I get around...

Perhaps I don't always get around, but I try. Below are some of the transportation options and complications in Cape Town.

Cars in South Africa are driven, as they are in the UK, on the left side of the road. This always throws me off since I expect all cars to be coming from the right and nearly step out in front of traffic after looking the wrong direction. Another challenge is heaped on remembering to look in all directions before crossing, and that is the lack of respect for pedestrians. When crossing the street in front of cars, it is not unlikely for the car to speed up and steer toward the pedestrian. I, like most pedestrians, have taken to checking every possible direction for traffic, then running across the road and hoping to survive. It's rather like the live-action version of Frogger.

In addition, since cars drive on the left, people walk on the left side of sidewalks and staircases. This causes me great frustration because I'm in the American habit of walking on the right side of sidewalks. Habit causes me to run into people constantly unless I walk along consciously repeating to myself "Left...stick to the left...", which tends to make me look mentally unbalanced.

Many people here don't have cars and gasoline is expensive, so a sort of transportation known as minibuses has developed. A minibus is a van that drives up and down the principle roads in Cape Town, picking people up and dropping them off wherever they request along the route. There are a few quirks of minibuses, however. Each minibus has 2 workers, a driver and a "guard". The driver steers the vehicle down the road while the guard yells out the window at people about the places the van will take you, collects money from the passengers, and runs "customer service". Thus, the streets are full of sketchy-looking vans, usually crammed with people, driving back and forth down familiar routes, emitting honks, whistles, and shouts as they go. Minibuses are cheapest form of transportation in the city, but they're a bit shady and can't be taken after dark.

Alternatives to the minibuses are metered cabs, like those in U.S. cities, and the train. The metered cabs are the safest but also the most expensive form of public transportation. The train, I am told, is very dangerous, and I have been warned never to ride it.

For students at UCT, there is also the Jammie Shuttle, which provides transportation to and from campus. These are strikingly similar to the Columbia bus system in that they are large blue buses packed with students. These are free, but the hours and routes are extremely limited. I mostly utilize the Jammie to take me up the hill to the top of campus in the morning so I don't have to walk hundreds of steps in the rain.