This is Rio

The first time I saw her, she couldn't have been a day younger than seventy, yet the ease with she negotiated the streets of Rio were shocking. 'Rio Presidente?' She had asked me a few moments earlier, staring at my receipt. 'Si' I said, in my dazed state, not knowing whether to reply in Spanish, French or Portuguese, or to leave the taxi altogether and demand for a refund from the cab company or ask for another cab altogether.

Yet, any aspersions I may have had of her driving abilities were dismissed the moment she engaged the gear to the mini van, and sped off, getting from 0-60 Km/H in about ten seconds.

All through the thirty minute journey from the airport to the hotel, I wanted to strike a conversation. 'Bom Dia' I said, before realizing it was almost midnight and slapping myself silly on the forehead. 'Boa Note' I said. She didn't seem the type to engage in small talk, 'Boa Note!' She said as she took another sharp left turn, almost at top speed.

I have never met a female taxi driver in Nairobi, my city. Yet here I was, thousands of kilometers away, being driven not just by a woman, but by a senior citizen who at midnight, should have been cuddling her grandchildren, coaxing them to sleep. But here she was, in the streets, making a living. Was it the economy? Had the pension delayed?

I made as if to ask her another question, trying to muster some of the Portuguese I had learned from videos during the flight, but the ease with which she jumped another red lights, her second with me that night, made me shudder.

Many more turns later, and thankfully not any more skipped red lights, I was gladly dropped at my destination. She maneuvered the car into parking, walked out hurriedly, opened the door for me and lifted my suitcase from the floor of back seat. She took it to the hotel door and turned to me, shaking my hand.

'Obrigado!' She said

I was almost reaching for her face to feel the wrinkles on her skin. She spun round, got into the taxi, reached for a pack of cigarettes from the dashboard, lit up, gave a long puff and as the smoke billowed from the drivers window, she disappeared into night, jumping another red light.