Traveling
Posted By Sika on May 13, 2009
At COS conference, they told us to start taking pictures of the everyday stuff, ’cause that’s what we haven’t been taking pictures of, and that’s what we’ll be saddest we don’t have. And, at least for me, they were right. So, on the way home from Lilongwe, I decided to get over my normal reluctance to appear like a frigging tourist and pulled out my camera.
Erin and I had decided to take a minibus instead of hitching for a couple reasons. Traveling, no matter how you do it, is a hassle.
But hitching is an active hassle and taking a minibus is a passive hassle. When hitching you have to flag down a vehicle that usually isn’t going where you want to go, so you have to flag down another vehicle, and another and another. Going to Lilongwe from Zomba usually I can do in one or two hitches, but going back home usually takes 3 or 4.
On a minibus, you have to wait till it fills before it’ll start moving*, and if it empties out too much, you have to wait again. On the other hand, you don’t have to do anything while you’re waiting except shift around to un-numb your butt occasionally. And! Minibuses always stop at the big markets lining the streets, so you can do your shopping on the way home. The only thing I won’t buy on a minibus is tomatoes; they’ll get smooshed and they’re prodigiously available at the small market near my house.
On a hitch, you only get to stop at the markets if your hitch wants to stop, and then you have to worry about holding your hitch up and if your extra luggage will make it more difficult to get that next hitch.
So, once we were out of the Lilongwe Bus Depot (home of scammers and pickpockets galore–one of the only places in Malawi I don’t feel safe even during the day.), I pulled out my camera and began to surreptitiously, and not-so-surreptitiously take photos.
The way shopping on transport works is this: Everyone having anything to sell shoves their way to the windows of the transport, calling out whatever it is they’re selling. If they see the merest flicker of a passenger’s eye moving in their general direction, they start pushing others out of their way and yelling out prices or yafresh (it’s fresh) or yacheap (it’s cheap–you get the idea).
If you actually want anything, you need to assess whether the transport is likely to leave soon. If you need change, verifying that the seller has change before you start is a good idea. Once you’ve negotiated a price, the seller shoves a bag (if you’re lucky) or a bowl or a basket through the window**. You hand over the money and unload the agreed upon items while the seller works out your change. The seller hands back money softened by endless crumpling and a thick patina of dirt while you hand back the empty mbale or basket or whatever.
One time, I was hurrying to dump some peaches into my lap and the minibus started pulling away. I managed to shove the mbale out the window and into the waiting hands of the girl selling to me, but I hadn’t pulled the money out of my pocket yet. Everybody around me was saying, “Tirani, tirani” (throw it), but my brain couldn’t quite get a grasp on that concept. The girl was running after the minibus, which jolted my brain into issuing the commands needed for me to throw my MK50 onto the road. Which was the right, if odd, thing to do.
*at least sitting 4 people where there are seats for 3 is no longer legal: since there are many roadblocks between Lilongwe and Zomba the minibus operators actually obey that law and so the vehicles fill up faster.
**This is why it’s a good idea to travel with your own jumbo (plastic bag) so you’re not at the mercy of the guys selling MK10 jumbos for MK50.
The “Market” photo is so beautiful. Thank you!