Last weekend we ventured out of the city to a beach a few hours away, called Sangano. Driving in the city is nerve racking to say the least. I think it's the most stressful thing a person could do here. And I was driving because it helps my motion sickness if I'm behind the wheel and can anticipate movement. You have to drive with cars only inches away from you, literally, because everyone forces you to move and if you don't keep up, they'll crowd you out from making forward progress as everyone gets in front of you. I consider it a HUGE success that not only did I get us to the beach, but I got us and the car home in one piece! And despite the traffic, we're glad we went. It's good for us to get out of the city and feel a little more connected to nature and its beauty. Outside of Luanda, the landscapes are beautiful and varied.
Leaving the city: Some sort of flooring store and a hair salon.
It's a normal thing to have people crammed into the backs of little "Kawasaki" cart knock offs. The "Kawasaki" on the side of the cart is always spelled incorrectly and different from the next. As you get further out of the city, you see men hanging out on their motorcycles like cowboys on their horses.
Still in the city, but the road is closer to the coast in these pics below. You can see shacks where people are living.
As you get out of Luanda, you'll see Imbondeiro trees (Baobab tree in English). It's a long-lived tree here in Angola, and it's believed that many of them are more than 1,000 years old. Besides giving shade, shelter, and water for little creatures, Anoglans eat the seeds and roots and use their fruit and pulp for juice. Last year at the kids' school International day, we tried a Popsicle made from the fruit of the Imbondeiro tree. None of us liked it, however our tastes may have changed over the past year, so we'll have to try it again. :)
Here are the large fruits or what appear to look like "sacks" hanging from the tree. For some reason this tree still has them, but I believe that the majority don't right now because its been "winter" here, thus the lack of green leaves also.
These pigs caught our attention running through this yard on their way to drink. It looked like the woman was washing dishes behind the little wall that I'm guessing is her kitchen, outside of her home.
Crossing a bridge over the Kwanza River. Briant educated us on the way, telling us that before the Civil War (started in 1975), this area and the old bridge were strategic choke points where Angola decided to blow up the bridge to keep South Africa from invading and taking Luanda. That action stopped South Africa at the water's edge. This is the newly built bridge.
The areas around the river are so lush and green.
After two hours of driving, we arrived at Sangano. This beach is a favorite of the expats because it's clean and somewhat isolated, meaning there are locals there, but it looks like most of the time they are there to work so they don't bother you with buying their wares. Overall we felt pretty safe too. There are little casitas you can rent overnight and a restaurant as well. The fresh air and scenery were wonderful!
We were invited by the "F" family to join them (Casey, Valerie, their three boys, and very large dog Carolina), and then after getting there, were joined by Janice and her husband Jerry, as well as Nick and his dog Daisy. We missed Nick's wife, Cristina, as she just left Angola for a vacation with their little boy. Normally, everyone from the embassy goes to the beach on Sundays because there is less traffic. But knowing that we try and "keep the Sabbath Day holy," Casey told us that they were purposefully going on Saturday so we could go too. We felt loved and we appreciated their sacrifice! :)
The kids had a ball riding boogie boards and playing in the sand. Savannah asked Casey for a ride on his paddle board which he graciously agreed to do.
A few of the kids, including Savannah, got stung by jelly fish. Left her with pain for a while and little bumps.
Before we left, Briant and Casey ordered food for all of us from the restaurant. It took over an hour to get the food, but it ended up being worth it. I had a normal meal of chicken, rice, and french fries.
After about 5 hours, we had to head back to avoid the late afternoon traffic.
Back to the city, construction, people, traffic and the crazy blue taxis.
Fun day! It wore us out. :)
0 comments: