Life is pretty good when you're not DEAD
Today Id like to share a story that actually has three stories in one. They all share something in common, which of course is how I almost died.
One hell of an opening paragraph, huh? Well this all began one day a few weeks ago when I was traveling to Thies in a car. Things were looking up. I ate a nice lunch, relaxed in front of a fan for a few hours and I took a nice little nap. Then it was time to take public transportation. Not a big deal since I do it quite often. I was squished in the car with 6 other passengers and we were on our way, until suddenly a car pulled up next to us and told us we had to go back to pick up something. Everyone in the car was pissed and got out thinking that they could easily just hitchhike. I for one was having a good day, so I decided to wait it out and get back on the road soon. So the driver, a random guy and I all went back. No other cars were around so I couldnt switch cars. I ended up waiting about an hour for them to pick up that "something" that we came back for. No big deal, because remember I was already having that good day.
Suddenly the guys car pulls up with his special "something". Some idiot(s) decided that it would be easy to strap another car on top of ours. It wasnt half a car. It wasnt spare parts from a car. It was a WHOLE car. Of course it was a wrecked car, but it was still a car. Apparently it was easier for them to strap it on top of ours because it had no tires. Had an engine though. The point of the story is that i took 4 hours to get where i was going that only takes an hour. During our little expedition every single passenger in the car, including myself, were trembling in fear....especially when the hood of the car started to make noises. The noises kind of reminded me of the sound of a car being on top of ours trying to crush us below, but Im not totally sure.
The second time I almost died was pretty scary as well. I was getting a late start on my trip coming home so I had to take a car at night time. New lesson learned....dont do that in Africa. I must have been having another one of those good days because I chose to ride in the only car without headlights. Driving at night here in general is a stupid decision to make. Its just damn idiotic to drive at night without headlights. To make this death story short, all I can say is that I was joining in with the rest of the car as they prayed to Allah that we didnt crash head on with the cars coming directly at us. Yeah, Im that damn idiot I was just talking about.
the third time I almost died was three days ago. With my personal experience with death traps, ive been more aware of the cars Im riding in just in case. So I saw a really nice car and I did not hesitate to push my way thru the crowd to get in it. The car looked new, it even had one of those tree incense hanging from the mirror. The only downer was that the fresh smell of the evergreen tree did not help mask the odor of the gas fumes filling my precious lungs. Have you ever seen a movie where someone hooks up a garden hose to their exhaust pipe and tries to gas themselves in their car? Yeah, same concept. The air has NEVER tasted so sweet until after I got out of the car. I must have prayed extra hard to Allah last time they tried to kill me because somebody was looking out for me. I think its about time to get another one of those magical charms, this time one to prevent people from killing me with their cars.
posted by Paulshaft @ 5:16 AM
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