Taxi Rides

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have tried get more comfortable with the mini bus taxi system here in South Africa. The taxi bus system is the biggest mode of transport for most people in the Durban area. Really for most of South Africa. 

The best way I can describe a mini bus taxi, would be to have you picture 14 passenger van that drive certain routes through the city and the townships. Most are really cheap to travel in, depending on your destination. They are most certainly cheaper than what American's idea of a taxi would be. 

There are conflicting feeling about the mini bus taxi system here in Durban. I'm sure its other places as well. For the people that use the taxi's they love them. For the people who own cars, they hate them. Personally I love them. As someone who uses them, I think the system is great. Let me elaborate. You see, at any point in time you can tell the taxi drive to pull over and let you out. This includes the highway, stop light (robot as South African call them), gas station, ect. The only catch is that the taxi may be in furthest lane possible from the side of the road to let you off. So in a brave or maybe reckless driving style, the mini bus taxi will cut through 2-3 lanes of traffic to let you off where you want. This normal entails a lot of honking and people yelling at each other in Zulu and praying to God that the taxi doesn't get you hurt in this endeavor. 

It is also quite an experience be in the taxi its self. In order for the taxi's to make more money they cram people in like sardines. (Even though the government is trying to regulate this). Not every person is a small size either, so at times it entails having a 100 kg (200+Lbs) man or women sitting half way on you lap and trapping you against the seat. Furthermore, some taxi's feel like you are at a rave party or "house" party, with music blaring. The music is so loud you can barely hear yourself think, let alone hear where the next stop for the taxi is. At times, I am not sure it I can feel my  heart beating from the adrenaline pump through from a near accident or because its the bass of the music vibrating my chest. 

Here is a picture of what the mini bus taxis look like. Not the greatest picture, but it will give you a good idea. 

Here is a long shoot of a mini bus taxi in one of the townships. 

Here is a slightly blurry view of a mini bus taxi rank down town. I can't remember if my house mate and I were in a mini bus taxi during while taking this picture or not. 

Photo's Around Durban

Here are some photos that I have taken since being here. The first one is a picture in the Durban Apartheid Museum. It shows two men, one that was vaccinated for small pox and the other that wasn't. These men were on display to convince people to get vaccines. 

Monkey's I ran across, while running in the Botanically Gardens. They were having a blast playing with each other. Didn't even flinch when I came close to take a picture. 

Tea Garden section of the Botanical Gardens.

Coast line of Durban, from one of the piers. Beautiful isn't it. You can see little dots of people surfing. 

The view as I walk home from the hospital everyday. Sun has been beautiful as it shines through the trees walking up the hill. 

This is a ritual site that I took on my walk to church today. These are found all over the city. Depending on the day, there are tons of people that congregate here. They mix a weird form of ancestral worship and christianity together at these sights. Many people have that view that it is ok to do that. Which is not Christianity at all. 

View of the coast at night. This is one of the biggest piers in the area. Very close to a water park on the coast. Lots people come to the coast in the morning to run. 

Rugby Game and Stadium

The weekend of May 27, was packed and fun day. It started with figuring out how to get to the Moses Mobita Stadium. The stadium was built, for the 2010 Football (soccer) World Cup. It is a stadium that exsentuates the Durban skyline, which cost the country of South Africa over 1 billion rand to make and has yet yielded anything close the amount of money invested in to it. The reason for going to the stadium was to pick up an extra rugby ticket for my new house mate, who arrived from Atlanta on Friday afternoon. So we set out to get there. To walk to the stadium from the hospital it is about a 45-55 minute walk. Which on a beautiful day isn't to bad. 

We first thought about catching a bus to the stadium, but unfortunately I don't understand the bus system very well to get down to the stadium efficiently. So, we decided walk would be nice. Not to mention, it would be a good way for my housemate Anna to get the lay of the land. Since the whole city of Durban is on a hill, it was fairly easy to figure out exactly how to the stadium by just looking at the general direction in which to go. So about 45 minutes after setting out, we were able to approach the stadium. 

After getting the ticket we decided it would a good idea to figure out how to get back to the hospital us the bus and mini bus taxis. Which surprisingly took about the same time as it did to walk there. Since there isn't really a direct route to get back. 

We got back to the hospital, in just enough time to relax for a few minutes and head back out again. The whole week, I had been planning to meet-up with some UK and German medical students to enjoy a braai (bbq in the states). To save on money, we tried the public transport again. An hour later, we arrived at our destination, which was a very nice flat right off the coast. After braai'ing out, we then caught a bus to the stadium. Which entailed me convincing my german and UK friends that the bus was safe, efficient, and cheap to travel on. Fortunately the bus driver was friendly and helped convince them as well. We got to the stadium and had a wonderful time, watching the Sharks (the local durban team) team win.

Here are some pictures of the match. I hope you all enjoy them. 

LSA Video Weekend

A few week ago LSA had a film crew here to do some filming for the new HIV Experience that they are going to be opening in Indianapolis. I had the privilege to join them while they were at Light Providers, which is one of their partners. For the first time I was  able to go to the soccer field and see the team that they had. 

I was impressed with how excited the kids were to show off their skills and to follow orders. I was also struck by the beauty of the countryside and the beauty of relationship these young boys had with each other. I could tell just how much they wanted to be there and to practice. 

Light Providers is the spiritual development partner for Loving South Africa. Football (or soccer in the States) is one of the many ways that Light Providers reaches out to the youth in their neighborhood. Light Provides is focused on changing the circumstances of the youth around them and giving them a deeper understand of God's purpose and love for them. 

Here are a few pictures that I took while I was at the video shot. 

Some local guys playing a pick-up game. 

 The Light Provider youth grabbing their uniforms. 

Lining up to do drills .

Durban Botanical Garden

This weekend was able to go the Durban Botanical Gardens. Fortunately it is just a 20 min walk from the hospital. I was able to spend time sitting by a lake in the center of the gardens, just reading a book enjoying the weather. There are benches all over the park and monthly the park holds a concert. This month the concert fell on my birthday. I got to listen to the artist Johnny Clegg. Johnny Clegg is a South African icon in music. He is a singer, songwriter, dancer, anthropologist, and musical activist. He is one of the first artist in South Africa in the 1970s who played with Black African artists, which was outlawed in South Africa until the end of Apartheid. The concert was very good, although I didn't know any of the songs it was a great South African experience. 

Fortunately, to enter the Botanical Gardens it is free. Today I was able to run with my news housemate Phakamani there to show him the gardens. Throughout the year the garden has different exhibits showing. Due to the subtropical climate the many plants that the garden has are in bloom year around. One of the exhibits is of orchids, which just so happen to be my favorite type of flowers. Unfortunately it is not the best season for orchids, apparently spring is the best (its entering winter right now). It also has an herb garden, a senses garden (so you can experience plants through all your different senses), and tea garden. I didn't know this before going to the garden, but it also houses a Cycad (Encephalartos woodii). Try and say that five times fast. Which is acknowledged as being one of the rarest plants in the world. 

I am hoping within the next few months to post more pictures, now that I have figured out a better internet source. 

Orchids in the Orchid House

View from the bench sitting at the lake

The City of Durban

Here is a picture of the city of Durban that I took while on a walk today. The city is right on the coast. Hope you enjoy. A new blog should be up soon.

Unwelcome Visitor

Just this past Thursday, I was sitting in the common area of the doctor’s quarters watching a little news or soap opera (which is prime time tv here) when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement from the sliding glass door that leads out to the patio. Looking that direction, I saw a rat. It obviously had no clue that I was there, so I decided to scare it outside. As I got up it ran out of sight. So went to where it had been hoping to close the sliding glass door so that it wouldn’t get back in the house. Unfortunately what I found was a closed door, which meant the rat was making its residence somewhere in my living quarters.

I decided one of my missions for Thursday night, was to get this rat out of doctor’s quarters. So, noticing the only place this rat could have gone was in the drawer tower of the desk, I decided to open the sliding glass door and grab a pool stick to flush this rat out. Slowly, not wanting a rat to run up my leg, I pulled the desk away from the wall. Only to find no rat, which I was extremely puzzled about thinking surely it had to have been under the desk. So I scanned the area, to make sure there wasn’t anything else the rat could be hiding under. Then I realized that the draws of the desk were shorter then the tower they were in. So clearing out some space around me, I slowly pulled out each of desk drawers.  Nothing in the first one, then all of a sudden as I pulled out the second drawer the rat jumps out the back of the drawer. Running around to the back of the desk, I saw no sign of the rat. But, I had the sliding glass door open, so after searching the other draws, I figured the rat had ran out open door.

The next morning, I was boosting to my house mom about how I had taken care of the rat and I was feeling good. Friday evening, after going out to a concert, I got home and was ready to unwind and watch some tv, I grabbed the remote and sat down. Out of the corner of my eye saw and then heard some scurrying and a thump. Immediately I know that I had not taken care of my rat friend last night, and I was so thankful that I hadn’t sat on the couch closest to bookcase (which is where the rat had jumped down from and where I normally sit).  So I grabbed my pool stick and was ready for round two with this rat. I opened the sliding glass door and pulled out the drawers to the desk, give the rat a hint of where it needed to go. Not being sure of where it went, I decided my best bet was to flip all the couches to make sure it had not gone under them. Moving the furniture around, I started flipping them one by one. Finding no sign of the rat under any of them. So I decided the only other place it could have gone was under the bookcase. Using my pool stick, I swept under the bookcase and out the back jumped the rat. It tried its hardest to find a place to hide under the couches to no avail. So it tried running around the room, finding somewhere to hide, as I followed it with my pool stick in hand. After trying for the desk, it turned back towards me and that was it. One hit and I won the round. Not sure what to do with it, I decided I would throw it onto the patio for all the other rodents in the area to take into consideration before coming into the doctor’s quarters.

This has been one of the first times, since being here that I had an “I am in Africa moment.” Which is funny because isn’t not like I haven’t had run-ins with rodents in the States. I’m sure it would been quite a scene to see me chase this rat around doctors quarters, trying to avoid having this rat run up my leg and trying to take it out at the same time.  I can recall just a few times that I have had an I am in Africa moment. Three of them have been with animals. The first would be the above mentioned, the second was when I was at a restaurant with some friends and a flying cockroach flew into my face and then landed in my lap. Which made one of my friends jump onto her chair and almost fall into the lap of the gentlemen sitting behind her at the next table over. The third was with a gecko in the bathroom. I was pulling on the toilet paper and all of a sudden out of the roll jumps a gecko. It then proceed to climb up the wall and until it found its way out around the door.