From Maputo with Love

I hardly ever fall in love with bigger cities, but with Maputo I did. Nobody remains untouched by its unparalleled mélange of typical communist apartment blocks - all efficiency, no decor - and colonial architecture. The later comes in all stages. Some neatly renovated, others charmingly run down.

Maputo is a city void of sights, where street life itself becomes the very attraction. Picture a sidewalk with long, neat rows of single shoes for sale, stalls hawking license plates and chargers that dangle from clothes hangers, also for sale. Shop windows are displaying skimpy dresses together with traditional garb for Muslim women. Another landmark are young men in yellow signal vests advertising Vodacom and Mcel: it seems everybody in Mozambique is wearing them, whether or not they are selling telephone cards.

Always the unexpected, a gigantic building, “El Edificio de Altureza de Aga Khan”, comes in stark contrast to the city’s highly political street signs, going by such names as Mao Tse-Tung, Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx or Ho Chi Minh. These are testimony of Mozambique’s revolutionary recent past. If those men are still considered heroes or whether the city simply lacks the money to change the signs remains unknown. Very different, the brand new cars that nowadays plough the streets of Maputo, large SUVs and bulky pick-up trucks, give evidence that Mozambique has turned a lot more individualistic and capitalistic. Are the many Arcadia tree also making a political statement by ripping open the pavement with their powerful roots? Other obstacles for pedestrians are sidewalks full of cars and litter.

The fish market in the north of the city is an all-time favorite for tourists and those locals who can afford it. On a Sunday, it was packed with local families who munched away on these huge platters of seafood. Luckily I was with Dilleta, a lady from Turin who I met in Tofo. She knew her seafood and how to bargain. After 30 minutes on the fish market, we carried bags filled with lobsters, clams, tiger prawns, oysters and shrimps. During this shopping spree, a young man ledged on to us, talking our head off: he would prepare these delicacies in his restaurant like nobody else in Maputo. Eventually we gave in, with no regrets. We stuffed ourselves silly on our purchase plus salads, garlic bread, rice etc.

 

Picture by Jason Risley.