Taxi Cab Confessions

Taxi drivers have turned out to be the easiest people to converse with in this country. I remember this a bit in Egypt...you'd get in the car, utter three words in Arabic, have the dude remark about how well you speak the language, and then listen to him ramble on in machine gun-Arabic thinking you understand everything because you said the streets were crowded.

That said, I encountered a few situations where a broken conversation about the possibility of marrying Egyptian women was had. Not sure why, but taxi drivers love to hear about the exploits of foreign men. There tends to be a good laugh at the end and a generous tip. The way I see it, anyone that I could hold an Arabic conversation with for more than 10 minutes deserved to be paid handsomely.

In Baku, the taxi is not the ubiquitous vehicle roaming the streets. The city is small enough that you can walk everywhere, or you can just jump on a microbus-equivalent. I think I can count the number of times I've been in a taxi on one hand.

Yesterday was a lucky day, I suppose. I got to ride in a taxi twice. The second time, the driver had the classiest hat on (he and my dad should hang out). It was a black, short-rimmed train conductor's hat. It was the first thing I told the guy after where I wanted to go. Made me wish that more drivers exhibited such a proud sense of hat fashion.

We then proceeded to have a wonderful conversation in Russian. One thing I've noticed is that taxi drivers are the only people that speak slowly. They actually take the time to make sure you understand. It's much appreciated and it means you can talk about things like how beautiful Azeri women are, but how they only want to marry you because of your passport and money.