Today I took what will probably prove to be my last ride in
a Grand Taxi in Morocco. Like many other times I found myself quite consciously
preparing my soul for its final journey. The speedometer on this particular
aged Mercedes was broken so I had no way of knowing how fast we were going. But
I was keenly aware that the tires were underinflated which caused a fair amount
of fishtailing of the back end. I was also aware that school had just let out
for lunch so the road was filled with children, bicycles, horse carts, cars and
trucks. This made for a nice blend of obstacles to avoid at 140km per hour or
so.
One thing that made this drive unique was the hissy-fit our
driver threw midway through the trip. As we were barreling along a deserted part
of the road, without warning he put on the breaks, pulled the car off the road,
got out and walked away. I paused my ipod, took my ear buds out and opened my
own door to figure out what was wrong. There I saw him, standing twenty yards
behind the car, doing absolutely nothing. As it turns out he was brooding. I
went to ask him what was wrong and he told me that in the rear view mirror he
had seen in the back seat a Moroccan boy and girl getting too friendly with
each other! And this was why we were by the side of the road, doing nothing.
After awkwardly coaxed his reasons for stopping out of him,
I realized I had no idea how to handle this situation. So I went back to the
car, and explained to the young man in question that I didn’t know what the
driver was saying and he had better go talk to him. Which he did, and got an
earful! But eventually we were on our way again, hurling towards near death
until we safely arrived at our destination.
And I was reminded of another Grand Taxi ride I had taken
more then two years previously. That
trip was the first time I realized how frightfully dangerous to life and limb
Moroccan transportation was. Luckily we made it out of that situation alive and
I took a moment to gather my shredded nerves. Two years later, I didn’t need a
moment. I got out of the taxi, thanked the drive and said, “You drive very
well.” He smiled.
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