Machimbombinho

On awakening Tim and I debriefed on his painful cramp in the night, the type that for the period during which it persists, the sufferer will wish death upon themselves. The cramp woes distracted him from sunburn woes, so served a purpose.

In Mozambique, a machimbombo is a bus and a chapa is a minivan. Both ply the main routes within and between towns, the latter being more frequent and more sardine-like. Minibuses, somewhere in between, can be called machimbombinhos (little buses). For slightly less cramped conditions this is what we wanted to board for the three-hour journey south. But Vilankulo is a small to medium-sized town and beggars cannot be choosers on arrival at the transport stand. We were bundled onto a chapa towards the town of Maxixe, which was non-eventful but tricky on the limbs. The picture is of the Vilankulo market building as we grabbed water for the journey.

By the evening we’d arrived in Inhambane town after crossing Inhambane Bay in a ferry from Maxixe, which is its twin town and pronounced Masheesh. We walked the calm streets and drank Manica lager in a bar where a fellow customer was sporting, in Tim’s words, ‘an unfathomable pleather jacket.’

We had a debate about pre-determination. Tim believes that life events are pre-determined, that the exercise of free will within this is also pre-determined, but that people have creative licence around the manner in which they go through life events. I hope I’ve reflected his position accurately enough with these words. I believe that life is a much more uncontrollable series of unpredictable events heavily influenced by human agency and environmental factors where people have a lot more ability to shape their path in whatever direction.

When we returned to the hotel bar, we met a brilliant convivial South African who was on the whiskies after nearing the end of a long road trip from Uganda (not completed in one day). He totally redeemed our previous interactions this week with his countryfolk and provided enlightening insights about South Africa’s development and journey towards equality. He was a billion times more satisfying company than the overtly racist woman from last night. His solution to encountering her (reassuringly minority) views, especially amongst the young, is to tell her to f*** off. I’ll take up this advice with gusto, as it comes from an authentic source.