Luanda Local Customs

This shot was done today, 2 December 2010.
I've just saw this great sign on the Resolução de Outubro Avenue (aka: Airport Avenue), opposite to Clinica Girasol.

The sign advertises services for Painter, Designer, Simple or w/ Light Adds, House Painters, Stickers, etc, and they do also make License plates.

My whole attention goes for the painting itself (pictured). The one that did this job is definitely a good painter.

> Mario Ferreira, Luanda, 2 December 2010.

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Angola in general and Luanda in particular is an huge market on beer consumption.

Quilmes - an Argentinean beer, is marketing hard in Luanda to get its own market share in this African country.

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Due to its flat and open area and also to its proximity to Luanda, Viana involved itself as Angola's industrial city.

I've noticed that it's terrible the traffic between Luanda and Viana. It looks like it is rush hour all day long !!!

Because cars are packed on the road and quite often traffic runs in low gear, street sellers take their chance. They walk on the road between cars and show off their various products trying to catch the interest of any potential buyer.

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Interesting to see that Portuguese Products are quite popular in Luanda (and it seems that the same rule applies for all Angola in general).

Portuguese beers such as Sagres, Super Bock, and Cristal definitely lead the way.

Other products are also quite popular: Ramirez tuna canned fish, also Inês canned fish, Delta coffee, Mimosa milk, Compal fruit juices, some major portuguese branded wines, and also GALP gasoline stations, etc .....

The linguistic characteristics of a place are one of the most fascinating aspects. Angola is no exception. Take the original Bantu languages, and there are numerous dialects of each, and add the draping of Portuguese as the official business language, and you have quite a mix. There are six distinct national African languages: Kikongo, Kimbundo, Umbundu, Chokwe, Mbunda and Oxikuanyama. Each one of these has it's own region of domination.

The most widely spoken are Umbundu and Kimbundo. Umbundo is the language of the peoples around Benguela province, and historically Kimbundo is the language in the environs of Luanda.

Kimbundo, however is still spoken in the streets and in homes. In and around Luanda it is said that the younger generation does not want to learn Kimbundo. Nevertheless, Kimbundo creeps into everyday language, creating a kind of Creole version of Portuguese. Words like:

camba = friend
soba = chief or boss
bazar = to leave or get out quickly
candongueiro = human transport van
quínguila = money changer
zungueiro = street seller
quilumba = young girl
xuxa = breasts
pula = white person
ginguba = peanut
kumbú = money
cassule = youngest child

These are just a few I can remember, and there are a lot more that are spoken intermixed with Portuguese. There are lots more food items that have indigenous names, especially the names of fish, as one would expect.

Angolan popular music is interesting in the mixture of the native languages with Portuguese. Examples of this are the very popular "Muxima Uami", or "My Heart", in which the entire lyric, except for the repeated "Muxima Uami" is in Portuguese. Similarly, the song "Kwata Moname", or "Take Care of Your Child" uses the same idea - Mixture of African and Portuguese language to create an exotic, chacteristic Angolan groove. There are many other examples.

Pardon me if I am incorrect in any of this, as I am only a hobby linguist, and I have done no real research on this subject.

It is customary, when you park anywhere public, to find a number of street kids running up to you, introducing themselves, and being friendly. This is the process of "hiring" a "car attendant" to "watch" your car. Usually this is ok, but it amounts to paying a bribe to encourage them not to steal things off your vehicle.

Typically, 200 kwanza is good. You can be mobbed upon return, so watch your belongings, do not unlock any doors you're not using right at that moment (the mob will try your doors to see if they can get a quick theft) and walk around your car before unlocking to inspect for damage (side mirrors are stolen a lot and people will try to pry the locks off the doors with screwdrivers, so check those). If things look ok, pay the kid you met when you arrived.