Lost in Transaction: Car Shopping
The power was down all day yesterday. All. Day. Long.
The good thing is that yesterday’s activity can be summed up in one sentence: we looked for a new pickup truck for Mama Lucy. Well, not new - used. They don’t even sell new cars here. Mama Lucy has never owned a vehicle before.
Imagine this:
Us: Godwin, do you think we could look for a car for Mama Lucy today? [Godwin is our most amazing driver and new friend]
Godwin: Yes, it is possible. [This is Godwin’s favorite response]
A few minutes later, Godwin pulls over and a stranger gets in the back of our car. Greetings are exchanged. Then this man starts giving directions to Godwin from the back of the car. You stop along the side of the road. Lo and behold, a truck just happens to be parked there. The owner appears from out of nowhere instantly.
You look at the truck. You ask the selling price. You get back in the car. The process repeats itself over and over again, in the parking lot of hospitals, on university campuses, outside of auto repair shops, and so on.
It takes hours upon hours.
We are completely dumbfounded about how this mysterious man magically knows which cars are for sale and exactly where the cars will be. I mean, couldn’t the owner have taken the car out of town or something? Isn’t there some some sort of classified section that people use? No. This is Tanzania.
And to top it all off, Godwin recognizes these cars from around town. He tells us how the owner drives the car. Keep in mind, these cars are all the same color (white) and all the same size (small).