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| In Zimbabwe |
| 04.06.04 (6:46 am) [edit] |
The 512 Collective has secured touchdown in Zimbabwe, and we are now posted in the capital Harare. Everything here is going much better than the US State Travel Warnings would suggest - but before we really get into the details, here's a breakdown of what it took just to get this far:
Saturday, April 3rd: Leaving Maputo at (almost) the crack of dawn, we jumped on an 'express' bus for the 9-hour ride up the Mozambique coast to the small town of Inhabane. We then hitched a ride from one of the Irish Embassy's Land Rovers for the last leg of the journey, which took us into the small village of Tofu on the beaches of the Indian Ocean. A dinner of crab meat and curry was promptly devoured, and we hit the sack soon after that.
Sunday, April 4th: Another morning departure found us driving out of Tofu in a minibus - really just your average Toyota van, and the staple transport of Africa - packed way over capacity with 25 people (imagine opening three cans of sardines, then dumping the contents of two of them into the third and resealing the lid). We then had to charter a rickety old wooden sailboat to cross the Inhabane harbor into Maxixe, where we were deposited at our bus to the coastal town of Vilanculo just minutes before it hit the road. A severe tire blowout delayed our arrival until late afternoon, but the bus didn't flip so I can't complain...
Monday, April 5th: With a full 38 hours on the road ahead of us, we set out at 4am for the Vilanculo bus station. We were told walking was a bad idea and "Only the thieves are out at four in the morning," but we didn't have much of a choice and set out in a pack with two other Americans that had joined us for the day's journey. The walk was tense but uneventful, and we arrived at a small, 1970s- era rust- bucket of a bus, our home for the next 10 hours.
Although our route followed the main highway through Mozambique, it was a narrow and poorly- maintained strip of gravel and asphalt that didn't even compare to the backroads of my homeland in New Mexico. The bus moved slow, and would frequently stop so passengers could talk and conduct business with other people along the road. At one point, we came across a boy standing on the roadside with a goat, and the bus pulled to a stop. After a brief conversation with him, our driver handed over 200,000 meticash ($8 US) and the goat was hoisted up onto the roof to join us for the rest of the voyage into the junction town of Chimoio. When we finally arrived, we transfered to one minibus and then another, and promptly found ourselves standing on the Zimbabwe border. Customs and Immigration were remarkably easy, and within an hour we had arrived at the Mutare train station and were waiting for our overnight ride into Harare.
Tuesday, April 6th: The 10-hour train ride ended a few hours ago in downtown Harare, and we've now settled in at a nice backpackers hostel in the city. I visited the World Food Program offices this morning, and they're taking me out in the field to start shooting tomorrow. That gives me some time to hit the pool this afternoon...
I could go on and on about our adventures of the past week if I had the time, but I really don't so I'll have to leave it at that for now. This is DL Fitch in the political and economic disaster that is the nation of Zimbabwe, signing off... stay tuned for our next episode.
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posted by: newbie (reply)
post date: 04.06.04 (1:05 pm)
You guys will certainly appreciate even a "speedy" Greydog Bus stateside after this!!
Mom
posted by: dlfitch (reply)
post date: 04.12.04 (4:02 pm)
Greydog huh? I think it's Greyhound, and they actually have them here as well - they're the luxury option though (hard to imagine, isn't it?).
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