A Life Far Removed from Durian Trees

Last night, the Angola Field Group held another presentation at the Viking Club, this time a 1970s documentary/promotional video of Luanda in the colonial heyday. And what a place it was! The film was made in 1970 - just five years before the Portuguese upped and left, followed by the 27-year civil war. Luanda is eerily the same as it was 40 years ago - most of the buildings in the film still exist, but now run down and overpopulated. Luanda was once more modern than Portugal and among the top honeymoon destinations in the world for Europeans. It took the presenter 10 years to track down a copy of the video, which was released (in '96?) and sold out and never re-released (but a lady did say an almost identical film was made for Mozambique, even with the same narrator!). In the vid, you saw Portuguese people walking in the streets, eating at cafes, shopping, etc. There were also Angolans in the video, going to work, at mixed schools, etc. (apparently the Portuguese "brought in...

I will miss the halal beef burgers at BelFrance’s café near the Alvalade Hotel. Because we have a driver this week, I managed to pop by and pick one up during lunch hour today (first time!). Schweet! (As far as I can tell) the meat is good meat, doesn’t smell weird and doesn’t have bits of cartilage or other yucky stuff. They also put a layer of fries in the burger and then a fried egg on top. Add some mayo and ketchup, and it’s schmokin’! The burger is so good that I bought it even though I saw the guy wiping his nose with the back of his (gloved) hand. Now that's love!

Some contemporary art on exhibit at the Natural History Museum in Luanda. These were my favourites. On the top left is a kandongeiro , i.e. Angolan taxi. There is something really earthy and comforting about the one on the top right. As for the sculpture, I see the same expression on a lot of women here although I couldn't really tell you what it means. The one on the bottom right is made up of a series of panels.

A couple of weeks ago, we went whale watching off Luanda. The first whale we came across wasn't too far from the coast, but further out, we caught up with a pair of whales that were moving in parallel with a third whale some distance away. We followed them for a while, with one boat on either side of the pair. They would come up every 3 minutes, sometimes you heard the whooooof of air being spouted out before you saw them. I think these were humpback whales. Black body. Bumpy heads. Small dorsal fins. I thought the underside of the tail for one of them was white. A few times, we also saw some shark-like fins in the water but these would disappear very quickly. They weren't sharks, but moonfish. The picture below is a preserved moonfish that is hundreds of years old at the Natural History Museum in Luanda.

With two weeks to go before we leave Luanda, I've been thinking about my three years here - experiences, regrets, people we've met along the way, etc. Awesome things about living in Angola : Great weather Great beaches & marine life Great seafood Beautiful unspoilt landscape Travel around southern Africa (i.e. Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Tanzania) What I learned from the Angolan experience: To appreciate the simple pleasures in life To re-evaluate my immediate reaction is about what is 'normal' (A little) Portuguese Greater appreciation/insight into African culture (have you ever watched any Nollywood, i.e. Nigerian dramas?) Regrets : Could've made more of an effort to socialise Should've travelled around Angola more - didn't make it to Namibe Wish we had discovered the Viking Club sooner - they organise really good field trips Doing more volunteer/charity work Should've learnt past/future tense in Portugue...

The packers have come and gone. Our stuff took up 59 boxes. Would've been less if I'd managed to stop hubby from packing everything e.g . instant noodles! Departure date is set for Aug 23.