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Published: October 4th 2008
When our kids answer the question, “How do you like Africa?” they answer, “Good - we walk a lot.” Living without a car is definitely an adjustment. Any small item that we purchase, we need to carry home. As mentioned, our house is quite far from public transportation. Addis Ababa has an efficient network of public minibuses that take you to various city centers. The minibuses have 11 seats in them and are often full. However, for our family of seven, we need to find not only a bus that is going where we want to go, but also one that is half empty. On the bright side, we have been warned that sometimes you have to wait until the bus fills up before it will leave. We never seem to have that problem because we always fill up the bus! Many times we have crammed 6 of us on the back 3 seats.
On Friday, during a festival, we couldn’t find any buses and ended up walking to the festival and back. Our Ethiopian friend claimed it was “only a mile” although it was 2-3miles long. We were sooooooo tired at the end of that day - we calculated that we walked at least 9 miles. Even our shoes are showing signs of wear! Tadas and my (Ruta)'s trusty hiking boots have broken - their soles have come apart from the boot. ugh.
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anonymous
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Hiring a mini bus
Just a tip - you can hire any one of the minbus drivers. They'll be grateful for the regular arrangement because it means they'll get regular money. Just ask the next minubus driver that takes you to work, and get their number, and let them know where to meet you. You might have to pay *slightly* more than for regular public transport but I'm only talking a difference of about $2 US (if that). Also, the arrangements aren't necessarily binding so you can cancel whenever and the driver will happily move on. Just remember to haggle (a lot!)