sandy road

chopa

This first photo is of a sand pit in the road.  The second picture is the chopa(pronounced shopa) that sank in the sand pit in the road.  All the people in the it were out pushing the chopa when we arrived on the road. They did manage to get it out of the pit and were loading back up in.  We came next to cross the sand pit in the road.  I am glad we have a 4 wheel drive truck to drive in.

I will send a picture of a chopa showing the people inside.  Chopas come in several shapes.  Some are like these vans. Some are more like buses.  Some are open trucks that people stand in for the long ride.  Most people use a chopa to get where they can't walk.  It is quite a site to see all the produce wrapped up in a capalana, tied at the top or loaded in with the people and the people crowded in moving thru the town. 

One of the "chopa corners" is not far from where we live.  Although, it looks like you could hale a chopa anywhere you see it, you have to know where the shopa is going if you want to get to a particular place. (that is written on the back of its window.)However, this one place we call the busy corner is where you can find most chopas going everywhere.  People wait here for hours and you will witness groups of people here all hours of the day and night.  Each of these van chopa holds maybe 10 people and there are hundreds of people wanting to ride this particular shopa to get to that particular destination.  People run to catch their chopa and get a place inside. The chopa driver and his helper pile people in along with all their wares as quickly as possible.  If you are not agressive, you could wait a long time to get to your destination. THis is all fine and dandy if there are one or two but there are 10 or so chopas on one side of the road trying to load people in quickly in between the changing of the lights and between traffic and get out on the road.  This is besides the buses and the trucks that are doing the same thing.  If you are a vehicle that is just trying to drive by, it is quite a spectacle to get thru.  People running thru traffic to catch their chopa, chopas pulling in and out as fast as they can, buses and some times semi trucks trying to get thru the same corner.

Since our interpreter rides a chopa to and from town for whatever purpose he has, he tells us about the "chopa" experience.  It costs 20 to 50 cents each ride depending on where you go.  You could ride a shopa for hours.  The chopa drivers are rarely the owners.  They get paid by the amount of people they can take everyday.  Their concern is getting as many people in as they can in a day.  I can tell you the concerns that are "Not" theirs are the shape of the choppa, (driving off the road thru pits and bumps and rocks etc. and even on the wrong side of the road if they think they can move faster there)Naldo, our interpreter, says he wants a chopa business with several chopas of his own but he wants one that only takes people from nice hotels.  He wants drivers that are mindful of not only the amount of people they can take a day but the condition of the chopa.  Another "Not" concern is who they squeeze out of traffic as they rush around, or the traffic rules or the pedestrians. 

The young elders use the chopa service as their transportation.  The young sisters drive a 4 wheel drive truck.  I am amazed at both sets of missionaries.  Manuvering the chopas...Wow!...or manuvering the traffic...Wow!