Viewpoint of the moon

Viewpoint of the moon, "miradouro da lua" as they say. This was my first stop in my way from Luanda, the capital of Angola, to Benguela, the city I'm gonna live the next two months.

My father drives, and during the 9-hour journey I just observe. We pass through a local market, and he stops so I can leave the car with my mother to see it. I feel unconfortable, I am the only white person and the feeling is that I am invading their territory, that I shouldn't dare to enter it. My mother says it's ok, so I trust and go.

There is a "cabritê" just before the market, but I couldn't take any picture of it or of the market itself - they don't like it and if a policeman sees you taking pictures, you can get into serious trouble. First, let me explain what a cabritê is: pieces of goat, in an adapted grill, with the head in one of the corners so to people identify what the man is selling. The image is a bit shocking, as I suppose it is shoking to see monkey's heads in some countries or as it is for an Indian to see a Brazilian barbecue.

In the market they sell crafts like paintings, jade bracelets, sculptures made of elephant horn and witchcrafts. Their paitings are amazing, they are very colorfull and show the women with their babies or the Imbundeiro, the most typical tree. I was enchanted by a sculpture of a saint, made of a black and shinny wood. It was of a suavity, a delicacy that I think I had never seen. A black saint, of course, and she was beautiful.

I am actually not the only white person in the market, there is a chinese couple negotiating ivory bracelets. They don't speak any Portuguese, but they understand each other with gesture, the universal language - specially for trading. We go walking and they recognize my mother, saying "madam, madam, never more?". She used to go there a lot as a part of her last job, and they were confused why she never went back again.

We continue our journey, there's still much more road to go through. While passing, I see villages where they live and the houses mix themselves with the mountain, that is sand-coloured. They make the bricks for the houses with the sand of the mountains, that is why is looks all the same view. They put bricks over the ceiling, so it won`t fly away - there`s no cement or nail to stick it. The look of it is just unique.

We arrive in Benguela already in the night, so I don't see much. I am also tired from so many new things, different scenes, thoughts about being here in a place I had never imagined, facing a reality I had never seen before. I am still quite confused about the population and their way of life.

There is no power in the street, and we will turn the generator off as we have to do every single night. Because of that, I end here my first writing about life in Angola.