An Adventure at the Bus Station

I HAD A CRAZY EXPERIENCE ON THE WAY HOME TODAY. I was in piazza (the center of town and to get home from there you have to go to this main bus hub where all the mini busses come in and out. There are always a lot of people, it's always busy, but nothing like I ever saw tonight. On a typical day, you walk up to the area, and there is anywhere from 4-10 busses sitting and waiting. There are young bus boys yelling out the destination of their bus, and you just get on! If it's busy, the busses pull up and the bus boy who is hanging out of the bus is yelling where the bus is going. If you're on the way, you get on, it's quite easy. Today was not an ordinary day.


I knew something was up when I walked to the bus stop area and there were well over 100 people waiting for a bus. Far more than I have ever seen before, even if it was right after work. I guess there was some type of road block on the way to college (that's where I live), which meant that all the buses going that way had to take a longer route, which messed up the whole system.  


A bus would pull up, and if it was going the direction of College, people would try to hurl themselves onto the bus. They would huddle and follow the bus until it stopped, and once the doors open it was a free for all. Didn't matter if you're a woman, child, crippled or scared shitless white girl...once those doors opened you had to figure out how to push your way onto the bus. One bus pulled up, and I thought it would be a good idea to get right in the middle- push myself up towards the front. I can handle it, right?! Well, once the doors opened, I was not ready for it. It was SO SCARY!! It was like I was in the middle of an Ethiopian mosh pit, that I did NOT want to take part in!  I got scared and backed out of it, it was just too much to handle and all the Ethiopians laughed- I'm sure I was quite the spectical. I'm a spectical enough just being white around here, but then trying to fight for a seat against the locals was just too much for them to handle. 

ANYWAY, after I backed away from my near death experience, I walked away from the road to regroup and figure out a game plan.  All of a sudden I heard, "Liz!" And oh my gosh, I've never been so happy to see someone I know. I forget his name, but I worked with him this weekend when I was doing language testing. Thank goodness I ran into him- seriously. We waited for a while because he was heading the same direction as I was. 


Finally, we decided it was time to fight the crowds again. A bus pulled up, he started running towards it, grabbed my arm and told me to hurry. He was pushing through women, children, and got himself shimmied towards the front of the bus where the front seat passenger side door was way to the front. He put one hand out to block people from getting in, used the other hand to open the front door, yelled my name, and then grabbed my bag from me and shoved me inside!! He hopped in after me and we were both able to sit in the front. Once we got in, everyone was laughing because tonight was quite the unusual experience at the bus station. I thanked my friend by paying for his  fare and eventually got home safely!


What a night. 


PS- This is a picture of a typical Ethiopian minibus. I hope you have a good image of me tonight. When each seat is occupied, it seats 12 people, plus the driver, plus the bus boy who sits on a small stool near the door. One time, I counted 25 people in a minibus. Did you know, Ethiopia is 2nd in the world for most fatalities for motor-vehicle accidents? Awesome.