This was our first time catching a taxi on our own.
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| From Bahamas - 2011 |
Let me first say that it is easy. It is also not that expensive. They charge four dollars a person to transport tourists between the ships and the tourist attractions. It seems to be unofficially officially done. The taxis are not crown vics or four door cars. They are ten person vans and they will squeeze thirteen or fourteen people into them. The AC often does not work and sometimes they don’t open the windows. It can be a hot and stuffy experience.
We walked down the path to the road that runs past the beach. This place is full of taxis. Full to the tune of a hundred or so. A few dozen drivers are milling around. One guy seems to be the organizer. He gathers up groups of eight to ten people as they come off the beach and hands them over to a taxi driver.
From Bahamas - 2011
Our group loaded up. However, our driver swung back by the path to the beach and collected an additional four people. That made for twelve of us. It was cramped driving. Tim suggested that we get out. However, I just wanted back to the ship so my hope was that we would not die on the way there. Also, I didn’t think that any other cab would hold fewer people. 12 people x $4 per person = $48 for one trip. At least the window was open and the air flowed over us at least, which was a relief compared to the hot sweat box we had arrived in.
The Bahamas are left side drive. However, the vehicles are a mixture of right and left hand vehicles. It makes for some random driving. The driver’s are all over the road. The edges of the road are open for business if you need a bit more space. Most of the roads are not made for two vehicles and the corners are tight. On foot, horseback, or motorcycle it would be fine. In a car, its a hairy situation the entire time.
We also avoided the toll going back. When we started winding through back roads and one way streets I felt a bit of a twitch of worry.
From Bahamas - 2011
Like any city, once you move off the main roads it is not such a pretty picture anymore. The shops are very, very worn. It no longer has the festive look of the tourist areas. The island is not a super rich one and many of the people live at a substance living. Yet life is very different. Its calmer and more relaxed. People are just hanging out everywhere. The bars have more locals then tourists in them. It is a different culture. When we saw the ships rearing up out of the port, I felt relief. We slid out of the back streets that had helped us avid the toll.
During our trip we had been passed by an ambulance. The ambulance stopped at the local hospital. I was amused to see that it was named Doctor’s Hospital. That is the name of one of the hospitals my mother worked at for years. I was glad to see them because we had just passed another Taxi driving with the side door open. There were no seatbelts in these things.
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| From Bahamas - 2011 |
There are also police departments as well. Instead of being the somber things we are used to seeing they're often brightly painted like all of the other building. Even in green, pink, and white a police station is a police stations. It seems that some of them drive Crown Victoria’s as well. The emergency number is 919. It is 911 in America and 999 in England.
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| From Bahamas - 2011 |
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| From Bahamas - 2011 |
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