When was the last time that you travelled a long distance in a minibus (or a maxi-taxi, or whatever you call it, depending on your perspective)? If you did so by yourself, you would no doubt have realized that after a few minutes, if you don't have worries, or a good book, you tend to become a bit bored. The natural reaction to this would be to invent some means to employ your thought processes, that is, if you forego the option to play with, or talk to, yourself. The last time I found myself in such a predicament I opted to notice things I don't usually notice or things other people may not pay attention to. And what I noticed was that there are numerous ways for people to stop a maxi-taxi (or minibus, depending on perspective.)

I suppose the whole finger thing started out of weariness. Usually to get a person's attention, people might wave their hands, but for a moment, imagine that weary hitchhiker that just couldn't find the energy to wave at a passing car in order to ask for a ride. So that weary hitchhiker had to find some way to stop a car, a quick way that needed less energy. For some men, there was an easy solution, but it wasn't always quick, since the zip sometimes got stuck or their hands were too full, and it's really hard to open a zip with one hand, far less take out what's behind the zip. Or too, the driver of the car might have been a cop, in which case such hitchhikers could have been charged with indecent exposure; or the driver of the car could have been another man, the type of man that would slam the brakes and smile when he saw the travellers way of calling attention to himself, in which case the hitchhiker might have a problem, and would prefer to walk, unless he's the type pf man the driver is, in which case he would jump into the car and reach his destination having taken two rides instead of one… but that's a whole different story that could get complicated. For women, there was the advantage of femininity. Some women may have opted to show a bit of leg, a trend that, though it doesn't have "mania" popularity, has survived to date. This practice, however, wasn't so popular with women that had cows instead of calves beneath their skirts; nor did the women that went for the sasquatch look find that cars came any closer to stopping when skirts were hiked up; if anything, the cars went faster.
Those who managed to stop a maxi-taxi, or a car, or a truck, or an automatic boxcart or whatever happened to be passing by, always found that, even though the car was pointing in only one direction and could only go one way at a time, drivers inevitably asked "Where you headed?" In all reality, what they should have asked is "How far are you going?" but I suppose the meaning was understood. And in explaining, that weary traveller always managed to indicate the direction of his destination, whether by a head nod, or by pointing, both being along the path that the