat (for leg room of course) I was ready to have people move past me as they found their seats; but that wasn't even the half of it. As I said, the seats and isle were completely full so when people had to get off or move it was like watching playdough be squeezed through a press. Again, any sense of personal space I had was quickly eroded making the typical transit rider expressions like, “there's no more room back here” null and void. That was pretty well cemented as people were all but sitting in my lap as passengers tried to move by. As for leg room: forget about it. In trying to describe our predicament I was reminded of a witty phrase used by a one Tobias Funke when travelling in the back seat on a Bluth family road-trip. Aptly put Dr. Funke.

Despite my apparent negativity, I really want to emphasize that it was a good trip. Space (or lack there of) is something I've quickly gotten used to here, so having mamas (older Tanzanian ladies) practically sitting on me isn't really an issue any more. And I was very thankful to God for proving a travelling companion who could help get me get on the right bus and safely to Kilolo. All in all it was an eventful trip.

Did I mention the ticket agent would climb on the roof rack while the bus was in full motion and crawled over top of the seats to move from the front to the back of the bus. I wish you could have been there.