Goma driving

Driving here is pretty interesting. The very few paved roads that exist
are ridden with not only pot holes, but also the occasional speed bump,
some of which rival those of the Philippines. And the road is used for
carts, motorcycles, people, bicycles, cars, and huge semi-like flatbed
trucks. There are times when there is barely a way through a huge
stretch of road because there are so many people, and when there are
cars going in opposite directions... well the people usually move after
beeping a few times but its still close. Some of the people here are
kind of crazy drivers, and the motorcyclists have a mind of their own.
And that is on the paved roads.

The majority of the roads are just paths over the lava with occasional
gravel filling in the low spots. They not only have potholes but also
odd shaped pieces of lava and softball sized rocks just laying in the
road. they are always there. I don't know if they are natural or
people just put them there because the road was too smooth before, but
they are pretty annoying. And the lava isn't smooth at all. There are
drop offs and all sorts of juts and holes. Needless to say driving is a
little different here than in the US, but not impossible.

I was getting kind of intimidated at the thought of driving here until
we rode with a taxi driver over the weekend. Unlike his New York
counterparts, this guy drove a van and was a safe driver. Not slow or
obnoxious, just safe, and I thought "hey, I could drive here if this guy
can." We had a lot in common (well, really not much at all that I know
about because he only spoke Swahili) at least when it came to driving,
and I was getting at ease a bit about driving. Although the stick shift
(all but one of the cars at HEAL) is still a bit intimidating given the
circumstances.

And I was fine driving. I knew I could handle it. I drove the other
day, but that was the only time so far, and then something happened to
boost my confidence even more.

Yesterday and today we rode to Mawe Hai with the same guy. I should
have known something was up when we were driving the automatic and we
were parked in front of a brick wall and instead of backing up he
lurches forward. Okay, the signs are in English and he's used to
French... yeah, I buy that. We're driving and the steering wheel is on
the right of the car, and we are driving more on the left side of the
road than the middle or the right like you are supposed to. I don't
understand that one. He drives really slow at unnecessary times, beeps
constantly, and when it comes to potholes and paths through the lava, he
misses all the little ones and just hits the big ones head on.

And then today... joy. We're leaving Mawe Hai and it is a steep,
coarse rock road (notice I said rock and not gravel). The tires are
balder than Dopey the dwarf, and we're going up (in a stick shift today)
and then we stop about two thirds of the way up. Instead of backing
down the hill and trying again from a better angle, he puts it into gear
on a hill and the car was moaning, but he got it into gear, we bumped
around not going anywhere and the tires were spinning like it was on
ice, and the car stalls. He puts his foot on the clutch and doesn't
break and I don't know if he was trying to back up and just wasn't used
to it or what, but the story ends with one tire off a 2 foot rock drop
off and we're not going anywhere.

We got out all right with pushing from me and like 6 guys, but with his
slaughtering of the car and the people inside, I decided I wouldn't mind
driving here, just not like him.