NEW FRIENDS
2008
I spend an hour or so struggling with my Mac. I haven’t been able to publish my entries to my site - and everybody knows how frustrating computer problems are. I have learned endurance through my addiction to Sudoku - you just KNOW that at some point the numbers will fall in place - so eventually THIS WILL WORK!!!! Then the lavish hotel breakfast once again (it’s not going to be fun when we get home - I foresee dieting) and then out in the street to the rental car place. There’s a funny thing about Africa, people do not like you to take pictures of them - Victor says they are afraid you will take their soul. Thus when from a long distance, pretending to take a picture of the massive Hotel Polana, I actually aim for an African woman swaying towards us with a big basket of luscious oranges on her head, she angrily waves at me to stop. I hastily pocket my camera. Furthermore, in Maputo it is prohibited to take pictures of public buildings, and since there are several young skinny policemen in the streets holding really big guns, I rarely take a picture during our walks. So I cannot show you the little dog house shaped as an African hut, nor the stunning Begonia flower in someone’s garden, nor the seated group of African women in traditional dress sitting on a side road in the shade.
With our growing understanding of the city, after settling details about the car, we head up Mao Tse Tung past Victor’s building, turn into Kim Il Sung and walk to Kenneth Kaunda, where he works. The IFC head office is in a house located on a street with many embassies. We talk to the security guard (“Ah Victor - he is my friend!”) and Victor, in dress pants and shirt - looking good! - comes out to let us in. We meet everybody, including a very impressive Mr. Onitiri. The office is quite large - we see maybe 15 people working there. Then Victor takes us down the road to the Unesco office, where Bernardo works. He drives us to his home, the residence of the Brazilian ambassador, where we lunch in the shady pool area, where he and Victor ‘chill’ on the weekends and make their plans for the evening. We are served delicious stuffed eggplant and freshly caught ‘garoupa’ by two silent butlers, and finish up with a banana baked with brown sugar. After a phone call Victor produces yet another cabdriver friend of his who drops him at home and us at our hotel. We rest a bit and wait for Victor who will come to work out and go to class. In the meantime I talk to Kelly, Ulla Vaena’s daughter-in-law and arrange to meet for drinks. In the end, when Victor is done with his classes, we all, including Bernardo meet for an animated dinner at ‘Escorpião”, which looks a lot like a Brazilian churrascaria, and where delicious Portuguese specialities are served. We eat Arroz de Mariscos and a wonderful Açorda de Mariscos - seafood cooked in a broth thickened with bread and with a raw egg stirred into the hot mixture. Victor and Bernardo negotiate Nacos na Pedra - huge steaks served raw on hot stones, which cook the steaks as they eat.
LAZY DAY IN MAPUTO
September 2, 2008 2:46 AM
EVERYBODY IN THIS PICTURE ARE LINKED BY HISTORY AND COINCIDENCE, MARCUS IS THE SON OF A SWEDISH FRIEND I MET IN RIO IN 1977, HIS WIFE KELLY WORKS FOR USAID, LIKE LIA ,AND BERNARDO, THE SON OF THE BRAZILIAN AMBASSADOR, IS VICTOR’S AGE AND LIKE HIM STUDIES IN THE US.
No comments:
Post a Comment