How is everyone out there? I figured that since I have been here now for at least as long as it took me to get here, I should send out a little note showing my town...and a little bit of my long odyssey to get here.
I started my long tri-continental voyage from Calgary. Now I love travelling. That is to say I love the logistical part of actually going from point a to b. I like riding planes and waiting in airports. There is something about sharing an overpriced drink in an airport bar with other haggard travellers that I get a kick out of. But this was even a bit much. I had a big fat layover in Paris, but by the time I got there, I was almost too tired to even enjoy it. I did manage a picture or two of this thing though. Woo hoo. I love this thing.
I then boarded my South African flight to Johannesburg. Or Jo’burg for those that have been there....or know somebody that has...but even thats pushing it a bit. From there I it was a short hop to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.
Maputo was interesting, as it was my first real taste of Africa....aside from that beef jerky type stuff I bought in the Airport in Johannesburg. I, however, was give
n all sorts of warnings about the place. Dont go out at night! Whatever you do, dont talk on your phone while you’re walking the streets. Its not safe! Ahhhhhhhh! Perhaps as a consequence of all the warnings, I did not really feel safe there. And that is saying something, it is not often that I feel unsafe. Be it the darkened streets of Sarajevo or downtown Edmonton, I try not to sweat it too much. However, two days later I was aboard one of these
It was great. It reminded me of when I used
to fly from Cranbrook to Vancouver to go visit my Nana.
I arrived in Inhambane sometime around noon and was met at the airport by Eric, a colleague of mine. He is from Belgium but has lived in Mozambique for over twenty years. Crazy.
I crashed at Eric’s house for a few days until I could get established at my new place. I was not issued the same warnings about Inhambane as I was Maputo, so I set out on a mini photo adventure.
Perhaps some history on Inhambane. Was discovered around the same time as America by Vasco de Gama. It, of course, existed long before that. Upon landing here, de Gama declared it the “terre de Boa Genta!” or Land of the Gentle People. And they Are! Very lovely people. Very helpful and friendly.
Here’s some gentle people here. ‘Kickin’ it’ to use the parlance of our times.
Some other highlights of the town include...well, the fact that it is on the sea. These are Dhows. Near as I can figure they are fishing boats. Note the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign on their sails.
I guess you could call this the Mozambique coat of arms. It is on the flag and all the money. It is a farmer’s hoe and an assault rifle. Perhaps Russian made. Mozambique was big into ‘socialism’ for quite a while so they were buddy buddy with the Russians. As a result, they have all sorts of great Russian toys. Some of which explode when stepped on and have helped contribute to my being here. But more on that later.
This is a photo of the old church in town. There are two churches, and old one and a new one. There are also two mosques which can be categorized similarly. About one third of Mozambicans are Muslim, one third Christan and one third Animist.
Mozambique is moving forwards. This is no more evident than in cell phone usages. Most people seem to own more than one cell phone for some reason. There are two companies here. mcell and Vodophone. They are both engaged in this vicious advertising /urban beautification program. I think it works something like this.
mcell - ‘hey, if we paint your house/shop/whatever for you, can we choose the colours and maybe put our logo on it somewhere’
home/shop/whatever owner – ‘Sure!’
same goes for Vodophone.
Thus this.
This is a bakery and some other random shop.
Here is another nice beach photo
Ok. Almost there.
My house. I live in a ‘suburb’ about 5 km out of the city. I am going to buy a bike, but for the time being I take this mini bus to work. For the etymology of the word mini bus. See here. My house is very lovely. I have a nice kitchen, living room, bathroom and three bedrooms. It is excessive, but it was a question of availability. The power here works on a pre-paid basis. Like a cell phone. You go to a store and buy a card and enter the pin number into your power box and you're good to go. So here are some photos of my house. I also have a guard. I am sort of important. But more than that, I guess I have a lot nicer things than my neighbors. So it was suggested that I get a guard. I felt a bit weird about it, but its ok. His name is Eduardo and he is in some of the photos.
This is the view out of my back door!
This is off my porch...at night!
This is the front of my house. With Eduardo looking diligently onward
Finally, this is my street....or hood....again to use the parlance of our times.
Alright. Thats it for now. I know there wasnt actual information in that post, but I will tell you more about what I am actually doing here next time. I visited a mine field as yesterday and watched some demining happen. I was very interesting. It is a very slow process involving manual demining, dogs and this big remote controlled machine that goes around and clears the underbrush, and occasionally sets off mines. Seriously a crazy procedure. Next week I will tell you all about it.
I will also have a phone number and address for those of you who feel like sending me things (books!!)
Hope all is well. Take care!
