Tap-Taps

Tap-Taps

Jacmel, Haiti

Summer 2013

They go up and down the main road with no schedule. They go to the end of the highway and then they just turn around and come back all day long and well in to the evening.  They only stop on demand.  A potential passenger must flag the driver who may or may not stop. The passenger then climbs aboard and taps on the side of the vehicle to indicate that he is in the vehicle. He taps again when he wants to get off. The Haitians pay the equivalent of a quarter.  We paid about a dollar for our ride.

As we attempted to hop on, a man was hopping off.  He was pulling out a small chest of drawers which he picked up somewhere today. We all helped him carry this heavy load to the side of the road.  Then we hopped in.  So did five or six other people. It was crowded.  Everyone sat sideways.  Mary Lou had a young girl on her lap.  Two boys straddled the back tailgate. Their bare feet dangled outside.

As we approached our destination, we tapped twice but the driver kept going.  So we shouted at him to stop.  He did stop but he insisted he demonstrate to us how to tap so that we can be heard. I guess he thought he was helping us be more successful with our next ride.  But really, there was not going to be a next ride for me. His inflated price of a dollar just solidified my plan to stick with the motorcycle taxi. That ride was only a buck and the driver took me door to door.