Gelly Rides

The gelly is the Gambian bush taxi.  It's the way to get around the country. I'll just go through what it takes to get from my place to the city.  So first I walk to the main road.  I'm pretty lucky to live less than 1k away from the south bank highway so this leg of the trip isn't bad at all.  I generally take a circuitous route to the road that takes me through the other main compound in Salliyaa just so no one can say they didn't know I was leaving.  Once I get to the road, it's a waiting game.  I sit by the road until a gelly with an empty seat comes by, which could be 10 minutes or 2 hours.  It just depends on luck. When you see a gelly coming down the road headed the direction you want to go, you stick your arm out signaling you want a ride. If the gelly is full the driver will honk at you or flash his lights or just wave to let you know the car is full.  When your time comes, the gelly pulls off the road so you can get in. So you get in this van-sized vehicle that has been outfitted with benches so it can accomodate twice what a normal van would.  Then you set off down the south bank highway.  Depending a little on the health of your gelly, it's pretty much like riding a wooden roller coaster for a couple of hours. Somewhere along the way, the apprentice driver (apparente) asks you for your money, which amounts to about $2 for my first leg of the trip and about 50 cents for the next 2 legs of the trip combined.  Apparantes are some of the most interesting people in The Gambia.  They are mostly teenage boys who spend their days opening and closing the doors of the gelly, jumping into the gelly while it is moving, putting whatever people want to transport onto the top of the gelly (this varies from luggage to livestock to furniture), collecting money, passing people babies in and out of the gelly, arguing with people over what the pass cost should be, "learning people skills required for being a driver" and making rediculous fashion choices.  My first gelly stops in Brikama at a major carpark.  I get out and negotiate the acre of gellys everywhere. There have got to be I dunno... more than 100 gellys there at a time all coming and going.  There I have to get another gelly headed to a place where I get a taxi that will drop me at either the office or a short walk from the house. Overall in about 3-4 hours I can from my place to the office or house.  Always an adventure!