Thursday, January 3, 2008

Happy New Year.... I mean happy new stitches

I got in a wreck on New Year's Eve. I got to say "Happy New Year" to everyone in the Aga Khan Hospital emergency room in Dar es Salaam. Yippee.

We were on our way to meet another CUSO cooperant just a short distance from our hotel. We decided to take a "pikipiki" also known as "bajaji." (Bajaj is the Indian company that makes these things and Swahili seems to add an 'i' to the end of all words...as in bedsheeti or roundabouti...it is never ending amusement)


They are relatively new to Dar es Salaam (there are none in Arusha), are cheaper than taxis and can get around traffic better.

A minibus was trying to enter traffic from a side road and our driver decided to just swerve in front of it at the same time that the minibus driver decided to gun the engine.

Crash. On my side.

I ended up with three stitches in my head (my first stitches ever), a chunk out of my forearm, and large bruises, but nothing more serious. My boyfriend was thrown out and had bruises and a few scratches. We were really really lucky. We even found his wallet and the camera that had been thrown too.

I had to get a section of my head shaved so they could stitch me up.


I now have a mini-Britney.

Note to self: pikipikis may be useful in heavy slow-moving traffic, but probably best to avoid them at night on a national holiday when everyone is probably drunk.