Highlights of PCT

The street market is open Wednesdays and Saturdays. Vendors set up their wares- dried peixe (fish), snacks, produce, colourful capulanas, shoes, shirts - on makeshift wood tables. You can “pedir desconto” (ask for discount) if you are confident in your Portuguese. The regular Mercado is open every day, but the things you cant buy there can usually be found at ShopRite. Capulanas are sheets of fabric that women wear around the house, do housework in, carry babies around in, and use as towels. They come in beautiful patterns and colors, and are one of my favorite things to buy because having clothes made here is super cheap! For a dress, approx 150 mets ($4-5). I have a dress already, and I am having a skirt made this week.
Chapas are the main method of transport here in Moz, because most people do not have cards. There are several types of chapas, the most common here resemble minivans. These cars are designed to seat 15 people, but the chapa driver charges per person so he fills the chapa as full as possible. Usually he has a partner who lets people in and out and collects money from every passenger. On certain days (ie. Sunday) everyone is trying to get somewhere, so the chapas are crammed. Seats are first come first serve- old people and (even pregnant) women are afforded no luxuries. If there is no room to sit, people will crouch or stand, hunched over with their backs against the roofs of the car, holding on to whatever they can. The guy next to you, a complete stranger, falls asleep on your shoulder without asking. The guy in front of you starts puking out the window right as the trip begins. The woman hovering over you, bent at a 90 degree angle for the entire ride, has her arm gripping your seat for balance and her ripe armpit in your face. The song “Ridin Solo” by Jason DeRulo comes blaring through the radio while youre riding 23 deep… Ironic much?
If you cant find a chapa (Corpo da Paz mandates that you do not ride a car in the dark due to safety reasons), you might need to pedir bolea (hitchhike). It is very much part of the culture here and a relatively safe way to travel (cheaper and more comfortable). You wave your arms and passing cars will stop if they have room. When they see you are a foreigner, they may try to charge to charge you way too much money (for example, 100 US dollars) for a ride that in a chapa would cost 50 mets ($1.50). That’s because they assume you are rich and/or stupid, preferably both. Most of the time, however, boleas are free. Or cost a minimal amount, such as the 10 met/person bolea we took on the bed of a pickup truck (not safe, by the way).
The shopping center in Matola (a smaller, closer version of the capital city of Maputo) has everything a PCT could need. The Mcel and Vodacom stores are right next to each other if you need to buy or have problems with your phone. However, their store hours are highly irregular- closed on Sundays (most of the time), and only open until 12 on Saturdays, so sometimes hard to catch on the weekends. The restaurant Mundos has free wifi (!!!) and sells pizza, burgers, milkshakes and other American-style foods. It’s a bit pricey (about 400 mets for a pizza) but well worth it when you are American and starving for familiar foods. The ShopRite is an actual grocery store, a land of goodies and wonders where its absolutely possible to spend your entire walk around allowance in once trip. My last trip on Saturday found me $800 mets down, but loaded up with soy sauce, black pepper (my cooking staple), sour cream and onion Pringles (don’t judge), TWO kinds of piri-piri (hot sauce- which, by the way, makes every meal exciting), coffee candy, and juice flavoured “Whispers of Summer.”
The weather here, I probably have already mentioned, is ridiculous. You need a jacket in the morning, sweat bullets on the way home for lunch, change into lighter clothes, and promptly freeze your ass off in the afternoon. It rains buckets at night and creates mud everywhere for you to slip on and fall in the mornings. Been there, done that.
The best advice Ive been given yet so far is: learn to laugh at yourself. Last night I got soaked on the way home from class, took a bath, and while walking back in the house, slipped and fell in the mud. My capulana managed to stay on when my legs flew in the air, but my towel slipped and I flashed my boobs to all the neighbors. When that happens, what can you do but laugh?