Tuk Tuk Vs. Matatu

In case I haven't mentioned this yet, the roads here are possibly the scariest part of my experience. There are minimal traffic lights, basically no stop signs, and drivers that do whatever they want all the time. It basically makes me feel like I might die every time I enter a vehicle. The roads are somewhat paved, but usually have a ton of potholes. Flying around from all the bumps is pretty common. O and p.s. they drive on the wrong side of the road, so I almost get hit when I cross the street because I look the wrong way. It is an adventure.

Anyways, as far as public transportation goes, the basic modes are bus and taxi. However, in Nairobi and Mombasa there are these vehicles called matatus. They are pretty awesome because they are usually these pimped out vans about the size of a mini-van but maybe a little bit bigger. O but all the seats have been modified so that there are 14 seats...for 14 passengers, right? Wrong! Matatus are ridiculous because they fit as many people as they can, including on all the seats and in the aisles. When they drive down the street, the matatu guys who collect money ( I don't know what to call them) hang out the side of the van waving down people. They are kind of intimidating, but I am getting more and more used to them. However, we were strongly advised to make our backpacks 'frontpacks' because apparently people hang out in matatus waiting to pickpocket you. I promise it's not actually that big of an issue, though. At least not yet.

An example of the really classy stickers that get put on matatus...'Got Money' theme.

Besides matatus, while we were in Mombasa, I discovered the glory of a Tuk Tuk. It is possibly the most exciting vehicle ever. It's a 3-wheeled adventure with no windows and 3 people shoved in the back seat. They're really fun because they are little and can maneuver around everything, as well as being just as cheap as matatus if you bargain right. AND they take you straight to where you want to go. Although, I'm pretty sure half of the drivers are intoxicated in some way because ours seemed very confused every once and a while. Needless to say, we started paying more attention after it took us twenty minutes to get somewhere fairly close by. Moral of the story: I love tuk tuks, and they are just one more reason Mombasa is better than Nairobi.

My attempt to take a picture of a tuk tuk secretly while moving. Sorry...it kind of failed.