MOCAMBIQUE

THA train

is tha jump-off + story begins in capetown + got up real early to catch the 25 hour train to Johannesburg + there are only third class tickets available + so we go head and jump on hoping that something in 2nd class will open up around hour 8 of the trip. + Third class on the train is a trip.... any class on the train is a trip + people change residences using the train + the worst/best part + they serve a schmorgesboard (sp) of alcoholic beverages on the train for anyones drinking pleasure + so to take their minds off + the heat + babies cryin + not enough seats + lil chirrins runnin around....erry body on the train was gettin tipsy...everyone is however more sociable on a train than lets say a plan or automobile + my time in third class marked the first time someone assumed that i speak Afrikkans + but again, third class, aint the most comfortable or the safest (especially with everyone gettin inebriated) + so hallelujat, something opens up in second class + where everyone gets their own compartment and whatnot + several highlights + watching the sun go down and the rain approach at dusk + (pics comin soon!) + watching the landscape change from oaisisy green to desert while what can only be described as polyrhythmic xhosa hymns were sung intensly by the 5 drunken women in the compartment next to us. + lowlights....+ the milkshakes on the train are just shaken milk..no ice cream.

HOSPILITALITY and other stumbled upon lessons and experiences in Johannesburg

got to joburg at about 11am on sunday + im in touch with Julia-Lynn + one degree removed from her via her brother Phillip Walker + who was my mom's good friend and whom i remember most vivedly as a child as santa clause, and a constant presence in my parents circle of friends + Julia-Lynn and her her husband Meshack live in Johannesburg in the most impressive home i have ever set foot in + for several reasons + first + because if instantly felt like home + probably because of all the books and CD's and magazines + (anyone's whose ever been to my house knows why that is a homely type of thing) + so it offered that instant feeling of cozyness and warmth that only home can provide + I won't describe the house in detail + ill use these three words + luminescent, tropical, ergonomic + looks like something out of architectual digest + Julia-Lynn is quite possibly the most hospitable person ever + and she helped re-inspire me to make sure my home and life are open to young people in need + we met friends of hers who want to set up a mentoring program for young people in jo-burg + real dope people with positive lives + always good + we had very irreplaceable convo's + we went to a club in jo-burg that night + when we got there it was pretty full but EVErYone was sitting down lookin bored +i was peaved cause ppl refused to dance until the house music came on + and before that they were playing alot of dope stuff + my song ...Mamma im a millionare air air + got on a bus that mornin to go to MAPUTO the capital of mocambique!

MAPUTO eu nao parlais portuguese

so it must have just slipped my mind + but they don't speak english in mocambique + the language barrier made me wanna be a linguist + i used to not know what i wanted to do if i wasn't an artist, now i know + i would study languages + and just bask in my abilitiy to understand everyone worldwide!

the bus ride was extremely long mostly because of the border crossing which was crazy + once u hit the border there are these huge vallys filled with huts and shacks + everyone has to get off the bus twice to verify visa's + there are soldiers and whatnot milling around + when you get off they go through luggage on the bus + but you can't watch them go through it.... + i tried to take a picture of the big vally + and the bus driver was like + "wo there buddy" "hide your camera before the police take it" + i was like... "ok"

so + we got in this convo about Africa and came to the conclusion that SA (capetown specifically) isn't "legit Africa" u can mistake capetown for any part of the western world if you bling to fast + Maputo in contrast is VASTLy different + first of all the urban landscape is extrememly different because of the absense of newness + There seems to be NO cars, buildings, clothing --- anything made within the last 25 years + it seems to be stuck in a western time warp + in a poem i put it something like this + "mocambique is a place abandon in its transition to a forcibly imposed reality"

the demographics are extremely different as well + there are almost no white people + mostly Shangan people speaking portuguese + where as in SA + there are of course alot of White people +the only white people i saw in Mocambique were either visiting from SA or they were 50+ sugar daddies who seemed to have a lock on the 17-30 black woman dating pool + there is really no visible govt or infrastructure i saw potholes that were 2 ft deep and 4 feet wide + i know there is a govt + but the "police" usually turned out to be hired private security + some of them had AKs or sawed offs which seemed to be mostly for intimidation purposes.

i don't want to give a history lesson + but the difference in "colonization cultures" seems directly linked to the colonizing nation + in mocambique's case, portugal, + apparently 98% of the portuguese population JET to either brasil, portugal of SA withen 2months of the liberation of the country + whereas in SA the colonizers stayed there and declated their independence from britan which has led to a more stable infrastructure in the western sense +but SA also got stuff like apartheid which the mocambiquans don't have.+ but now the world has their eyes on SA +i.e. the world cup is coming + their puttin in an olympic bid + etc. whereas places like mocam are kinda ignored by the world community.

to be continued....

(coming next GET on the bus! rural mocambique quickly becomes an action film )