SPIRIT OF PLACE: MOZAMBIQUE

And so I ask myself, "What do I have to do to get those of you out there to actually visit my Blog - to look at the pictures and contemplate the 'Spirit of Place' they were created to confer?" The answer is somewhat disturbing I fear: Social Media has made us horribly lazy - it has created a world of instant gratification, and little or no real contemplation. Hitting a 'like' or an Emoji is simply too easy ........ "let's get on to the next entry" has become the order of the day - and the next - and the next - and the next ...........
To take things one step further, I believe it must be creating a world full of really inconsiderate lovers - people with no sense of foreplay ....... simply instant gratification. Isn't this perhaps where the whole modern concept of the "hook up" originated? No names, no pack drill - just get it on and get it over with!
I really would feel a whole lot better about the world if just a few of my friends and family would take the trouble to visit the blog, subscribe to it, contemplate the pictures from time to time and let me know their thoughts about what they are seeing under the No comments / Comments link. Now wouldn't that be nice :o)

In 2015 we spent almost two weeks in Mozambique - most of that time in and around Inhambane, Barra and Tofu. The drive up from Ponta D'Ouro to Maputo was an interesting introduction with the so-called highway being one of the worst roads we have ever had the misfortune to travel on in around 200 000km of overlanding through Southern Africa. The 100km took us close to 7 hours through really thick sand / corrugations in some places up to 200mm deep / totally wrecked sections of tar with potholes up to and including 2m x 1m x 800mm deep in places / roller-coaster rides through long sections of valleys and hills just a few meters apart ........ and so on.

Everywhere poverty reigns supreme - the people have little or nothing - and every few kilometers as one approached a village there would be anything up to 30 or 40 women on the side of the road, each with a basket of oranges that she hoped she might sell to a passing traveller. Here and there we would see a bus stop and watch in awe as it was overwhelmed by these people trying desperately to sell their wares. It was much the same in the Praia de Tofu marketplaces ............. stopping to look at anything invited an avalanche of traders desperate to sell you their product which in almost every respect was identical to what everyone else was trying to sell.

Remembering back over the years to those early days in Pretoria and the amazing LM Prawns that we had access to we were keen to find the same again - but at the source ......... no such luck: the largest prawn we found anywhere was hardly the size of my little finger and very, very poorly presented. Peri Peri Chicken became the staple while we were there, this at least hitting the spot in terms of both memory and heat.

I don't know how many people who visit Inhambane actually take the time to walk through the old town. It is fascinating in a great many respects, with remnants of a good deal of old Portuguese architecture mixed everywhere with 1930's derivatives of Gropius' Bauhaus designs ............. many quite beautiful in their lines, but oh so neglected! It has a very special "Spirit" which is all its own - the lagoon is stunning at all times of day, and despite Vodacom having seemingly taken total control of the town (which was elevated to the status of City on the 12th August while we were there), the faded and blistered colors which adorn its architecture make it very beautiful in a forlorn sort of way.

The war is definitely not over ............... remnants of its destructive force are everywhere evident and the threat of resurgence seems to be on the minds of many of those people we spoke to - lets just hope that the influence of the new colonists - the Chinese - at least keeps the terror at bay while the people 'hopefully' get a chance to rebuild their lives.

On the whole we found the sea and the beaches beautiful - the countryside boring and often ugly - the people very poor and the resorts (those still in operation), pretentious with little or nothing of any value to offer. Mozambique is in serious need of 'heart' ............... something that will inspire its people to really appreciate what they have at their fingertips but have allowed South Africans and other foreigners to exploit at their expense.

Inhambane - Mozambique August 2015