I woke up early on Monday. I had set
my alarm for 7 so that I'd be ready for my 8:30 departure for the
airport but woke up somewhere around 4 but was able to go back to bed
and sleep until around 6:30 at which point I gave up and got out of
bed. I wandered into the lounge where I was met by the guy who was
taking me to the airport and, as happens in Africa where organization
is not a strong point, he asked if it would be possible to leave at
7:30 instead because they had to pick up another group for the
airport and they didn't want to be late for the start of the tours
that they were also driving that day. OK, 7:30 it is, but will I get
breakfast before I go? Yes, but you have to eat quickly.
We picked up a group of retired
teachers who were doing a tour of South Africa and off we went to the
airport. I arrive really early and took my time checking in and had
time to buy another plug adaptor as somehow I managed to bring two
adapters which were the wrong size. The Johannesburg airport is a
shopping mall. Once you are through customs you can spend your
pre-flight time shopping at Hugo Boss, buy all your trekking gear
from the outdoor store or sample some of Africa's finest snacks. It
truly is amazing. In fact, they only put about 8 seats at each of
the gates in an attempt to get you to shop more.
In the departures lounge there was a
large board which displayed all the flights and their gate numbers.
I found my flight and the gate had changed from A29 to A20. Off I
went to A20 where I was able to find a plug and sat down to with the
computer to write in my journal. Nearby there were two guys who
seemed completely stressed out. They were yelling into their phones
and pacing back and forth and generally disturbing the energy of the
airport with all their extra emotions. However, it was because of
those two guys that I found out the gate hadn't actually changed and
that the plane was now boarding from gate 29. Ah, modern technology.
It's only useful if it is working- otherwise it's just very
expensive junk.
The flight was short and the plane had
propellers. When we arrived in Inhambane there was one customs
official and about 12 people who needed visas. It's a very small
airport and this man was having a very bad day. When you get a
Mozambican visa you need to have your picture taken and the
background of the picture must be blue. The man's blue screen broke.
Over the next 10 people he had to fix the screen everytime before he
could take the picture. You also get finger printed and have to pay
85 dollars. Needless to say, it was a long and painful process made
even longer by one of the girls on the project who did not have any
cash to pay for the visa. The visa costs $85US (which I think is a
ridiculous amount of money for a visa) and she only had $20 so, she
had to come to group leader to ask to borrow money. Not a great way
to make a first impression. The group finally all made it through
customs and by this point it had started to rain. A quick sprint
through the raindrops and we were in our chapa which is essentially a
well worn minivan that carries between 15 and 40 people. In our
situation we had fifteen people with full lugage. The luggage is put
on the front bench precariously balanced while we sit behind it
hoping that the Grand Canyon sized potholes would not dislodge a bag
into our laps. The windows fogged, the potholes huge and many girls
who had to pee, we headed out. We were on our way to our final
destination of Tofo.
In group style 5 people needed to
change dollars or South African Rand into Metacals which meant that
we had to stop at the bank/gas station. Over an hour later, we were
back on our way. It seems that they lose their internet connection
every couple of minutes and cannot process people's transactions
without the internet. A very efficient system.
Driving into Tofo, we stopped at the
local backpackers Fatima's to pick up two more people. Where they
were going to sit, we weren't sure, but in the end we got them in.
Some people scooched over and “skinny guy” was able to lean on
the luggage. However, “skinny guy” has a problem remembering
things. First he took forever to come to the van and then he had to
go back into the hostel 3 times. This does not a popular guy make.
We arrived at the house and not really
knowing anyone, had to decide who our roommates would be for the next
four weeks. It was a free for all. The house has two floors with
bedrooms on both. It was difficult to tell which beds were empty and
which were taken and in the end, the girls who had already been here
for a month were able to get a room to themselves because they left
their stuff lying around to make it look like all the beds were
taken- sneaky and not very friendly.
A brief organizational meeting and some
dinner and we were free for the evening. Off we went to Fatima's for
a drink and to get to know each other.
A long day, but a good start to the
project.
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