They are privately operated minivans (usually Toyota). Daladalas are operated by the driver and the mpigadebe (in Swahili, "someone who beats on a tin can") whose duty is to collect money from the passengers as well as luring potential customers onboard. As daladalas are informal and will often stop along the way to let passengers climb in, the mpigadebe beats on a tin can (hence the name), or on the daladala's ceiling or doors, to let the driver know when an unplanned stop is needed. There is no precise maximum number of passengers.That last sentence is key. One pulled up. It looked full, so I thought that we'd just wait for the next one. Oh no. We got on. It was packed. At least 20 people on it. There is a lot of stopping to let a few people off and then get more people on. It was quite entertaining and not scary like I had been anticipating. We eventually got to the Arusha bus stand, where we found a Coaster (next bus size up...not as big as a greyhound type bus though) that was headed to Moshi. Nate said it was important to find a Coaster that had seats available but was almost full so that it would leave soon. (There is not a set schedule departures and arrivals. The buses will wait until they are full so as to make the most money.) I thought it was almost full when we got on, but I was mistaken. Nate and I sat in two seats. Then there was an aisle (with a fold down seat) and another seat on the other side. There were two ladies sitting in front of us with two kids and and a baby. The baby girl was probably about 6 months old, dressed in her Easter best, and full-cheeked. So cute. So, of course, I started making funny faces at her. She stared at me and her mom noticed and laughed. Once the bus got full (5 adults and 2 kids on our row of 4 seats), we started taking off. As we did so, the mom in front of us, lifted the baby girl over the back of our seat towards us. I looked at Nate and said, "I think she's handing us her baby." And so I took the baby. I held that chubby baby girl for the entire 1.5 hr plus bus ride. It made my day. It was weird for sure...so counter-cultural to America where everyone keeps to themselves and trusts no one with their kids. But, on the bus, there was a strong community feel. We were all in it together, and because this mom had to hold her older kid in her lap, it made sense that someone else (me) had to hold her baby. Here is a picture:
Look at those chubby cheeks!!! She slept most of the way. When she wasn't sleeping, she was quiet and looking around curiously. At the end of the bus ride, the mom got off and waited for me by the stairs. I handed her the baby girl, and she thanked me. That was that.
Oh, one more funny story about the bus ride. We got pulled over by a cop because we had people standing on the bus (apparently not allowed but it happens all the time). So, the cop made the people standing get off and walk. We stayed and the bus driver had to pay a fine I think. Our bus driver was laughing when we he started the bus back up. Nate said, "I bet we're just going to go down the road a bit and pick up those people again." And that is exactly what happened. And, not only did we pick up those two people who initially got kicked off, but we picked up a few more too!
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