A Word About Driving

  Coming to a new country involves becoming acclimatized to many new things – food, culture, language, dress, sights, sounds, temperature, to name a few. As Zambia is a former British colony, we’ve also had the joy of becoming accustomed to a new way of driving - on the left (wrong) side of the road. Unfortunately, Zambia does not have those helpful “Look Left” signs that are all over the touristy areas in England.

  Learning to drive on the left side of the road has been an interesting experience. Everything is reversed in the car. Your signal indicator and windshield wipers are opposite to what we are used to. Markus and I were constantly turning on the wipers when we made a turn. Imagine already being somewhat terrified about making what feels like a horribly wrong turn and then suddenly having the wipers going. We definitely stood out like newbies. I find that I rarely look in my rearview mirror and instead look to my side mirror as I have to look to my left to see my rearview mirror which is just not automatic yet for me. Then there’s the fact that you get into the driver’s side on the opposite side of the car. Twice yesterday I went to the wrong side of the car, once sitting down in the passenger seat only to realize that I was missing some important things, like a steering wheel, brakes, gas peddle, etc.

  Lusaka is a city of speed bumps, most of them unmarked. You may find that you are driving down a road with huge speed bumps (called humps here) every 20 ft or so. While this makes for a rather bumpy ride at times, it definitely slows down traffic, which has been useful while I’m still learning to drive on the left. I couldn’t imagine attempting this in a country like Italy where the goal seems to be to go as fast as you possibly can down narrow roads that are more like the size of bike lanes. Driving in Lusaka is quite laid back which is a relief.

  Another benefit to driving a bit slower here is the high number of pot holes that seem to plague all the roads. At least when you drive a bit slower, you have a better chance of avoiding these holes in the road. Our road is particularly bad. Drivers appear to be drunk while going down our street as it’s not possible to drive in a straight line unless you don’t mind a popped tire. Adding to the challenge is that they have started to fill in the pot holes on our street with piles of broken rock. I’ve seen some workers starting to bash the rock into smaller pieces so that the street is a bit smoother. Unfortunately, this project has been left uncompleted so in addition to the unfilled pot holes we also have jagged rock piles interspersed along the road. I hope our little Toyota survives.

  Driving in Lusaka is also interesting due to the significant number of street vendors. Now, I’m not talking about people selling things on the sidewalk. No, in Lusaka, there are people selling various items right in the middle of the road. You can buy any number of items – clothing, fruits, vegetables, phone chargers, talk time for your phone, plungers, belts, sunglasses, notebooks, maps, wooden model ships. In fact, it’s very efficient. You don’t even need to get out of your car to buy something; they come right up to your window to make a sale. So far, I’ve bought avocados and talk time from the street vendors. The avocados were excellent. So in addition to looking out for pot holes and pedestrians, as well as making sure that you are turning into the right lane, you also need to be careful not to hit the street vendors who are in the middle of the road.

  Now, you may be thinking that this all doesn’t sound so bad, and in fact, I would agree with you. I’ve really started to get used to driving here. Except when you add a crying baby to the mix. Isaac hasn’t decided whether he likes his car seat or not. He’s definitely not one of those babies who are easily soothed to sleep in the car. The first time, Markus and I realized that Isaac really has a set of lungs was when we were stuck in traffic with him screaming. We’ve found that the one thing that makes car trips bearable for him is to sing Raffi songs almost continuously. I’ve often wondered as I’m driving down the road loudly singing Baby Beluga if people are looking at us and thinking “what’s that crazy white lady doing to that poor black baby”. I rather hope they are thinking that she’s doing whatever it takes. Thankfully with each car ride, Isaac seems to be less upset and my Raffi repertoire grows.