the konbi

konbis are the mode of local transportation in zim, s. africa and swaziland (and other countries too i'm sure). they are basically mini buses that hold comfortably the driver, one employee (to collect fares) and 12 passengers. swaziland will carry 14 passengers which isn't too bad as long as no one has large bags however in zim there is no limit. the most i ever counted (and i know there were more people but my vision was blocked) was 31! 31 passengers in a bus made for 14 people. this involved sitting, kneeling, sitting on laps, legs straddling fellow passengers and so forth. huge bags were balanced on heads, stuffed under legs and placed on those whom the bags didn't belong to. on top of the sardine like conditions, remember that there wasn't washing soap, for body or for clothes; the smell inside was so bad i found myself nearly sick to stomach a few times. the windows were never opened because of the freezing 20 -25 degree weather outside (and warmer in the evening). if this wasn't bad enough, there were canisters filled with fuel inside the konbi. because of the fuel shortages, the drivers had to ensure they had fuel in case they ran out. the smell of b.o, fuel, food, and the occasional drunk and dirty diaper was enough to make to make me kiss the ground upon arrival at my stop - which i frequently missed because i couldn't see out the windows.
usually we are charged the same fare as locals however there are times when the colour of skin is reason to charge us more - double or triple the normal amount. yesterday was the worst i have ever experienced. we took a day trip and on our way home everyone was charged E80 except the driver wanted E160 from us (around 25 dollars). we were refusing to pay and the driver and employee were getting angry (as well as the very drunk man in the front seat). i was starting to get nervous. the driver was going at last 130km an hour (no seat belt). (the drivers here are TERRIBLE but that's another entry). a fellow passenger was acting as translator for us (still not sure if i trust in what he was saying or not) and reported to us that if we didn't pay the E160, the driver would drop us off close to our location but not exactly where we wanted to go. the translator said we would have to hitch and it wasn't safe. i was torn, i wasn't sure if the driver was actually saying this or if the translator was telling us lies so he could get a share of their enormous profit. eventually they dropped us off (for E80) at a T junction on the highway. it was our lucky day because a big truck had pulled over to let the men (mostly drunk) have a pee. they agreed to take us up the road to our destination. here we were, holding on for dear life (at least i was) on the back of truck, going 120km an hour. it was so windy i thought my glasses were going to blow off my face. one drunk man decided to talk (or yell because it was so loud) to me. was he speaking english or siSwati? i had no idea. he was making me uncomfortable though. i eventually told him my husband was waiting for me at our stop. the man gave me the thumbs us along with saying "shap" and the left me alone. "shap"+thumbs up = good.
i'm getting old. i would have enjoyed the adventure a few years ago while travelling in southeast asia. now i want seat belts, speed limits and sobriety (at least in cars)