My luggage (that petty-bourgeois relic, as Danilo rightly pointed out in a comment) finally arrived, and the next day I was able to leave Johannesburg. They really didn’t want to let me leave that ugly city and they tried to stop me from getting on the bus because I didn’t have a visa for Mozambique.
I knew you could get it at the border, and that’s indeed true, but apparently the rules have changed and you can’t board buses without a visa anymore because it often causes long delays. Another day in Johannesburg and I would have gone crazy, so I said I was getting on anyway. They called the manager, and we agreed that if they couldn’t issue the visa quickly, they would leave me at the border. Luckily they did it in 5 minutes.
So I arrived in Maputo, which I barely saw (I’ll pass through again anyway). It seemed very fascinating. Not exactly “beautiful” in the literal sense, but it has a kind of “soul”… I’ll describe it better when I see it properly.
The next morning, about 25 backpackers and I took a minibus to Tofo. It was small, but they miraculously managed to pack us all in tightly with our luggage.
After a few hours on the road, while the minibus was speeding along a long downhill straight, we heard a violent noise: ta-ta-TA-TA-TA-TA, followed by a strong burning smell, smoke, and black pieces flying everywhere, both big and small. Panic everywhere. The bus didn’t even stop at first, and it felt like we were going to catch fire.
Then the girl next to me jumped on me, and I tried to move to the right as much as possible, since the smoke was coming from that side. Finally the minibus stopped, and we saw that the seat next to mine, where the girl was sitting, had practically exploded! There was a hole with strange fibers sticking out, and even the metal underneath was torn open.
Basically, a tire had exploded and caused all that mess. Anyway, nobody was hurt. Shortly after, on the same road, we saw a large bus completely overturned on its side. I don’t know more, but it was clearly a serious accident.
So I finally arrived in Tofo, a small village on the tip of a long, wide, and almost empty beach. There is a lively little market where fishermen arrive with fish of all sizes, and friendly women and girls selling skewers, fruit, peanuts, drinks, etc.
Along the seafront (which is about ten meters above the beach), there are various hostels. In general, they have small bungalow-style huts, very basic, just a bed and a mosquito net.
I went to a hostel that was recommended to me, but the small bungalows were all full, so for now I’m in a strange shared dorm. It’s a large circular hall with 12 beds arranged around the edge like Knights of the Round Table.
But it’s fine, and in fact only 3 other beds were occupied. The next morning I woke up and at first couldn’t understand where I was. Through the mosquito net I could only see three seriously stunning girls in the middle of the room putting on sunscreen. One of them was wearing a cowboy hat. It looked like a scene from a porno movie. Then I went back to sleep.
And now I’m here in Inhambane for just one day. It’s a nice colonial town... but I’m a bit tired of writing now.
Kisses.
The place that exploded.
Overturned bus.
Ok, no more dramatic images from now on.
My bed, already taken over by a cat.
The market in Tofo.
Sunset.
No comments:
Post a Comment