Category: Travels

Caroline Bach2 Comments

British Airways, bacon and sunrise in London.

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Written at 8:15am

My friends in Johannesburg took me for a braai where we had great food, met nice people and where my lips got painted red by great South African wine.

Long journey + fur allergy + red wine -exhausted, I boarded the aircraft where I was seated between.. a teenage American missionary and a young Slovakian mother with a hyperactive 1 year old. There were no seats free anywhere else.

I know I could have used the opportunity to ask the kid a million questions about Christianity but I mainly focused on keeping the baby busy and listening to the wonders of Anouar Brahem on my iPod. I asked myself how long it will take until they remove the 1million ‘no smoking’ signs from airplanes. The girl with the baby said it probably was meant for Spanish people “because they smoke everywhere” which wasn’t what I meant at all by my question. So I kept thinking about random details I couldn’t discuss with my travel company, and trying to stay warm.

Because this British Airways flight proved to be the coldest flight I have ever been on. People were wearing hats, winter jackets and blankets over their heads. So I asked a steward if the aircon was broken. “No, a person fainted before.” he said and left. Gaaah.. so I went angry, annoying, demanding Caroline and walked over to another attendant, starting off with an African: “Hello mister, how are you doing?” quickly realizing that he found that completely irrelevant, and continuing to “I’m sorry, I don’t want to be rude, but this is the most unpleasant long distance flight I have ever been on.. Are you actually saying that an entire Boeing 747 has to suffer for 11 hours because of something that probably wasn’t even heat related and that surely won’t be affected by slightly more human conditions?” This man was much nicer and even turned that aircon knob a little. I still kept my jacket on though as the temperature never really got to human levels. I have said this before, I really lose it when I’m cold.

On the flight, I also finally watched “A single man” – a movie I have been listening to the Abel Korzeniowski composed soundtrack from for months. A very touching, real and beautiful movie, really. And watching it next to the missionary guy made it a little bit more fun, I really wish I had been in the mood to discuss homosexuality with him.

London offered a beautiful sunrise and I switched to my Angolan and Mozambican playlist. I am already feeling nostalgic about Africa, and I am still not realizing that I will be seeing my mother soon. Maybe because I’m spending a night in Copenhagen first and don’t want to spoil that by looking forward to what comes next. Or maybe because this was all decided so suddenly and being busy at work hasn’t allowed me to connect emotionally to the fact. Or maybe because I’m tired and everything seems to be working against me now, I’m generally just really hoping I will get my bag.

Another British Airways flight now, London to Copenhagen.
I know I’m in Europe as the 12 year old Danish girl has a little infobox about “how to masturbate better!” in her youth magazine. Just got a bread roll with a piece of extremely slobby bacon in it and became vegetarian in a split second. Got a mini bread packed with wet cheese instead. Most people just gave the thing back when the stewardess came to collect the trash. I can’t believe I will be flying with this airline on my way back.

Caroline Bach1 Comment

Joburg

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To those of you who check in here to see whether I managed to survive my trip and the cold morning at Johannesburg bus station – I did. It actually wasn’t too bad at all.

I had my blanket and spoke most part of the night with the 23 year old South African guy next to me. He recently managed to get his girlfriend pregnant and has got some problems, so he is thinking about changing his name and escaping to Mozambique to “start something” – as in a little shop selling whatever. He will, of course, go get the girl and the baby if everything goes well.

He asked me what I do but had never heard of the UN or anything like it so it was an interesting task explaining that to him from scratch in basic English. He thought the idea sounded like something that will never work. Also, he doesn’t vote because he doesn’t trust politicians and he didn’t have a school desk when he was a child. He has a VISA debit card though and he showed it to me, but he doesn’t really understand what it’s supposed to be used for so he just carries it around.

Today, he knows how to read and write, but mostly he just sings. His big dream is to own something one day, maybe a car, or other things. “Because life is good when you can own things.”

While we were in the bus, the guy called his girlfriend who has been waiting for him in Pretoria for two months. “Hey, come out, I’m outside your door!” he said and hung up, and when the girl called back five minutes later, he wouldn’t answer. “Na, I’m just playin’ wit her. Is not sirias.”

I arrived at Park station a bit late which was great because I didn’t have to wait for my train. Remember the ladies room i posted a photo from in April? So, it was horrendous then but looks completely different now. Beautifully refurbished with many more toilet booths and super fresh – except that… “Sorry, you can’t wash your hands.” And why? Because the pipes and some other parts were stolen. “And darling, you should see the men’s room! Everything got stolen there in just a couple of weeks.” laughed the lady responsible for handing out toilet paper. “You can’t put these rolls in the booths, they will disappear immediately.”

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There you have it. A little bit of welfare, plus poverty, corruption and low standard – and the way these four factors neatly connect and loop their away into frustration.

As you already know, I’m not a huge fan of Joburg. I am, however, a very big fan of the friends that picked me up from the train station. Remember Axel that I introduced you to in February? He’s got a friend now. Her name is Selassie. Such a great name.

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And me? I’m on WiFi for the first time since forever, thus the photo-bomb and jibberish. Sorry!

(I still don’t understand that I will be in Copenhagen and Malmö soon.)

Caroline Bach1 Comment

The Calm before the Cold

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Delivered my work on deadline. Packed my bags. Ticked everything off of my to do list. Called friends. Had lunch. Painted my nails. And now? Now there’s nothing left but the sun and an embracing calm.

I’m in limbo and I can’t really do anything, you know this feeling, right? When you just have to empty your mind and wait. God, I can’t wait for the busride!
Might change my mind later as the 10h bus will drop me off at the following scenario: 4.30am in the morning. Dark. Minus degrees. Packed with thieves… and I’m all alone. Eish!

Bringing my sleeping bag for the bus. I can handle many harsh conditions. I can sleep on the ground, go days without really eating, walk around with 30kg on my back.. But what I really can’t handle, at all, is cold. God, I hate cold, it’s impossible for me to function normally, sleep or do anything when I’m really cold. Johannesburg bus station at 4am will thus be a challenge, and I don’t even have a proper jacket.

But right now, at this moment, I’m still in the sun – 30 degrees here today. Thank you for warming me, Maputo, I like you too.

Caroline Bach3 Comments

If I was a falphin

That’s just some nonsense that I wrote when I had just come back from Ihla Grande. I went there in 2008 for only two days with a friend I had just met in Rio. The island, just off the coast from the city, proved to be a paradise. An absolutely stunning place.

But the best part of our brief stay at Ihla Grande weren’t the never ending white beaches, the colourful fish, the crystal clear water, or the wild monkeys in the jungle. It was the evening, when we sat in a room in a guest house where we seemed to be the only guests. We were playing mind games and “what would you choose, if you really had to choose?” games until we got stuck on animals, and on deciding whether it would be more great to be a dolphin or a falcon. The debate literally took us hours. Until we finally agreed on the fact that a falphin probably is the best animal one could be.

Happy falphin birthday, Nishant.

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Killing Saudades


Me & children in a school in Chibuto. Gaza province, Mozambique

The matte veil of whateverness that had been blurring my existence the past month was suddenly pulled off as I clicked the confirm button on the BA homepage, buying my ticket to Europe.

I woke up in the middle of the night in Chibuto, off the grid, accompanied by nothing but the full moon and a strong wish to see my mother. I thought about all the people I had met, children orphaned by deadly diseases and families separated by the struggle for employment and survival. I couldn’t find the logic in deliberately putting myself in the state of missing my close ones so much it would hurt me. Of course, one could argue that the price I had to pay for my flight can’t be justified for the few days I will get in Sweden. For me, however, happiness has always had a higher value than money and experience has taught me that the rest always can be sorted out with priorities. In other words – I’m coming home, baby.

I bought my ticket already the next day in the car on the way back to Maputo, using my phone as a modem. When I had confirmed the payment and received the e-ticket in my inbox, everything suddenly made perfect sense again and all grey feelings disappeared as if they had never been there.

I happily informed family and friends, and was met by excited and heart-warming hurraying. Friends are arranging their flights, my mother is asking what I would like for dinner. All this love, I’m so overwhelmed! I am working on a schedule to make sure I get all my millions of errands arranged, I can’t wait!

Knowing that I will spend a week in Sweden gave sense to everything else and has filled me with new energy to continue doing what I do. I am already starting to long back to Mozambique, to this beloved job, to the summer that is approaching, and to spending more time with the family I have become a part of.

What I was suffering from was clearly the state that in Portuguese is referred to as saudade. A very strong feeling that there is no real translation for in English, but I can assure you it’s a pretty damn real one. Anyway, that’s all gone now – I’m back!!

Caroline Bach1 Comment

Horns and birds

I’m sorry for being so absent here lately, I’ve had tons of interesting meetings and things to organize. All I can say for now is that I’m staying in Mozambique for another month to do a very fun and exciting consultancy.

To celebrate, I give you a couple of photos from when we went to Kruger National Park two weekends ago. I saw elephants, lions, zebras and hippos.. but I would like to dedicate this post to animals with different kinds of horns, and some funny and colourful birds. They don’t always get the attention they deserve.

Caroline Bach1 Comment

Daytrip to Catembe

Took the 0.10€, 20 minute boat to Catembe last weekend to take a look at what could be found on the other side of this thin stripe of sea. The crowded boatride and the place gave us a beautiful view of our dear Maputo, which has the skyline of a bustling and continuously growing city. There was not much else on site except something that looked like a cemetery for old boats, a vegetable market, and a lady selling the most beautiful capulana fabrics I’ve seen so far. I bought two. I also danced a little with a beautiful girl in the market, because as everywhere else – there’s always good music around here! And after crossing the water to get back to Maputo again, we went to the market next to the fortress where I bought my first capulana dress.

A daytrip to Catembe is simple and nice. Nothing extraordinary, but with friendly and welcoming people – as usual here in Mozambique. And that’s all I was looking for. That and photo opportunities.

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Oranges

The season for oranges is still here and their vivid colour that is scattered all over makes my mouth water. Here in Maputo, one kilo of oranges is 1€ from the lady on the street. I took these photos from the bus on the road to Inhambane. Whenever we stopped, ladies and children would approach us through the windows with fresh fruit, cookies and drinks. Very hard to resist.