Crazy Taxi
Trip Start
Jul 06, 2004
1
33
43
Trip End
Mar 27, 2007
Milk River, Jamaica
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
As we pulled away from all of our new found friends the driver informs us that he was going to get gas before we left town. This is pretty common, and we said ok. As he was filling up he asked us for our fare's and we reluctantly gave him $600. This was the first red flag; usually the passenger doesn't pay until the end of the ride. So we gassed up and left MayPen. As we were leaving town the driver (who is drinking) starts telling this weird story about an older couple he had in his car. The point of this story is as the driver pulls off the main road to a dirt road the older man starts freaking out as the lady remains calm. I didn't really get the point of this story until later in the ride.
So, we've paid the driver already, and are about 1/4 of the way to our destination. Out of nowhere the driver says that we owe him more money. This is one of the main reasons that I don't like paying at the beginning. He says we need to give him $200 more dollars, and the other Jamaican passenger (in the front seat) starts agreeing with him. At this point I get pissed... he's unreasonable, and lying on top of it. He says that we agreed to pay him 800 and only gave him 600. He's lying and he knows he's lying, but that doesn't stop him from hassling us. This continues for about 5 or 10 minutes as the argument between the driver and Joe gets more and more heated. In the middle of this argument the driver turns off of the main road and onto a dirt road. HUGE red flag (especially for Jess, as she got robbed once when a taxi turned off of the main). We all start yelling at the driver, asking where we're going, saying we don't have money; basically letting him know that whatever he's up to we're not going to submit quietly. He becomes very vague and the passenger says "I live down here... its okay". The dirt road turns into a runway and we're in the middle of no where, still miles away from our destination, trapped in a car with a man that we no longer trust. Joe starts digging around and pulls out a pen, which I know he will stab the guy with if there's any trouble. He says to the driver "If any sh#t goes down, I'm going down with you". God, it was the absolutely perfect thing to say; short and to the point. After which the driver slows down almost to a stop, turns on the light inside the car, and says "Be cool man, be cool. Nothing is going to down". After Joe's display of bravery the ride was fine. The driver took us back to the main road and dropped us off at Will's house. Phew, that was close.
The rest of the weekend went very well. Lots of cool people came over and we all had a great time. The highlight was Will after a few drinks playing bass guitar with a plastic lawn chair, then proceeding to rock out and "break" the guitar (or break the chair, as he did). Too funny.
Back in MoBay now. Tonight we're having a dinner for our APCD at Joe's house. It should be fun and I'm looking forward to spending time socializing with everyone.
