Macossa, Guro, Catandica and Manica

Hello!

Como estou tentando me vender um pouco vou escrever alguns posts em inglês... coloco o tradutor para portugues no lado direito da pagina. Não vou falar que o resultado da tradução é bom, mas dá pro gasto.

After few moths trying... and trying... and trying a bit more finally I could start my work installing the first internet spots in the end of the world, Lydia is with me doing this pioneer trip. The Vodacom connection is not the one that I wish, very slow and sometimes hard to connect but anyway working most part of times. Actually after the amazing bureaucracy to buy the modems and make the contract I could not expect anything much better.

The first place I went was Macossa a kind of real shithole in the hell… Mr Magaeisa the driver from ADPP took me to this place because there is no available transport to this small town and even hike is a very hard job in that roads. Leaving Chimoio we went until Vandusi the place where the road coming from Chimoio to Beira cross with the road that take you to the north in the direction of Tete. After Vandusi we had 200km until arrive in Guro the last town you can reach in this direction with some sort of chicken transportation… leaving Guro an amazing trail in the dust road to make people who went in past times from Paris to Dakar very jealous. Mr Magaeisa, the driver is a very kind 50 years old man and in this trail I saw that he is really a good driver… the speed was always near 100km and the road was really dangerous. Elephants and Bush Bucks are common in that region (that´s what Magaeisa said unfortunately I saw no one) and the landscape was amazing we didn’t cross any single car all the way until Macossa.

Two hours in this dust road and we arrived in Macossa the road ended in the village and I faced the truth I already knew... What the people here is going to do with the internet connection? The course I gave months ago to the pedagogical workshops managers teaching how to use computers internet and related things had nobody from Macossa and even the workshop manager didn’t have much idea of how to use internet… anyway that was not a problem in the end cause Vodacom signal was so bad that I could not make the connection. Some tries and I gave up a little frustrated… What a shit! the first place after so much work and the connection was not possible. In Macossa there is just one available place to sleep (USD 15) and before leave we eat in a bar where a very kind man made a delicious goat stomach that with piri piri (pepper) turned into a real bomb to my stomach after some minutes.

Macossa was not the begin that I was expecting to the job and we kept going to the next village still with the driver and after some hours coming back in the same way we arrived in Guro. The village of Guro is bigger than Macossa and can be reached much easily one time that is in the road that connects Vandusi and Tete.

Guro is a nice and very small town… two small markets, the beautiful mountains that separate Mozambique and Zimbabwe and that’s it... We stayed in a good and clean accommodation called Tropical (USD 20) and the work next day was successful. The connection was good the workshop manager know how to use it one time that he was in the courses and everything worked as it supposed to be. Much better.

The morning after mr Magaeisa went back and I kept teaching the people in the workshop how to use the internet… they were fascinated with the new tool they have and one time that this was the day when Mozambique played against Benin in the African Nations Cup the researches were all about it. In the end of the day me and Lydia went to the markets to see if there was something different from the other markets we are used too and we could find very cheap capulanas and all the kinds of collars… walking to the mountains we took nice pictures and the people like always amazed with the muzungos walking in places where the white people usually don’t go much often.

Next morning we took a chapa from Guro to Catandica (USD 2) and as always in chapa a long trip… some goats in the roof… much more people than the old car supports and a very crazy and fast rally driver. We arrived in Catandica and found a good accommodation with hot water in a bucket (luxury) called Zacarias Hussein (USD 15). After some minutes of resting I went to the workshop and started the work…. Very good connection, smart manager and everything worked fine again, after the bad experience in Macossa now the score was 2x1.

In Catandica the pedagogical workshop had just 2 computers working well and I convinced the people from the organization in Chimoio to send Mr Magaeisa with one computer to improve the conditions there so I had to stay one day just walking in the Village what was good one time that there was 3 good markets and some bars with cheap and tasty chamussas (avg USD 3 meal). The region where Catandica is located is near the mountains that separate Mozambique and Zimbabwe as Guro but there the mountains were else more beautiful and higher… filled with stone mines. One evening having dinner in a bar a young man approached trying to sell some rubys, tourmalines and aquamarines for a very reasonable price… one time that I’m not specialist I made no shopping despite of my willing. Next morning Mr. Magaeisa came and after install the new computer we took the road with him until Vandusi again where we hike in a small truck until Manica the last city where I’m doing this first part of the work and where I’m now.

The workshop manager in Manica is a very smart guy and one of the best students in my courses… I had no problem to make him understand how to use and teach the community people to use the internet also the Vodacom connection in Manica is very good so the score now is 3x1.

Manica is an old town and the bigger between the four cities I’m talking about in this post. During the Portuguese colonization the city was a very important gold trading spot and the consequences are a very different city when comparing to all the others I saw in Mozambique. The houses are made of masonry instead of straw, most part of the roads are made of asphalt instead of clay and there is even a square a church and a museum in the middle of the village. The first day we stayed in a bad and expensive accommodation called San Cristovam (USD 20) and them we changed to a better and cheaper called Blue Dolphin (USD 15)… In Manica you can find plenty restaurants and bars with cheap and good food because of Messica river that passes trough the city and give to the local people a very good kind of fish called Carapau. Also if you want to buy gold or some kind of precious stones Manica is the best place.

The last day in Manica we were just tourist… In the morning we took a chapa in the ‘central station’ and dropped out in Chinhamapere primary school (USD 1) where the local people said we could found someone to take us to see the Chinhamapere cave paintings made by the ancestors of the region 2.000 years go. The rock art paintings are UNESCO World Heritage site (http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5381/) and that was an amazing experience.

In the school we found a guy who took us until Vovodondo’s house in the low part of the mountain. Vovodondo is a very old woman who is the guardian of the mountain and the only one who can go up to the paintings with the people… even the local people need her permission to climb the mountain and she always go together to make the ceremonial when arriving in the paintings site.

The time we arrived in her house she was with other two old women making a kind of liquor (fucking good!) with some local seeds… after taste the exotic liquor I waited for one hour sited in a rock looking the slow way that the women keep the good drink in some gallons while Vovodondo prepared herself to climb the mountain. I went alone one time that the sun was really hot and Lydia didn’t feel good.

Climbing the mountain we tried to make some sort of conversation very hard cause she just speak few words of Portuguese and I just speak few words of Xhona, the local language here. The communication was hard but enough and using mime skills we had great conversations. ‘Indacuenda foto Vovo… Indacuenda montanha….’ She explained to me that the painting were made by her ancestors in a time of war between the local tribes from both sides of the mountain and that’s what the painting shows arrows and bows and people fighting, hunting and dying.

When we arrived in the paintings site she made a ritual asking for permission to show me the paintings. I was creepy and remembering the certificate she showed me before down the mountain from the Zimbabwean government certificating that she was medium and able to talk with the spirits (that’s Africa). The pictures are amazing and despite the deleted down part the conservation status is not bad. I made an offer to the spirits of the mountain (money) and we left. Great experience.

Today was my last day in this first part of my trip to remote parts of Manica province installing the internet connection. Tomorrow we are going to Zimbabwe the country where I was supposed to work in Africa when I begun my project in U.S. I don’t kwow exactly why but Zimb attracts me a lot and I can hardly wait to see the Great Zimbabwe ruins.

The work was successful after so much difficulties to make contracts buy modems and bureaucracy. My personal experience really worth my unpaid work one time that I passed trough amazing places where the tourists are not used to be seen.

Aquele abraço!