Getting out on parole

I think this year marks my 10 year anniversary of my first trip to Angola. For the past 10 years I have been visiting at least twice a year staying usually for a week or two at a time.  My first impression of Luanda was something I never managed to shake despite seeing how Luanda was progressing as a capital and building itself up brick by brick. Buildings where people lived in squalor and literally threw their toilet waste from the windows were turned into buildings where the sunset over the Ilha is mirrored into the faces of Angolans striving for a better life. The number of building cranes over the skyline of Luanda is probably the highest I've ever seen in any city, a sign of a developing country that had been torn apart by a civil war before and is now building itself up.

My travels to Luanda felt to me like a death sentence. I was here for work and on weekends I stayed in the staff house which is walking distance from the Marginal but never leaving it. Weekends were terrible torture with no access to transport and with clear instructions not to venture outside the staff house due to security issues. The only entertainment I had was the Internet and staff house swimming pool. Discussing the latest mugging that was recorded in our safety records made escaping from the “prison cells” of the staff house sound like a bad idea. The Marginal was a no-go zone and despite the fact that construction work prevented anyone from walking there, the company’s “Welcome Booklet” didn’t encourage it either. In a period of ten years I never walked alone in the city of Luanda and I dreaded any upcoming visit to Angola.

I am again in Luanda over a weekend and the Marginal which were closed for most of the last couple of years has officially been opened. Instead of chewing through my wrists again this time I decided to break free and go explore no matter what the consequences might be. My current state of mind is screwed up for more than one reason and I needed to pick myself up.  At 10’0 clock this morning the gates of the staff house opened in front of me and I ventured out on my own to go see the new Marginal. I crossed the main street where the traffic lights show the countdown in seconds to when the light is going to change, something I have never seen before in my life. Waiting for 70 seconds before the walking man  turns green can take some getting used to, but I didn’t want to cross on a red light thinking that I might as well use the new technology that was put in place for a reason. I suddenly felt alive in Luanda like a prisoner who has just been let out on his first parole. It was like a new world opening in front of me and the feeling of being sentenced when my presence in Luanda was requested quickly disappeared.

The new Marginal is basically the walkway in front of the city facing the bay area. Once an area where muggers took shelter and preyed on foreigners has been turned into a pleasure zone for the people of Luanda to enjoy. Young people were playing basketball, doing the stuff that most kids would so in South Africa, with benches, parks, play grounds and enough area to roller blade, ride bike or skateboard until the sun goes down. I walked for about an hour from the one end to the other and back and wasn’t approached by anyone begging for money or making me feel uncomfortable.  I uttered a few Bon Dia’s and was friendly greeted back. It looked a lot like Sea Point in Cape Town and the vibe was not far removed either. One thing I did notice though was that there were no tuck shops to buy cool drinks or water. I needed this because with more than 30 degrees Celsius minutes after ten a clock I could not help but wonder why there are no shops around. I noticed a few mobile police stations and even though I usually stay clear of anyone in uniform in any African country I didn’t feel threatened by them either. I guess the amount of people walking their dogs and taking their kids out made me feel much more relaxed. I took a few pictures and decided that on my next visit I am bringing my roller blades along. A weekend in Luanda does not have to be a prison sentence anymore. It took me ten years to get out and I am planning on staying out. The other issues that Luanda still has I will try and solve with the same attitude I saved myself with this weekend.

New buildings (oil companies)

Fort of São Miguel of Loanda.

Sunset on the Ilha

I was invited for dinner at the Ilha in Luanda and happened to be on the beach while the sun was setting. I only have my little point-and-shoot camera with me and knowing my history of bad sunsets with this little camera I thought that I might make it a bit more interesting if I placed my beer on a rock and making it look like a real laid-back scene. I should've taken pictures without the beer as well, because I have to admit that this beer without foam and bubbles might as well have been an urine sample in a glass. So, sorry for spoiling the picture with that thought, but that was the first thought that entered my mind when I saw the picture on my laptop. Angola also has beautiful sunsets, but you need a good camera to capture it...and make sure your props look like the real thing if you want to spice up the setting a little.

Dakar

I don't think this was the Dakar that the late Frenchman Richard Sainct used when he won the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1999 and 2000. This is the Angolan Dakar....snapped in Luanda.

Flying the White 747

We were just about to land on OR Tambo when I saw the white 747 that was waiting to take us to Luanda. If it wasn't for the windows it could've been any no name cargo plane. I have flown with it before, it seems like it has been dedicated to the Johannesburg-Luanda route and as far as I could remember the previous time there was no in-flight entertainment on it. Or let me rather put it this way, the entertainment stopped  a few minutes after it struggled to start. Sitting for 3 hours with nothing to do was not really what I had in mind for my flight to Luanda today, but it seemed like there was no getting out of it this time. I am not very comfortable on this aircraft. It seems rather old and the fact that it has no South African Airways emblems on it makes me wonder where it came from. It looks more like a aircraft that is not on their books anymore because it is on its way out and they are just using it until it finally comes to rest.

The boarding went quite well. Ten minutes before scheduled departure time everyone was on board. Or so it seemed until they realized that two passengers were missing. The captain informed us that we will be a bit delayed because their luggage had to be found and that might take about 20-30 minutes. Fortunately for the missing passengers they found the boarding gate before their luggage was found and they managed to get onto the flight. As if they haven't caused enough trouble, one of the passengers found another woman seated on his seat and impolitely asked her to move. The pregnant lady that was put there by one of the cabin crew refused to get up, saying that she had all the right to be there and that he was late. What followed after that only happens on a Jerry Springer show. All of a sudden they were throwing insults around and it really turned ugly. Eventually the cabin crew had to intervene and with all their peacekeeping efforts they managed to find the gentleman another seat which he was satisfied with.

We were ready to leave. The flight attendant switched on the safety video and the cabin crew "secured the cabin for take-off". But then the video stopped playing and I knew immediately that the entertainment system had not been repaired since my last flight. So the cabin crew had to do the safety instructions manually, which obviously not only wasted more time, but it already had some passengers making remarks about the possibility of other things on the aircraft that might also not be working. Not a good sign when you are already sceptic about the aircraft.

After the safety instruction everything went into pause mode. Then the captain announced: "Cabin crew, please disengage all doors". Something was wrong. Only then I realized that there were no lights on inside the aircraft, and when the captain informed us about the "small electrical fault", I knew for sure that someone did not accidentally switched it off. After a couple of minutes two technicians were on the plane looking for the technical problem. At this point another female passenger started hyperventilating. She wanted to leave the aircraft immediately! She obviously had a fear of flying and after the fist fight between the passengers, the broken safety video and the "small electrical fault" she had enough. While the cabin crew was trying to calm her down the technicians found the electrical problem...or fault rather. In aviation you never have a "problem". It seemed that the problem was on the ground and not on the aircraft itself. The generator that is supposed to "kick-start" the engines were not strong enough and another one had to be found. While all this commotion was happening outside, the cabin crew were busy with anti-stress counseling inside the aircraft. Soon the lights and the engines went on, and the hyperventilating woman calmed down a bit. The captain ensured all the passengers that the aircraft was in perfect flying condition and absolutely safe, and that the problem, oops fault, was in fact outside. During take-off I could see that this woman was a nervous wreck and I really felt sorry for her. Having a fear of flying is really not something I ever want to develop.

The take-of went smooth. Just before lunch was served they tried to get the in-flight entertainment system going, but they only managed to get that right after our meals were finished. That gave me just enough time to watch a movie until 15 minutes before its end. Now I have NO idea how the bloody movie ended. The food was good and the beer cold, so no complaints on that side, but the white 747 is starting to build a reputation for itself. Whenever you arrive at OR Tambo, watch out for the white 747, it might feature in one of my post again....or on the 7 o' clock news bulletin.