I noticed the garlic tucked beneath console. I considered the implications (vampires, of course) and inquired of the driver. "It's for you, the garlic?" I ask. He laughs and tells me no, it is for his partner. They share the cab and so he respects the other driver's beliefs.
"This is for me." He pats the visor where a bible is tucked. "But since we share, I leave him his beliefs and he leaves me mine." I remark that it is a good thing. They could each be benefitting from the other. Who knows which belief is better in the end? He laughs again and agrees.
It is a larger symbol of the Ivoirian people. Tolerant. Accepting. I love to hear about life from the taxi drivers. A few days later I run across someone with a paintbrush laying across the console. I am intrigued.
"And the paintbrush?" I ask. "What is that for?" He laughs and tells me it is not a paintbrush. He shows me how he uses it to keep the dust from his radio and the dashboard. We all have our priorities. Our important beliefs. From Godliness to cleanliness. And even to garlic.
