warning sign
things i swerved for this past week:
*a run-away goat
*a donkey pulling a man and cart
*a man pushing a cart stacked 8 feet high with pleather stuffed furniture
*more men pushing carts precariously stacked with various items
*29,000 chapas that pulled out in front of me (one of which pulled out in front of me while on a main highway where most cars were up to speeds of 80-100 kmph, causing clemencia to grab her chest and exclaim "gracias a Deus", after i squeezed through it and the guard rail since slamming on the breaks at that point was not an option.)
unusual things i saw while waiting in the car for clemencia and isabel to finish their shopping:
*a man only wearing a shirt
*a mother spanking the child tied to her back after it peed down the back of her dress
*a small group standing a short distance away from a man collapsed at the base of a telephone poll. (not sure if he was dead or if he had just run into it too quickly and knocked himself out)
*a drunk man with the largest hands i have ever seen in my life that wanted me to give him 50.000 metecais for a 2 euro coin, i thought he could easily have strangled me with a thumb and a forefinger but i only gave him 20.000 for it.
*the woman who was the inspiration for Miss Artsy Fartsy from the movie "Robots".
Yesterday was another hectic day. Its funny how i seemed to have all this free time the first couple weeks i was here, i mean, i had enough time to count the tiles on my bathroom wall and this past week i barely get a chance to catch my breath. I gave the students their final exam. They all passed. We had a mini-ceremony for them later yesterday afternoon and i still had to get some things together and catch a chapa before it got too late. (the pleasure of driving myself comes with bringing others along and since i would be staying the night at Jair and Hanlie's i didn't think i could use that resource.) I made it to Magoanine by 6pm. On my walk there i ran into various people i know, so of course i had to stop and chat for a bit...african protocol.
It gets dark here by 6:15 these days so i knew i was already pushing it. I waited for a chapa to Museu. Apparently no chapas were going that way. Finally a big bus shows up with the destination glued to the side. When the conductor called out "Museu" he tacked something else to the end that i couldn't quite figure out. Against my better judgement i got on and decided i was going to wing it. I sat down next to a girl and asked, "Museu?". She nodded, looking slightly confused herself (not a good sign). The closer we got to town the more the bus filled with people, eventually it was standing room only. It turned down a road that recognized but i knew the museu chapas didn't usually go down. I took a deep breath and thought, if all else fails, i'll get out near a place i remotely recognize and call Jair and Hanlie. Right then, the cellphone rings. (and just in case you're wondering, what!? you have a cell phone!?, its Clemencia's, it resembles the cellphones from "night at the roxbury". she let me borrow it for times such as these, actually, she originally told me it was just so my friends back home could call me...i don't think she knew how much of a wanderer i would be when she handed it to me back in January) Ok, so back to the phone ringing: Its Jair asking where i was. I told him i wasn't sure and then he confirmed what i was already thinking; to get out somewhere safe and call him. I peered out the windows and around the bodies of the packed bus. I started to recognize some things but still couldn't figure out where i was in reference to anything. I will say this though, something about Maputo in the darkness of evening makes it more appealing, maybeit more confusing, but definately more appealing. My favorite time of day here is about 3 hours before sunset to about 2 hours after -minus fact that its mosquito feast primetime. So in the middle of trying to get myself un-lost while keeping myself from getting more lost, i thought briefly how glad i was to be there on that bus at the moment. Everyone was calm but cheerful; a group had gotten on the happily chattered amongst themselves, and the general attitude was 'life is good'. After a while, the others started to notice that i was peering out the windows a bit more than was considered normal. The conductor asked, in portuguese, where i was going. I told him in english and he called up to a buddy to translate. His buddy spoke a little, as long as i spoke slowly. Very soon i realized this bus wasn't going anywhere near where i wanted to go, at least according to the various words i was piecing together.
Remember how i mentioned in a previous post how this culture thrives on community? This is where that comes into play. Soon everyone on the entire bus is trying to help me figure out where i needed to go. I dare say there wasn't a person on there who wasn't; well, the girl next to me still looked confused. Despite the fact that they were saying i was probably going to have to catch another chapa and despite the fact that i didn't have enough change for another chapa and despite the fact that it was quite dark now and thoughts of a possible mugging were running through my mind, i was actually feeling quite special. Two guys offered to accompany me. I told them it wouldn't be necessary, i'd just hop out at the next corner that i liked and call someone. I saw one with a bakery/coffee shop on it. I told them to let me out there. I hopped off and thanked everyone. I think they were still worried. A different guy got off at that stop along with me and started walking the other direction, but not before pointing me towards where he thought i needed to go. I thanked him but thought i'd take my chances with the biscuits and cookies and the Muslims behind the counter. I went inside, found out where i was and called Jair who came and got me.
No worries mom/dad/grandma/grandpa...countdown till i leave Maputo is 46 hours; then its on to Pretoria, South Africa for another 48 before i take off for Sweet Home Colorado. I don't have a lot of time left to take off on any other crazy excursions...but who knows...adventure seems to find me.
*a run-away goat
*a donkey pulling a man and cart
*a man pushing a cart stacked 8 feet high with pleather stuffed furniture
*more men pushing carts precariously stacked with various items
*29,000 chapas that pulled out in front of me (one of which pulled out in front of me while on a main highway where most cars were up to speeds of 80-100 kmph, causing clemencia to grab her chest and exclaim "gracias a Deus", after i squeezed through it and the guard rail since slamming on the breaks at that point was not an option.)
unusual things i saw while waiting in the car for clemencia and isabel to finish their shopping:
*a man only wearing a shirt
*a mother spanking the child tied to her back after it peed down the back of her dress
*a small group standing a short distance away from a man collapsed at the base of a telephone poll. (not sure if he was dead or if he had just run into it too quickly and knocked himself out)
*a drunk man with the largest hands i have ever seen in my life that wanted me to give him 50.000 metecais for a 2 euro coin, i thought he could easily have strangled me with a thumb and a forefinger but i only gave him 20.000 for it.
*the woman who was the inspiration for Miss Artsy Fartsy from the movie "Robots".
Yesterday was another hectic day. Its funny how i seemed to have all this free time the first couple weeks i was here, i mean, i had enough time to count the tiles on my bathroom wall and this past week i barely get a chance to catch my breath. I gave the students their final exam. They all passed. We had a mini-ceremony for them later yesterday afternoon and i still had to get some things together and catch a chapa before it got too late. (the pleasure of driving myself comes with bringing others along and since i would be staying the night at Jair and Hanlie's i didn't think i could use that resource.) I made it to Magoanine by 6pm. On my walk there i ran into various people i know, so of course i had to stop and chat for a bit...african protocol.
It gets dark here by 6:15 these days so i knew i was already pushing it. I waited for a chapa to Museu. Apparently no chapas were going that way. Finally a big bus shows up with the destination glued to the side. When the conductor called out "Museu" he tacked something else to the end that i couldn't quite figure out. Against my better judgement i got on and decided i was going to wing it. I sat down next to a girl and asked, "Museu?". She nodded, looking slightly confused herself (not a good sign). The closer we got to town the more the bus filled with people, eventually it was standing room only. It turned down a road that recognized but i knew the museu chapas didn't usually go down. I took a deep breath and thought, if all else fails, i'll get out near a place i remotely recognize and call Jair and Hanlie. Right then, the cellphone rings. (and just in case you're wondering, what!? you have a cell phone!?, its Clemencia's, it resembles the cellphones from "night at the roxbury". she let me borrow it for times such as these, actually, she originally told me it was just so my friends back home could call me...i don't think she knew how much of a wanderer i would be when she handed it to me back in January) Ok, so back to the phone ringing: Its Jair asking where i was. I told him i wasn't sure and then he confirmed what i was already thinking; to get out somewhere safe and call him. I peered out the windows and around the bodies of the packed bus. I started to recognize some things but still couldn't figure out where i was in reference to anything. I will say this though, something about Maputo in the darkness of evening makes it more appealing, maybeit more confusing, but definately more appealing. My favorite time of day here is about 3 hours before sunset to about 2 hours after -minus fact that its mosquito feast primetime. So in the middle of trying to get myself un-lost while keeping myself from getting more lost, i thought briefly how glad i was to be there on that bus at the moment. Everyone was calm but cheerful; a group had gotten on the happily chattered amongst themselves, and the general attitude was 'life is good'. After a while, the others started to notice that i was peering out the windows a bit more than was considered normal. The conductor asked, in portuguese, where i was going. I told him in english and he called up to a buddy to translate. His buddy spoke a little, as long as i spoke slowly. Very soon i realized this bus wasn't going anywhere near where i wanted to go, at least according to the various words i was piecing together.
Remember how i mentioned in a previous post how this culture thrives on community? This is where that comes into play. Soon everyone on the entire bus is trying to help me figure out where i needed to go. I dare say there wasn't a person on there who wasn't; well, the girl next to me still looked confused. Despite the fact that they were saying i was probably going to have to catch another chapa and despite the fact that i didn't have enough change for another chapa and despite the fact that it was quite dark now and thoughts of a possible mugging were running through my mind, i was actually feeling quite special. Two guys offered to accompany me. I told them it wouldn't be necessary, i'd just hop out at the next corner that i liked and call someone. I saw one with a bakery/coffee shop on it. I told them to let me out there. I hopped off and thanked everyone. I think they were still worried. A different guy got off at that stop along with me and started walking the other direction, but not before pointing me towards where he thought i needed to go. I thanked him but thought i'd take my chances with the biscuits and cookies and the Muslims behind the counter. I went inside, found out where i was and called Jair who came and got me.
No worries mom/dad/grandma/grandpa...countdown till i leave Maputo is 46 hours; then its on to Pretoria, South Africa for another 48 before i take off for Sweet Home Colorado. I don't have a lot of time left to take off on any other crazy excursions...but who knows...adventure seems to find me.
posted by jessy at 11:29 PM
1 Comments:
Jessy, I can't wait to see you when you get home. Oh yeah, when you get home you're not staying home. See you sometime later this year.
Dan.
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