Maputo's daily unpredictable life

(It is harder than i thought to keep an active blog :p)

I’ve been wanting for a long time to make a compilation of the most funny and startling details in Maputo’s daily life.


I'll start by describing how one can move in Maputo, since there is no such thing called "public transport". Basically there are four types of "wheel vehicle" that can bring you from one point of the city to the other: the chapas - which are 9 seats vans that actually have no upper limit regarding the number of people that can fit in. 

The second one is the txopela, which is a motorcycle with a three seat place in the backside and a cover in the top. For me these are the most fun, since the drivers totally over value their vehicles and drive like they are in rally’s, above holes, super near the other cars, or above walking paths. Some of them have music in the back and neon lights, which make this trips even more pleasant.

Txopela

The third is the taxi. There are taxis in every corner of the city, and whatever place or time of the day you'll find one if you want to. Sometimes the drivers are taking a nap inside, so either you wake them up or continue walking without disturbing.

The funniest thing that happened with one was on a Sunday, when me and my flatmates were arriving exhausted from a trip to the coast, and went with my roommate to the doctor because she was feeling ill for a while. It was almost mid-night and the taxi stopped in the middle of one of the biggest avenues (totally empty at the moment) without gasoline. The driver, super relaxed, asked us to step out the car and help him to push it above the side walk and park it in the other side. So there we were, on a Sunday evening in the middle of the street, with a sick friend, pushing a heavy taxi which almost provoked an accident because the driver had some trouble with the hand break!

After this he called a friend that went to pick us up and drove us to the clinic centre and then home.

 

Taxi without gasoline

The fourth one is the My Love, which is an open box van that works as a bus. Again, the more people that fit in, the better.

I find some contradictions in this city. For one side it is total forbidden to honk in certain areas of the city because it is not respectful or can cause accidents and the driver of the car is always forbidden to keep the arm outside the window while driving. But driving an open box van full of standing people is total fine and safe!

My Love

One detail i don't like particularly here is the amount of bars that exist in every window or door of the buildings. Our house for example, has a normal wooden door, and an iron door outside. Each one of this has two almost inaccessible locks, so it takes at least 10 minutes every time someone comes in or out of the house. And absolutely no margin for the last minute forgetfulness in the usual morning rush to work.