Week 2: Mozambique!
OK, my summary experience of Mozambique is that everything is FUBAR, all the time. The perfect example is the truck we rented. We had to rent a 4 x 4 vehicle because the drive into the diving resort we stayed at is literally about 3 hours ( but only 70 – 80 miles) of potholed dirt and sand (think 2 – 3 inches deep) road. Unfortunately, there is never snow here, and the 4 x 4 vehicle is not common. So after several days of multiple people madly working in different directions to try to find us even one appropriate vehicle, we still didn’t have one. Johan and I got up at 6 a.m. to be driven (thank you Ma and Pa Visagie) an hour and ½ to meet up with a couple friend of Johan’s. Then we went to those friends house and waited. And waited. And waited. At 2:00 pm we gave up and got driven to the Mozambique border where a driver employed by one friend’s father picked us up and drove us to the city of Maputo. We dropped the driver off and then drove her (the friend’s) father’s car to our resort. We arrived around 9 p.m. Her father actually still needed his car – he just happens to work in Mozambique and has a 4 x 4. So then the next several days we tried to coordinate with her father how to get his SUV back to him and get us another appropriate vehicle. Finally, the driver drove those 3 hours to us (taking about 5 to actually get there) to swap vehicles. He showed up a) two hours late while we waited for him in a neighboring town, b) with friends in the car, and c) drunk. The vehicle we got, once we switched, offered the following features:
OK, my summary experience of Mozambique is that everything is FUBAR, all the time. The perfect example is the truck we rented. We had to rent a 4 x 4 vehicle because the drive into the diving resort we stayed at is literally about 3 hours ( but only 70 – 80 miles) of potholed dirt and sand (think 2 – 3 inches deep) road. Unfortunately, there is never snow here, and the 4 x 4 vehicle is not common. So after several days of multiple people madly working in different directions to try to find us even one appropriate vehicle, we still didn’t have one. Johan and I got up at 6 a.m. to be driven (thank you Ma and Pa Visagie) an hour and ½ to meet up with a couple friend of Johan’s. Then we went to those friends house and waited. And waited. And waited. At 2:00 pm we gave up and got driven to the Mozambique border where a driver employed by one friend’s father picked us up and drove us to the city of Maputo. We dropped the driver off and then drove her (the friend’s) father’s car to our resort. We arrived around 9 p.m. Her father actually still needed his car – he just happens to work in Mozambique and has a 4 x 4. So then the next several days we tried to coordinate with her father how to get his SUV back to him and get us another appropriate vehicle. Finally, the driver drove those 3 hours to us (taking about 5 to actually get there) to swap vehicles. He showed up a) two hours late while we waited for him in a neighboring town, b) with friends in the car, and c) drunk. The vehicle we got, once we switched, offered the following features:
• Wires instead of radio
• Shifter knob missing
• Lights went on and off without turning light knob
• Dirty windshield and no washer fluid
• No windshield wipers
• Almost no brakes
• A tire went flat. So did the spare
• No jack
• Expired license disk (similar to U.S. tabs). We had to bribe police to get out of that one.
For this we actually paid $900 U.S. for one week of use. The original price had been $1200 U.S., but we complained after the week was up. $900 was the reduced price. See first paragraph about how there are no 4 x 4’s for rent in Africa.
I wish I was making some of that up, but I’m not. Every time we thought nothing else could wrong, it did. In the end we were just happy that we didn’t end up in jail and we didn’t die or kill anyone. Hey, set your goals high… But that was representative of Mozambique in a nutshell. Getting progress made on anything involves a real ordeal. The resort/dive school we stayed at (currently run by S. Africans) is up for sale. Any takers???
But I did sortof get certified in scuba diving while I was there. Yay! (I think.) It’s not quite past scary yet for me and not yet fully fun, but I’ve now completed 4 dives and am doing another one tomorrow in Durban.
I did thoroughly enjoy Johan’s friends who I got to know on the trip. Dries and Marna were with us throughout the whole ordeal, but with multiplied stress as Marna is on kidney dialysis in a sterile environment every 5 hours (re-reread trip times above with that in mind now). Most of the time we spent with them that did not involve transportation of any kind were fun and relaxing, and their company made any difficulties easier. We also got to know the owner of the resort/dive camp and his wife. Johan went to school with Elizma. And Michael just has his work cut out for him. They want to run a cattle ranch further north in Mozambique and not deal with tourists any more. Go figure.
Next up: A week of American observations on S. Africa as we spend a week just hangin' out with the folks!
