if you think the amount of people on the road in toronto is bad, you need to come here and drive around. it is nuts.

to set the scene - picture the worst paved roads you have been on, add potholes (if they aren’t there already) that are about 10 inches deep and scattered everywhere. there are no such things as sidewalks, but its just wherever the pavement for the road drops off into a bunch of red coloured dust.  there are no lines on these roads, and are generally wide enough for two of our western-sized lanes. but everyone drives as if there are room for three vehicles side by side.

there are cars, vans, motorcycles (called achubas), 18 wheeler trucks OVERloaded with yams or what-have-you, taxis, you name it, its on the road. and everyone is trying to get ahead, wherever they can. thankfully there are traffic officers that direct traffic (loosely…of course) otherwise it would be impossible to make a left hand turn. to get a license to drive, you pay money. that is it. no graduated licensing system or even a test at all. there is no signalling, and people flash their lights at you to say hello.

and then there are the people. people trying to cross the street, people trying to sell you stuff (from phone cards to sunglasses, shoes, vegetables, jewellery, etc.) while you are stopped, squeegee kids and widows sweeping dust off the curbs (which is a useless endeavour).

so - all this and i have two rants:

1) the pollution. oh man oh man. i constantly have this itchy feeling at the back of my throat from breathing in exhaust fumes, and dust. it is bad. and of course they have no “drive clean” emissions tests for their cars so the vehicles are just spitting out this horrible stuff. and because there are so many vehicles, you can just see the density in the air. you haven’t seen smog until you come here.

2) the achubas. i would guess that 90% of the patients that are in the hospital are due to achuba accidents. i have seen thousands of achubas over the past week and i think i have counted about 6 people wearing helmets. the rest of them, forget about it - it would make too much sense to protect your head. and they pack these motorcycles: one kid in front of the driver, the driver, one kid behind, the mother and then another kid. none of them are wearing helmets. and the potholes and other cars - its a death trap. and unfortunately, for many it is. that or they end up with crazy burns or head injuries that leave them paralyzed. it is just sad. i will never go on an achuba while i am here.

i hope i’ve given you a taste of what the roads a like here. i will post some pictures soon to give you a visual representation. commuting is certainly quite an adventure and makes getting around very interesting!

hope you all are well.