Ola from Maputo!

I am now on Day 6 here and I have to say it’s still pretty surreal being here. Before I came here I never really believed that I was actually going to live here, and now that I have arrived I still don’t believe it.

Things are very different here and I am completely out of my comfort zone. It’s my first travel experience; other than to the US and to Europe when I was much younger, so those don’t count. So being here for work makes it a bit easier, but actually living here might be the most difficult part.

I have to say though my apartment is pretty sweet. Nice room, bathroom has a bidet (I LOVE bidets- so European), balcony off my bedroom that I share with Maria, the Portuguese
psychologist who also lives there, overlooking the front street and the city and a back balcony off the living room overlooking the ocean. Not a bad set up. And of course there's Senhor Manuel who takes care of the cooking and Othelia who does the cleaning and laundry. I am not used to such luxuries however so I usually just do everything myself anyway. But I have also seen a neighbourhood where everyone lived in shacks- rickety wooden or aluminium walls with either thatch or aluminium roofs. This was near the shopping strip mall where the Woolworths is. I thought Woolworths went the way of the dodo but it is alive and well in Africa. It was a little disturbing to see these living conditions but people seemed to get along fine. And the disparity is obvious in areas like this with big shopping malls across from slums. Disturbing.

What else is different? Besides the obvious, like climate, flora and fauna (there’s a lizard in my pantry – and the bugs! saw my first cockroach- luckily it had already met its maker, the can of DOOM) etc, the most striking differences to me so far are the streets, the driving and the infrastructure. I always get people asking me what I love about Ottawa, and my answer is always infrastructure. You can imagine the puzzled looks I get. But this is why: Infrastructure is what makes a city liveable (and sustainable, but that’s another conversation). Ottawa has a great road system and transit system. Winnipeg, not so much. I couldn’t imagine living in Winnipeg without a car. You couldn’t really unless your life had very limited boundaries or you bummed a lot of rides; otherwise you would spend a good portion of your day and money in transit. In Ottawa, I rarely drive. The parking costs are outrageous which is good incentive to take the bus or train. But they are great systems and get you where you need to go quickly. In Maputo, the infrastructure is very weak. The roads have huge potholes, the sidewalks are crumbling as are many buildings and the public transit system is next to nonexistent. There exist some city buses, but they don’t run well (not mechanically nor efficiently) and the chapas (privately owned minivans or trucks used to transport people) are slow, usually packed and seemingly completely disorganized. There are no stops to catch them; you stand on the side of the street and wait for one to drive by and you flag it down. The locals seem to know where to catch them – I think certain places have become understood chapa stops, but for a foreigner, it seems really random. The chapas also often troll for more people to stuff the van with, which makes them stop often and therefore, slow. Not to mention dangerous since they are way overcapacity and the driving here is insane!!!!

First, they drive on the opposite side here. Fine enough. My international driver’s permit allows me to drive anywhere. If Mr. Bean can drive on the right hand side, so can I. This is not the concern. The concern is that many intersections don’t have stoplights so cars just inch their way through. In other areas, it’s a roundabout and merge system with many streets separated by wide boulevards, and everyone is crazy aggressive. Like the link but African style- chaotic and much, much faster. People go when they feel like it, whether they are crossing the street on foot or driving; there is no courtesy, no letting in, although people seem to signal (at least my friends do). This slight safety precaution provides little comfort however; so many times I thought we were going to run someone over or smash into another car. Whereas in Canada or even the US I feel confident in my driving as an aggressive driver amongst other calmly, defensive drivers, here, everyone is in a rush, crazy and aggressive. It’s not something that can be explained, I hope to take a video. Don’t worry Mom, I won’t be driving here.

Another thing about the streets besides the driving and the lack of city maintenance is the large of people constantly on the streets. Of course coming from Canada with a relatively teeny population (around 33 million) for its surface area (almost 10 million km²⁾, it is no wonder that it seems like there are so many people around. Mozambique has almost 20 million people with a surface area of 801,590. Pretty big difference. We don’t realize how lucky we are in Canada to have so much space to ourselves. Maputo’s population is around a million; hard to get an accurate number with so many living in slums, so there are people constantly on the streets, and not just a few. Dozens, hundreds as far as the eye can see in every direction, almost all the time, during the day at least. Night-time is another story. Many people are street vendors selling whatever good or service they have decided to sell. I have seen people selling fruits and vegetables, food and drinks, arts and crafts, shoes and clothing, flowers and plants, cell phone cards, public telephone services (they have a stand with a phone and the plug it in somewhere and people come and use it as a payphone), electrical accessories like extension cords and converters, and pirated DVDs among other things. I buy most of my fruits and veggies on the street for the best prices but I haven’t gotten the hang of haggling yet. I am probably richer than most of them so I don’t mind paying a bit more as long as I’m not getting completely ripped off. Of course as a Winnipegger, I do love a bargain. But besides the vendors and beggars there are also a large number of people just seemingly hanging around sitting on the sidewalk or the side of the road. Apparently it’s an Africa thing. As my South African friend Gerhard says, “Africans have an amazing ability to sit around and do nothing all day long.” Presumably this is due to unemployment, which at last estimates in 1997 was 21%. In Canada in 2005, it was 6.8%.

So these are the things that make my surroundings immediately different. It is a developing country after all. I’ll have to brace myself for my visits to the poor(er) areas.