Emerging from mother earth, some hieratic giants seem to watch over us as we move away from the coast. The distance from the ocean becomes greater and the vegetation becomes denser as we dive inland.. The baobabs emerge haughty, like sentinels of the road, They dominate the environment and will escort us during our advance through the interior. They are the true protagonists of the landscape but they are not the only ones; the bananas, pineapple trees, mopanes… They also sprout gallantly in the meadows while the low vegetation gently covers the large masses of granite molded with sensual curves by the effect of erosion..
The baobabs emerge haughty, like sentinels of the road, dominate the environment
The town of Bocoio, cradled by these beautiful places, tries to overcome his recent sad past, when it was an area of intense fighting for years. The forest tries to devour the carcasses of battle tanks, contorted tanks and destroyed trucks but these sinister rusty profiles are still perfectly distinguishable. By the way, young mothers carry jugs and sacks on their heads while knotted cloths behind their backs carry their babies, the new generations that we all hope will never know war. Another gigantic storm unexpectedly breaks the magic of the moment and transforms the track into a dangerous mud. The traffic stops because the road turns into a river, but by engaging the gearbox of our Mitsubishi Montero we can continue moving forward.… solo. The rainy season breaks out without respite but we hope to be out of Angola before the rivers overflow.
We turned south in Wama and since it is the main communication route in Angola, there are already sections newly paved by Chinese companies.. But the unrestored sections are still full of holes that, after every rain, They overflow with red mud that splashes everything. Progress is slow, very slow and in many towns we find building facades with thousands of bullet holes and shell holes. Out of the cities, We advance between villages of cabins, Precarious farms and several mine disposal camps. Improvised markets spring up at important crossroads, combis loading and unloading people, trucks stopping to get supplies and smiling saleswomen offering fruits, meat, vegetables… The chaos of noise is such, races and laughter that look like fairs.
We found facades of buildings with thousands of bullet holes and shell holes.
We spent the last night at a mission of Mexican parents in Cahama. The mission is made up of only three fathers but today there is only one, the other two have gone to Namibia to shop. It is tragic and ironic that even the products of the land, like fruit and vegetables, cheaper in a foreign supermarket at more than 200 Km. What if they are bought in the local market.
Father Andrés tells us that he has been here for four years, It is his first destination and although at first it was difficult for him to adapt, he is already beginning to see some fruits., but there is still a lot to do. They combine their work of helping those most in need with their evangelizing mission, especially when certain ancestral customs clash with Catholic morality. He confesses that what bothers him the most is the puberty ceremony for girls from various surrounding tribes.. Passing teenage girl is celebrated with the loss of virginity thereof, of which the family is responsible. For that occasion arrive uncles and cousins, they are entering the cabin and "making woman" the girl. After the ceremony, She is already a woman and is ready to get married..
Passing teenage girl is celebrated with the loss of virginity thereof, of which the family is responsible.
The rainy season - whose preludes we have suffered- is already watering this land, regenerating life but at the same time… striking with death in the form of floods and terrible epidemics of cholera and malaria. We must recognize the Angolan people's admirable morality, seeing the wealth of his country in oil (second producer in Africa after Nigeria) and diamonds (fourth producer in the world), and how an elite gets rich while so little reaches the people. Nonetheless, there they are, pitching in and trying to preserve the most precious thing that a human being can possess to move forward: peace… that opens the doors to a better world.
