Villancullos

The bike and I unpacking. This is Elliotts house and art studio

which I stayed at many nights

The monkey was very nice untill Elliott poked him in the belly and he got super man trying to jump onto Elliott we ran off after that.

The other photo is just to show someone I havent cut my hair contrary to what they think

This is Elliott and Handel, the two guys I hung out with most my time in Villancullos

My travel monkey and the coastline wheres theres good snorkling

Myself,Elliott and Eduardo. Local Fishermen and boats

Bhaa. Somehow I erased the blog entry I was working on. Probably a good thing being I was on a total rant as to how cultureless people in western society seem to be as they go about there redundant days doing the same thing day in and day out going to the same restaurants, friends, movies, nightclubs ect all in an effort to feel more cultured. They assume the identity of a sub culture so they can feel they belong to something greater than themselves and find security in there new found faux identity to alleviate there insecurity, I myself am guilty of this. I got thinking about this because as I travel around I am exposed to many different cultures because a culture can change here within 10 or 20 kms. But people aren’t searching for culture, its part of the fabric of there being here. This past week I arrived back at my cousins after attempting to go on a surf trip to Tofu but my bike had problems before I made it that far so I ended up stranded in the beach town of Villanculos. Not a bad place at all to be stranded. I rolled up having no idea where to stay and accommodations were slim pickings being it was still holiday season for the South Africans who travel up here to holiday. So I ended up settling down in what I thought or was told was a hostel. Only thing is there wasn’t a single person at the hostel other than me which made me question my decisions but there were a lotta locals hanging around and I always like to be immersed in the real side of a culture or country and not the side you see in tourist magazines ect.After a couple days there I ended up befriending 3 men whom were all Rasta which is big in Parts of Africa being it originated in Ethiopia contrary to what many people think originated in Jamaica. Elliot the one I got along best with was am artist and made his living by painting and spoke extremely good English. So off we would go exploring the town. I was taken to all the places a typical white person never goes to in the area only because white people don’t have the inclination to want to hang with the locals there and stay to themselves in the comfy little all inclusives. Myself I took up the offer to sleep at his house and store my things at the “Hostel” being there was no running water or toilets making it very frustrating when wanting to take a shower. Over at Elliot’s there was a toilet (although it was just a hole in the ground which took me 2 days to figure out how to use it, as simple as it may seem) and an outdoor shower surrounded by bamboo for cover. One night he decided to take me for a walk on the beach to show me some of the monster houses being built by foreigners looking for a cheap tropical destination which frustrates the locals being they think the huge houses are eye sores. As we strolled down the beach we heard yelps in the distance and saw 2 figures standing over 2 on the ground. We decided to investigate. Turns out it was 2 police interrogating a young couple on the beach kissing? As soon as the police saw us they detained us for no reason at all and expressed to us we must watch what happens to people that defy there authority. So out come the billy clubs and they start beating this young couple senseless. What does a person do in this situation?? I was getting frustrated quickly and so was Elliot. Being that Elliot is one of those people that fought for human rights in this country on the side of extremism while in University and it being his country he felt he had an obligation to do something. So the verbal war began the cop was yelling at us we weren’t allowed to be walking on the beach and in response to that Elliot said there is absolutely no law stating that and they were simply looking for a payoff. In the end they let the couple go and turned there attention on us but I’m just a visitor and the last thing a visitor wants to do is get in trouble with the law here so I took a backseat as they argued. Finally we walked away and Elliot felt he had succeeded and I believe he did being the police seemed to be intimidated by him, possibly cause he was educated way beyond there level which is a rare thing here and was able to back up his arguments with facts. They did search me but I just rolled with it. It was a surreal experience to say the least. Anyways. Day in and day out I felt honored to be with Elliott and his family who always insisted I have dinner with them which made me feel awkward because people simply have nothing in this country for the most part. During the day I seemed to live off cokes and mangoes almost exclusively. Anyways the day came that I decided I needed to depart and got my bike up and started. The morning of departure I got a phone call from the owner of the hostel saying that police were there wanting to question me and I better come quick before they come find me. So when I got there we chatted and as it turns out there was a man on a motorcycle from South Africa that was white that hit a cop over the head with a bottle in a village nearby. I fit the description, but the description was vague. It was “white man on motorcycle” I explained that this was impossible I had been in this village at the time this happened and had proof. They agreed but the thing is, even if they agree with you they still want something from you. They said they should bring me into the station just so I can confirm my identity, and all the guys that were there to my aid said “NO NO WAY!!! DO U GO INTO THE STATION WITH THEM” So I knew what they were getting at (the police) even though they knew it wasn’t me the bottled this man they still wanted a thank-you for them making it easy on me, In the end we settled on 200 metical’s for each of them which is the equivalent of about 7 dollars each. Shook there hands and said bye to them, and I promptly said bye to the village.
I arrived back at my cousins later that day realizing I had to leave the country the next cause my visa was expiring. SO first thing in the morning I got on my bike which had to be jumpstarted everytime and made my way to the Zimbabwe border. Upon exiting the Mozambiquen agent told me I was a day late with leaving and so the drama with more government agents began again. Finally I argued my way out of there, paid a fine and went to the Mozambiquen customs to enter. Now going into Zimbabwe for a Canadian is not a cheap thing, its almost triple what anyone else in the world would pay and all because there’s a claim that a Canadian mercenary made an assassination attempt on President Mugabe. In the end I got through, ate lunch and walked aimlessly around the closest town waiting for a customs shift change so I wouldn’t be recognizable upon re-entering Mozambique to lessen them from hassling me. I went to Exit Zim, the woman took one look at my passport and said “No WAY you are the person in this passport” I explained to her that I haven’t cut my hair in 7 months, have a huge mustache now and am very tanned as opposed to the clean shaved, shaved headed me in my passport photo. She called in a co worker, who agreed it wasn’t me. Finally I threw my hands in the air let out a laugh and said “I dunno, whatever” this humored them and with that they let me go. So anyways that’s about it. I’m preparing to get on my bike and head down to South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Zambia I’m hoping... I’m not a fan of African officials but at the end of the day if you are innocent they usually know it and it can be rectified, there’s just a lot of them out there looking for an extra tip so its something to be aware of. In our society bribery is bribery. But in society here where there moral values are based on a completely different system than ours bribery is not bribery it’s like a tip or a thank-you. So that defiantly took some getting used to. My cousin Dwight summed it all up real well when he said. “People that come from North America and other countries assume there in a place that runs like it does back home, and it does, kind of, but it has teeth and it bites if your not paying attention” Situations like these seem to be common and how you come out of it depend a lot on a persons ability to read another person and how you react to the situation. On the other hand if I would have chosen to do travels via a tour group or stayed on the beaten path probably none of that would happen with me, but I hate hate hate being a tourist. Anyways I’m done for now.

Adios.