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Average dwelling
Thatch house, palms and proper tropical vegetation. Feels like we have finally arrived in Africa.
Angela & Bryan Rappaport Scene: wide tree-lined avenue of Mozambique's capital, Maputo, sunny
Anj and Bry are enjoying their day in the city, exploring it by foot. Feet little used in the past 2 days as a sixteen hour bus ride after a 5 hour car ride would attest to. Anj calls the feeling, "square butt" and Bryan agrees. The city is run down, but they feel safe, and are heading down one of Karl Marx, Vladimir I Lenin, or Mao Tse Tung Avenue, some communist avenue, anyway, and heading towards the sea.
Police Man approaches, brownish green uniform, same coloured hat - Bryan notices no gun.
Police Man: Good Day
Bry and Anj: Hello?
Police Man: Hello, yes, please stop, I need to see your papers
Anj: What papers, what are you talking about?
Bry: Listen, we are just enjoying ourselves, seeing the city, why do you need to see papers.
Police Man: I need to see your identification papers.
Anj (lying): Well, we just don't have them on us, they are back at the hotel and we will be on our way, goodbye.
Police May: No, wait here, I will get that other police officer who speaks much better
Cape Dutch Church
On the road to Pretoria, this old church made us stop for a moment and admire the style. English
Anj: We will be on our way..
Police Man: No, wait here.
Bry to Anj: This guy wants a bribe and there is no (expletive) way I am giving him a single cent.
Anj to Bry: Don't let him have our passports, we won't see them again.
Second Police Man: Hello, your papers please
Bry: Listen, we were not doing anything, so we don't see why you stopped us and we will be on our way, why do you need to see our papers anyway
Second Police Man: Well, there are a lot of illegal immigrants coming into Mozambique and we need to make sure you are not illegal.
Anj: Why would we want to smuggle ourselves in here?
Bry: So, you just need to see our papers, then. OK, (taking passports from money belt but never letting them go) here is my passport, see, here is my picture, here is my visa, and here is the stamp on my visa saying we entered legally, same for my wife, OK
Second Police officer (looking confused): OK
Anj (already walking away): Let's go, thanks for the welcome.
Hello friends and family,
I kinda jumped ahead there, but I
Boardwalk in Maputo
After a 16 hour bus ride, Anj was relieved that there indeed was an ocean at the end of the journey. thought that the story of the bribe that wasn't, that took place on mortar-shelled commie-named streets under beautiful trees was a pretty indicative example of our time in Mozambique. But I will go back a bit and start from the beginning. This is a two part blog, lots of info to share, which I could have fit in one, but thought it would be more manageable in two.
We have just returned from a great adventure. We decided on some sun and sand in Mozambique and got more than we bargained for. It was amazing, but we should have known. We set out from Gaborone on the 25th by car for Pretoria. Crossed the sleepy border into South Africa a half hour in and wondered whether it was really necessary to put an entire half page sticker on our passport every time. The drive was nice, rolling hills, and the view got greener as we got towards the city. Pretoria was where our overnight bus to Maputo was leaving from that evening, at it was also the place where Anj's aunt and uncle, Maureen and Bill Skerkowski were living (Bill on assignment with the Canadian Consulate) so it was
Bryan meets the Indian Ocean
Sitting on what was left of a bench to enjoy the view on the boardwalk at Maputo. Not a bad view. a great opportunity to meet them both. We had a lovely curry dinner at their house and Bill explained the various security systems within security systems that the house had. Guard at the top of the hill, gate, electric fence, burglar bars, alarm system, and protective area of the house that they can be locked into if the need arises. And it often does in Pretoria, but not to them. Good thing, as we had a really fantastic time meeting them - me for the first time and Anj anew. Their daughter, husband and little grandson Tai, also live in South Africa now, on the coast, and we are definitely planning a visit to see them. Anj has a lot of cousins - so many so, that I have yet to meet them all and will fly halfway around the world to do so! Graciously, Bill and Maureen let us leave our car in their garage for the week and drove us to the dodgy part of town that the bus station was in, made sure the bus arrived and then saw us off safely.
What was meant to be a 12 hour bus ride took much longer. We
Sea of Garbage
What used to be steps down to the water are now covered in at least a foot of garbage. Ranging from mannequin parts to diapers. Lovely. had a prime seat at the front of the top level of the double-decker bus and were able to stretch out and enjoy the dark scenery for a bit. First stop was Johannesburg and the bus station in the downtown area there to pick up more passengers. Having heard horror stories about the current state of the city centre, we were still shocked to see the amount of garbage, the deserted office buildings with broken windows and the small bonfires set on street corners. Apparently, the area near the bus station used to be quite lovely, but not anymore. I did not venture out of the bus to check things out further.
Overall the ride wasn't a problem; it was the border that was the problem. We arrived at the Mozambican border at 4am well back in a long line waiting for it to open up at 6am. The bus finally arrived at the SA departure area closer to 8 and though the line was a bit long, it was quite orderly and we managed to get out of there in about 20 minutes. We went back to the bus, thinking that they would drive us to the Mozambican
Radio Mocambique
Nice old building housing the national radio station. One of few colonial buildings showing little wear. No gaping mortar holes on this one. side and after another 20 minute wait there, it would be all over with. Nope, instead, we found a SA customs officer going through all of the bags on the bus (2 laptops from passengers were eventually stolen) and were told to walk to the other side and the bus would meet us there. What met us was chaos. To get our stamp to get into Mozambique, we waited in a long snaking line outside a run down building. The line was going nowhere as every time a few people would get into the building (to join another snaking line) a few more people would bud in front of us and so on and so on. Eventually, we did get inside, only to find a scene quite unlike any other. There were no more lines, no signs in English telling us where to go, and enough elbow jabs for me to quickly lose my temper. Even though there was exactly the same number of people going through this side as the SA side, there were no security officers to control the crowd, so it took us 3 hours to get a lousy stamp. Amazing how people react the minute they
Main Church
Portuguese church in the centre of town quite unique in its style. Man in front has no style. have to create order for themselves in the absence of a chain or guard to point the way. I would have taken pictures of this, but I am pretty sure it was illegal, and pretty sure my camera would be stolen. We were tired, sweaty and to our breaking point when we left the building, to rejoin the bus, but this turned out to be a walk in the park compared to our experience on the way out (to be discussed later, but think of a cross between Eastern European bread lines and mass exodus after Tet offensive in Vietnam, special).
So eventually we got into Maputo, found a very nice hotel (Villa das Mangas) on the main drag and Anj promptly threw herself into their pool. I scoped out the area, which reminded me a bit like Barcelona if you took away services such as garbage removal and road repair for twenty years. But i could feel the charm of the place, even if it was a bit ghostly. It felt safe and I headed back to the hotel to get Anj, avoiding the elderly woman squatting and peeing in the centre island of the road. We
Crumbling
Example of a nice colonial building starting to fall apart through neglect. went for a good wander (me and Anj, not me and the old lady that is) and found a good restaurant (Mundos) for what Anj called the best cappuccino in the world, but I wouldn't know about that, my coke was delicious though.
Quick history of Mozambique. Until about the 12th to 13th century BC, it was inhabited primarily of Bantu speaking peoples who had been there for at least a millennia. Arab traders (in goods and slaves) operated there until 1498 when it was "discovered" and settled by the Portuguese. Jesuits spread religion and the language and continued and increased the slave trade. Mostly to supply slaves to their colony of Brazil. The number of slaves from Mozambique is probably near 1 million, but many more came from the Portuguese's other colony, Angola. The colonization was brutal; apart from slavery there was mass subjugation of the local population and this continued until Mozambique declared independence in 1975 and the Portuguese pulled out, even deliberately sabotaging infrastructure as they left. Civil wars raged until the 1990s leaving us with the country we see today.
Maputo left us with the impression that time had stopped when the Portuguese left.
Machel
Statue of the man on all the money, Machel. He helped liberate Mozambique from the Portuguese in the seventies and like all military leaders, ruled in peace and prosperity for years to come....OK, maybe weeks. Most of the roads were destroyed and little has been done to repair them. Nevertheless, we got the feeling that there was great spirit in the place and really enjoyed seeing proper African markets, something that is truly lacking in Botswana.
The next morning, we decided to take the Oliveras bus up to Inhambane and then another small bus to Tofo beach, for 5 days of relaxation. The bus was scheduled to leave between 5-6 am, so we promptly arrived at the dodgiest bus terminal I have ever seen, at 5am. There were 3 rusting hulks one might call buses, sitting out front, one was ours. I looked around for where to buy tickets and while Anj guarded our stuff, I found a small door around the side, guarded by a sleepy old man, that let to the inside of the dark station. Inside were about 40-50 old buses up on blocks, a few people, about 50 sacks of potatoes and a general feeling that I should get out of there. Eventually, someone selling tickets motioned to me to come with him to a side room, I did reluctantly and bought our tickets, about $5 each for the 5-7
Broke down buses in Xai Xai
At the bus station in the seaside town of Xai Xai, these buses weren't going anywhere. Ours was not long for this world either. hour ride. His cash register was a cardboard 24 beer holder and I rushed back to make sure Anj was still there. As the sun rose, we bought some great Portuguese bread off a vendor, and waited another two hours for the bus to be fixed, loaded with what now must have been 100 sacks of potatoes, and were on our way.....
(the blog will continue shortly in part 2, thanks for your patience)
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Bruno
non-member comment
Where's the notice?
Hey Angela, You should have let me know you were down my way ;)