Disco Taxi

So yesterday we were out in some unknown part of the city near Wynberg trying to collect the remaining surveys for the study we’re conducting (as part of the service learning we’re doing here).  We had a great taxi experience that I just wanted to share.  Crammed into a taxi (which is basically a ratty old bus about the size of a VW bus), I’m sitting crammed on the far back bench between the tiniest man and the biggest man that I’ve ever seen.  Giant-man was crouched over his smart phone on facebook trying desperately not to touch anyone or anything around him as we bounced and swerved down the road toward our destination.  As I mentioned before, taxis here are a bit different.  One man drives (never a woman) while another man collects the money and hangs out the window yelling to recruit people to get on board.  It’s never too full- never.  So we swing to the side of the road and abruptly stop to recruit some more people to get on the taxi.  Giant-man doesn’t look up, and tiny-man continues to pretend like he doesn’t see me squished up against him.  Two people walk over, interested in getting in the taxi but appear to be talking to the recruiter about their concern that there are no seats left.  “Sure there are,” the recruiter appears to say as he pulls an overturned milk crate out and places a cushion on top (I actually have no idea what they’re saying).  The men were not impressed, so they refused to enter, and after a few minutes more of trying to convince them, our taxi began to swing back away from the curb, and *then* the recruiter slid the door closed.  Yes, we were in full motion- imagine all our heads swaying toward the open door to the motion of the car taking off from it’s parked position by the side of the road (Wheee!).  I can only guess that this gave the driver a crazy idea…he cranked up the music as we pulled up to a stop light.  There, the magic happened.  He must’ve noticed the foreigners and a few other passengers mouthing the words to the Beyonce song blaring over the after-market speakers pinned in each corner of the taxi.  At the stop light, he began to pump the brakes- hard- to the rhythm of the music.  Since we’re all innocent bystanders in this disco taxi ride, all of our heads, willing or not, began to lurch to the music. uh uh uh….uh uh uh…of course, almost no one in the taxi knows each other, so everyone’s trying not to laugh until finally Fred, our ever formal mentor here at ARESTA, was laughing so hard he was crying.  Giant-man never acknowledged that we were all unwillingling dancing to the Beyonce song while sitting in our taxi, but willing or not, we bounced to the beat.  There were only 4 of us from the trip plus Fred on the taxi today, but it will go down as the funnest taxi ride ever…