Have you ever wanted to go to an exotic place and blend in with the locals, enjoy the place the way the natives do? Well that was me and my friend -- on vacation in this beautiful Caribbean island. We didn't want to be in the touristy resort, that kept you in a protective bubble, far away from the reality of the people that live there.
So we decided to venture out on our own, and take a local taxi to the historic colonial part of town. Unfortunately for us it started raining, and of course, as soon as it rains -- as if by magic -- all the taxis vanish into the air. So there we were, standing on the corner, getting drenched (we forgot our umbrellas), when salvation! we spotted a taxi making its way to us. We waved it to stop -- and it did -- the driver asked us our destination, we told him, and he said get in.
It was once we got in, that we realized that maybe we had made a mistake. Let me describe the condition of the interior of this car: it was one of those 1950's car, really large on the inside. Which means that this driver was picking up as many people as he could pack in. We were on the back seat, which already had three persons, all scrunched in. Now my friend is really tall, so he let me in first, then had to contort himself by the door.
Apart from the driver, there were another three passenger in the front. The car was so unstable that it was held together by this large belt running from one door on the left -- to the other door on the right. To top it off, because the front was so crowded, the driver was actually leaning out the window as he drove, while the passenger next to him had his foot on the gas pedal. So that the two were coordinating between the brake and the gas pedal as they drove. Naturally, this arrangement made them drive like maniacs. And me and my friend were seriously thinking that maybe it would have been better to just get soaked in the pouring rain. But you know what...? ...We had so much fun, that to this day -- it's what we most remember about that trip!
