Velocity

Of all the things in Mozambique, Kevin dreads chapas the most. For his first ever chapa ride in March, he had to climb in through the window. For his first chapa ride the second time around... all of our luggage fell out of the back of the car. One minute it's all there, piled behind our seat, tied down by rope and the next, the rope snaps and the back of the van flips open and our suitcase and duffel bags tumble out of the moving car like vigorously rolled dice. Kevin and I curse and stare helplessly at our vanishing belongings, and the chapa keeps moving. "Are you going to stop?!" I finally demand hysterically. The car does pull over, eventually, where the road is wide enough for other cars to pass and our baggage is just a speck on the pavement behind us. The cobrador and several men jump out and run back to pick up our stuff, while Kevin and I are trapped in the back seat wondering if the oncoming giant semi-truck is going to smash our things flat. I'm especially desolate- gone are the maple syrup, the macaroni and cheese, all the delicious and valuable goodies I requested from America! But no, the cobrador runs straight at the truck waving his arms and fortunately, it slows down. It even gives the cobrador a ride back to the car, with all of our luggage. The cobrador piles everything back in the chapa, announcing to me, "See look, the rope broke" as if this absolves him of all blame. This time, he ties the baggage to our seat. "So next time, we fall out too..." I say to Kevin jokingly. But not really jokingly at all.
Aside from that, Kevin also thinks we're going to die in a head on collision every time we get in a chapa. "I liked that guy, he went nice and slow," He tells me after we get out of another one. (Says the guy I'm always reminding to STOP SPEEDING when we're in the States.) "Look! Seatbelts!" He exclaims. Then, five seconds later, "Oh. They're broken."
We made it all in one piece to Chicumbane. Miraculously, everything in the suitcase was undamaged save for the little animal figurines we had just bought in Maputo. (Nothing a little glue can't fix.) Kevin commented that my house was small (it is) and cleared the two month old dead spider carcass off of my mosquito net. He met the little puppies and greeted Mel and Xima- the former remembered him while the latter did not.
The following day, we went to the English Theatre competition in Macia with my theatre group Amizade, where Kevin was asked to be a guest judge after one of the original judges on the panel failed to show up. "Does he have any experience?" The English Theatre coordinator asked me. "Other than being a native English speaker? No." I answered. Good enough. My group came in 3rd place, and I was extremely proud of them.
The next two days will just be us hanging out at home and winding down, before our big South Africa trip. Can't wait!!!