Boda Bodas Part II
Butare, Rwanda September 12/2006 (a belated post)
Back in Butare to work at Radio Salus again. Most of the time I make the 30-minute journey on foot but there are times when my pack is too heavy and/or I'm simply too tired so I resort to taking a moto (Rwanda's version of boda-bodas). At least here the drivers carry an extra helmet and the distances are relatively small.
Well, today presented a new challenge. As I walked to the moto stop by the stadium I realized I was wearing a long dress -- yip, and I don't think it would have been cool to hike it up and straddle both the bike and the driver. Shit, I thought, as I beckoned a driver. Then I heard somebody behind me say "muzungu" (white person in Kinyarwanda/kiswahili). I turned. A young man was standing there complete with a broken bottle held up in his hand. Coming right at me. I wanted to run or at least turn away. Instead, I smiled. We greeted, shook hands. I relaxed except for the nagging thought in my mind of the side saddle ride I'd have to do shortly.
The bottle-wielding man beckoned a moto. I grabbed the driver's shoulders and slid my ever-widening butt onto what seemed a pathetically inadequate "seat". My feet flopped around resembling fish caugh on dry land. I grabbed a small handle at the end of the seat and began to wonder waht was going to prevent me from sliding off or worse flung off (nothing, would be the correct answer!).
I decide I wouldn't move a muscle (balance, you know) before we reached our destination. And I didn't. Well, except holding the bar as tight as I could and moving my eyeballs to glance up as we passed a huge truck with a guy in the passenger seat looking down on me with a bemused (or amused?) look on his face. And he wasn't alone. As we whizzed down the main street there were more looks -- amused, bemused, shocked, horrified. But at least, I thought, I was providing some entertainment.
A few days later when presented with the same predicament (the long dress scenario), I realized I didn't want to balance anymore. So I just hopped on, skirt hiked up (but a reasonable hike) and straddled. Now that was more like it!
posted by Michelle @ 12:04 AM
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