Friday rush Hour at the Minibus station

Traffic Jam at 5 PM in Malawi

Minibus station but this doesn't do justice to the mayhem and noise!
Friday rush hour at the minibus station
Today Regina left early to go find gas (petrol). We have shortages about once a week and the cars line up into the streets either waiting for petrol deliveries or waiting in line to be served if the petrol has been delivered. The price also went up on Thursday from about 260Kw to 290Kw per liter. (The problem seems to be related to lack of foreign exchange resulting in inability to pay the suppliers in their currency which is usually the USD and work on the bridge over the Zambezi River on the road connecting Malawi to Mozambique).
I got downtown in the college car since it was going that way and then I caught the minibus to the “bus station”. It took a long time to get there even though it is likely only about 1.5 miles. The single bridge over the LIlongwe River was backed up into the rotary that precedes it and the side roads into the rotary were all clogged as well. There also were traffic police stopping vehicles to check for appropriate stickers and insurance. (The traffic police wear caps that look the ones used by yellow cab drivers – they are beige with black and white checks on the hat band). When we finally got to the “station” it was very close to 5PM and there were people and minibuses everywhere. I got herded into a bus going in the right way and once everyone got packed into it we were ready to go. But there wasn’t anywhere to go. The roads in and out of the bus station were clogged with minibuses. After many sweltering minutes we finally reached the main highway and it was smooth sailing from there, except the price had gone up from 100Kw to 150Kw which some of us paid and others did not. I am very grateful I don’t have to commute this way every day.