One assumes getting around Dakar would be easy considering all the options for public transportation. But traveling around the city proves difficult, especially when compared to a trip around the District.

If a taxi is your desired mode of transport, you should have no problem getting one to stop, as there are far more taxis than other cars in Dakar. But that’s just the start of the trip. For starters, in Dakar, the taxi driver doesn’t need to know how to get to where you’re going; rather, you need to know how to get the driver there. Sometimes you can ask if the driver knows where something is, but you run the risk of getting halfway there when it becomes clear that he has no idea where he’s going.

Second, before even getting into the taxi you, have to negotiate the price of the ride. This proves to be even more difficult for a tubaab (white person) as drivers will always try to overcharge the “silly tubaab”. But after spending some time here, you quickly know that it should never cost more than 3,000 CFA francs — about $6 U.S. — for four people to take a taxi anywhere in the city.

Another popular option is the celebrated car RAPIDE. Run by a Muslim brotherhood, these vans are brightly decorated with everything from phrases from the Quran to large decals of Madonna. There is no limit to how many passengers can use a car rapide at once, and drivers will stop wherever they want to pick up new passengers — always halting with a sudden jolt.

While car rapides do have some designated drop-off points, they never display the direction in which they’re headed. Instead, the driver shouts out the desired destination in barely comprehensible Wolof (the most widely spoken language in Senegal) by the APPRENTI hanging out the back door. The price changes depending on the length of your trip, but the ride will never cost more than a dollar.

So jump on — it’s all about the ride.