Quite a lot has happened since that last post.
The major item is that the project took me to Lubango in the south. People were right about this city: it is different world than Luanda. There are flat-topped hills all around the horizons, poinsettia bushes and flame trees and mimosas in the gardens and along the streets, and colonial era houses in pastel pinks and violets and yellow golds, with ornate white trim and edges. The people are much less hurried, athough it was a holiday when I arrived: May 1st, the International Day of the Worker, fell on a Sunday so they have Monday off. The sun is shining, there´s a nice breeze and no mosquitos in sight.
CLUSA's office here is also a guest house. The place dates back, I think, to before independence and is fairly palatial. So far I've eaten in the kitchen, where all the counters are a clear white marble in which you can see the crystals shining in the light that pours in through the window, and which also highlights the green and rose-pink veins in the stone. Oh, and there are roosters crowing! There's a balcony off my room that looks out on the neighbors' yard, where they have two fully laden lemon trees. It is actually quite like parts of Chile in the late summer and early fall, maybe another reason why I feel more relaxed here.
The airport was a trip: people everywhere, all the security machinery was turned off--the guard looked at my slippers in my garment bag and waved me through. Then we waited around for about an hour while everyone behind the counter had a leisurely chat and I sweated and kept a hand on my luggage.
At length they opened the gate and then you saw what makes this country such a delight: if you slip somebody a few kwanza, you move to the head of the line.
Anyway, we got into the departure lounge eventually,which was rigorously air conditioned...felt GREAT! And waited another hour or so. Got a long look at several planes pulled up and slowly falling to pieces just in front of the windows....As the bus took us out to our plane, where we had to claim our luggage on the tarmac--very effective way of making sure your bag is on board, I think O'Hare should use it, too--we were treated to a long look at the air force's complement of transport planes: all old Soviet Ilyushins and Antonovs: gawky and ugly variations on an old 707, some of them. I wonder where they get parts?
Did you know it's possible to have cockroaches in a jet? I didn't! But the flight, if not the landing, was smooth enough, and we got mystery-meat sandwiches and drinks--or, at least, a drink for me!
More to come, when I can load pictures: of the town, of farmers and their market, some beautiful trees, and a deep cut in the earth called Tundavala. Here's a teaser, from someone's web page:
