Adventures in Taxi-ing

After a rather amusing chat with my roommate the other night, I decided I needed to compile the following list and share it with you all....

Reasons why your taxi ride home might take longer than expected (based on experiences that my roommate and I have had here in Maputo)...

• Your taxi driver is intentionally driving slowly in order to make the ride last as long as possible, giving him more time to express his love for you and secure your love in return (If you guys get tired of the recurring love theme.....let me know).

• One of the taxi’s wheels is precariously attached and the driver is going slowly so as to avoid having it fall off.

• The taxi driver has taken a wrong turn that conveniently leads away from your apartment and towards his (surely if his place is nearby you are likely to accompany him there rather than going all the way home, right?).

• Generally the way home for us involves driving a long road that is slightly (and I mean slightly) uphill. But as slight as that incline may be, sometimes your taxi just doesn’t have the horsepower to go any faster.

• You had to call for a taxi (there aren’t so many spots around Maputo where you are guaranteed to find a taxi waiting, and they don’t drive by quite as often as they do, say, in NY) and when the driver said, “I’ll be there in 5 minutes” what he really meant was, “I’ll be there in 25 minutes”.

• Your taxi gets stopped by the police and you have to wait for the driver to pay his bribe.

Luckily, this stuff doesn’t happen all that often...but it makes for an amusing story when it does!