Taxi Rasta

One day at the taxi station in Navrongo, one of the drivers asked me if I wanted to go to Paga just with him for 2GHC, the private chartered price instead if sharing a taxi with 3 others. I thought he was just trying to hustle me like some taxi drivers have tried to do by getting me to accept a private instead of shared cab. So with a couple bottles of Guinness in me and feeling pretty comfortable, I flat out asked him which price he would rather pay 2GHC or 50 peswas (cents)? He responded: “If I was in a hurry or if something was urgent then I would pay 2GHC”, I replied “I’m in no hurry”, and then he said in a friendly way with a smile, “Well I can’t know what you’re thinking”. We laughed and slapped/shook hands (I’ve never shaken more hands in my life here). He called me on my assumption but in a great way.

I didn’t realize that he was the driver of a different taxi than the one I tossed my (sealed) pillow in the trunk of and opened the door to, which already had 4 passengers. (I’ve noticed it’s not uncommon to cram 5 people in a taxi). He asked me if I was getting in with them, and I said with a smile and some confidence, “why not? We’re all brothers and sisters. One love (a one-liner from a Bob Marley song, an artist that you hear all the time around here)”, I can’t remember his exact words but it was something along the lines of “one people uniting”. We then exchanged this kind of handshake that I learned from some Rasta’s I was hanging out with Bolga: instead of shaking hands, with a closed fist you extend your arm and touch fists at the knuckles then bring your fist to your chest over your heart. It happened pretty fast and I didn’t even think before I spoke, it just felt natural, and so did the handshake thing, it’s like we both knew about the same thing, or felt the same way about something without even thinking about it. I left Navrongo with a great feeling: a happy heart. The feeling even returned as I exited the taxi and said goodbye to the woman I sat next to but didn’t end up talking to. It was such a flicker of time, an instant, maybe 2 seconds, but a genuine smile and goodbye from a stranger I was uncomfortably squished against in a sweaty taxi felt incredible.