Public transport at its finest

These three women are wearing typical Sudanese dress. Waiting for the bus. Its a dark photo. I apologize.

We rode the bus the other day, and I promise, we did not look as beautiful flagging it down.

There aren't really bus stops, just loose routes that are pretty hard to figure out. But when you find one that you think you want to get on, you flag it down and find a seat. Everyone sits down. Eventually, the nice guy working the door snaps his fingers and everyone passes the fare to him. Forty or fifty piastres or cents. He takes his time giving change. When you want off, you simply snap your fingers at the door guy, and he hisses, telling the driver to stop.

This is a very calm and pleasant experience. People don't really talk much on the bus. Nobody is bumping into you. Flip down seats fill up the aisles as people pile on. This makes it difficult when you find yourself in the back of the bus looking to get off. Everyone filling the tiny aisles with flip-down seats has to get up, put the seat up, and get out of the way for you to shimmy out of the bus and onto the road. This is sometimes not even the curb, but the middle of the road.

Overall, its well-worth your 25 or 30 cents. Assuming, of course, that you get on a route that takes you to the right place.