Daily Economics

You may join me in my surprise as I thought Angola would be an African country where you see lions and giraffes and half naked women draped in colourful canvasses carrying water on their heads while children with potbellies run naked in the sun.

What can I say, the country is divided clearly, like so many others, into capital and the rest of the country. There is Luanda and the rest of Angola. Luanda is a bustling, loud, dirty city; very clearly came into serious money before education. You know what I mean, like any South East Asian larger city; Luanda is being developed and built very quickly. You could almost compare the amount of cranes in the city's horizon into that of Beijing's horizon couple of years before the Big Games.

photo by Kamene M Traça

But unlike any other city that has quickly discovered oil or other coveted natural riches, Luanda's everyday life is no longer for the ordinary people: rent in the city starts from $3000-$9000 for a STUDIO apartment for a MONTH! Yes, we are still in Africa, and the city is Luanda, not London, you wouldn't find these prices in any major capital however posh and "the" place to be they were. And lets not forget that the electricity and water might be cut off any given time.

The expenses are visible in everything, starting from daily commodities like milk, bread- it is just plain wrong that bananas that they grow in Angola are cheaper to buy in Finland than locally...

Here's a couple of links to be gasped at like I am every time I leave the house:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8094873.stm

http://www.gadling.com/2010/07/07/luanda-angola-the-worlds-most-expensive-city-for-expats/ 

And here's a link to an article about a local shop, not too far from where I live, that priced their melon 100$/pc! Funny article: 

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=pt&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fopais.net%2Fpt%2Fopais%2F%3Fdet%3D18451%26id%3D1657%26mid%3D229

"The end of the war in 2002 led to an investment boom by China and some Western nations which has helped turn Angola into one of the world's fastest growing economies. The boom also helped push prices to record highs."

It seems that Angola was completely destroyed by the war and currently has no industry of its own. Angola doesn't really make anything and has hardly any agriculture or cattle. Oil accounts for over 96% of Angola’s total exports, whilst diamonds come a distant second with around 2%. Which basically means that Angola imports everything it needs. And this where China steps in- in the street view one can see many many Chinese companies, machinery and people. The wooden African artefacts sold at markets are made in China, the fabrics with bright colours and African prints are made in China, the carp they sell by the road is all made in China. And let me tell you- the prices are not what I would have paid for in China. Cheeky buggers. Unfortunately I don't know who I am calling cheeky here. Live and let live, right?

photo by Kamene M Traça

But expenses set aside, as soon as you leave Luanda and drive out for a couple of hours, you will see villages where women are dressed in colourful clothes and do carry water on their heads while children play outside and the earth is the colour red you have never seen! And the fruits are cheap and cheerful!

photo by Kamene M Traça

About the lions and giraffes- I'll let you know asap I visit a national park!

New year, new location and a new life!

So here we are, a couple of years later and I am back; Ilona IS in Angola!

After Xmas I took my suitcase and started my voyage towards the southern hemisphere, which I shall refer to from now on as home! I arrived in good time but in not so good shape (after several flights and airport deaths) to celebrate the beginning of the year 2011!

My boyfriend lives and works in Luanda, Angola, where hopefully I will find something groovy to do! So far I have done the following: sweating, spreading an equal amount of sun block and mosquito repellent on my body, sweating, sleeping, sweating, having several showers during the day, sweating, swimming, sweating, eating a bit, and more sweating... It is HOT! And I realise that I exchanged -23˚c into +37˚c, but never did I think it would be this difficult to get my body familiar with this heat. They say it might take a couple of weeks before I get used to it and stop sweating like a sprinkler...

But I am lying a bit, since I have done some cool things already: we went camping on the beach one weekend, to the Surfers' Beach; Cabo Ledo, where the waves are pretty high! And what we did last weekend, was to take out the boat and go to my boyfriend's family summer cottage in a place called Mussulo. Mussulo looks like an island on the coast, but is in fact a peninsula, and apparently quite the trendy place to be during the weekends. Not surprising as the water seems cleaner on that side and the waves calmer. It is perfect!

My goals for now are to learn Portuguese, experience Angola and hopefully Africa, find a great job and have fun! While doing that I will keep on writing this blog and sharing my experiences in this new culture of mine.
(Now I wish I had kept a blog in China, cause lets face it- we had some really crazy shit going on there!)

I'm off to eat cod fish! Ta taa!

Last blog

As we know, all good things must come to an end eventually. Alas, and so has my wonderful trip!

I have spent another two days now stinking up at the airports and planes... Funny how I have always flown with or against time, rather than sitting in a plane for 7 hours in the same time zone. Really, shouldn't long distance travelling be like time travelling?

As I am sitting at the airport in Dubai, it occurs to me that the rest of Beijing is there- all i see is wind-breakers with Beijing 2008 logo on them. In all colours and shapes! And it seems true- as i arrived to Beijing, the city seems quiet and calm. This is where I presume the post-Olympics-depression begins. All the work and time spent to create the great atmosphere and years of preparation and building the city up has truly bore the fruit from the seeds it planted some five years ago. The games were spectacular, although I only watched them at the telly between my swims and BBQs...
So this is my final entry for my little journey diary, as my little journey has ended now. Before I finish, I still must add one thing:

African Albinos! Is that irony taken to the limit? Really? Apparently Albinism is not that unheard of over there. The lack of pigmentation offers no protection against the African sun.. Cruel. I saw three during my time over, where as I have only seen 1 Chinese albino in my 2 and some years in China. I wanted to crab a picture, but the guy saw me whip out my mini camera and gave me the look of death, so I tried to smile sheepishly while stuffing the camera back to my pocket. Although, that would have made a great entry to my blog: I got my arse whipped by a black albino! But you guys are just not worth it.

So there, until my next exotic trip.

I had a wonderful time!

Ciao

TIA

This is Africa. A phrase I first heard from the lips of Leonardo Dicaprio in Blood Diamond. Thought is as a Hollywood catchphrase for the movie, little did I know I would be hearing it over and over again… So this is Africa. A couple of thoughts from someone who has spent a week and some on a holiday:

Electricity
Whether you are in a restaurant or in a shop with the music blasting out loud, followed by silence and darkness, no seems even to blink. The electricity comes and goes, and the lack of it, is so normal that people don’t react one way or the other. Generators do come in handy as it turns, handy and more so a necessity. Needles to say, with it goes running water, aircon, internet…

Roads
Usch… No roads, just dirt and dust and huge holes. Brings a whole new meaning to 4wheel drive and how necessary they are here. Most of the cars I see on the roads are huge 4wheel drives, (with the exceptions of huge H3 Hummers). I asked Kamene before our road trip whether he has a atlas of the roads to where we are going, and the answer was simple: “there is only one road”. Like the rest of Angola, the roads are busy being built as we speak. By Chinese.

Expenses and customer service
Now going back to my second blog and the hell hole of a hotel we stayed in at Malange… A city of nothing has three hotels in it, one that has no running water and they were charging $40!!! You believe that? Another that looked okay charged $160 and the third one would have been in the same lines, but was full so we didn’t see it. I need running water (or so I thought when I saw the first hotel), so we chose the $160 per night hotel. Now, for $160 one would expect to receive a clean hotel with modern commodities. Or even a bathroom door that closes? I tell you, our relationship took a turn… To give you a run down, the water was sandy, the towels did not look clean, the sheets were not crispy and pulled in, the breakfast was really not all that and on top of that no one smiled! Not even the hopeless bitch at the counter who did not know how to calculate our cash back.

Apparently this is Angola. I can see very specific soviet attitude in the service and the way people dress to impress and talk the talk although they go around the corner to catch the local bus. I have been told that crossing over south into Namibia, it is completely different - you get the best service and luxury resorts for that kind of money. Might my next stop..

Chinese
I can see Chinese almost everywhere I go. (Ironically I did leave China for the same reason.) I see Chinese either driving huge trucks to building sites or huge Hummers to shopping malls. Originally Chinese made an agreement with the government: Chinese loaned a heap of money to Angola, in ways such as building the infrastructure, hospitals, government facilities, schools and most importantly the roads. In exchange they get oil. And as a sideline many Chinese have entered in private business and made a bundle.

Women
I’ve heard the expression that “Africa will be built by women”, now I understand. On our trips we’ve seen and met numerous women, who get up early in the morning and start walking, they walk 30km one way to get a tank of water and carry it back on their heads. Or they walk to buy fish, bread or anything else, and walk back to sell it. All I have seen is women with massive parcels on their heads, bobbing a kid on their back, some cases even another one on their bellies (or in).

Elections
The big elections. On 5th September… The second election since independence. Of course the atmosphere is not the greatest due to the first elections: a party denied results and went to war. The elections are seen as a possible starting point for another war, so it will be interesting to see how many people actually vote. There are 14 parties, each representing roughly the same with no major differences. MPLA is a major party that has been in parliament since independence (1975). The campaign is vast and lucrative. (Costs so far are above $40m)

Malaria
The well feared mosquito… I don’t speak Portuguese but the word “Malaria” keeps coming to my attention. The government has implemented a new programme to cut Malaria cases (successfully reduced cases by more than half in 2007) by distributing nets and sprays.
I of course have been eating my little magic pills Malarone and anointing myself with mosquito repellent. No side affects at all, no headaches, no tummy aches and even the little green elf on my shoulder keeps telling me to pop my pills…

Spending my lazy days

Oh I am getting pampered here… (And slightly fat)

Yesterday we took the boat out and went to an island near by, just to hang around and enjoy the sun. Of course since its winter here now the water is too cold for others, but not for me! After a delicious afternoon with sun, sea and crabs on the sand, we returned to get ready for the evening agenda.

The new magazine Kamene is also working with is the “economist” of Angola, and last night was the official opening! We got dressed, walked into a media mass (I flashed my best smile at all cameras) and mingled with the minister of communication and other government officials and company heads. Was great! The food was only so so, but I still managed to pig out by eating a whole lobster… Oink oink!
I was going to add here links of the news where I appeared, but alas, since I can’t see myself and know my friends don’t speak Portuguese, I'll leave it..

And to continue my seafood overindulging, today we grilled a cuttlefish that was caught just in front of the house. Actually, I’ve been eating more than well since I’ve arrived. Which kind of sucks cause now I need to stop cracking jokes about Africa’s malnutrition. (Which I have seen here)

And the different fruits and roots and veggies I have tried! Amazing! (And some not so amazing) We took a photo this afternoon, see below. Who ever knew cashew nuts grew with a fruit?

I also had the pleasure some nights ago to pick my very first coconut straight from the tree!!!

Kamene wanted to take me to South of Angola to sleep in the desert and see Tundavala and Serra da Leba (see Kamene's picture below) and villages along the way.

After our first trip and car trouble, I decided that sitting in a car hour after hour on horrible roads with holes and bumps will have to wait.

The idea of taking the boat and going a bit further and staying overnight at Kamene’s parents’ summerhouse, in an excluded place on the beach, sounds far more exciting!

Todoloo

Road trip!

So, sorry about my absence but it’s all explainable! We took a road trip! Now, I thought about writing this all in a chronological order, but screw it! I’ll go straight to the excitement and adventure (and those of you who know my last track record for travelling incidents were already waiting for scandal):

OUR CAR BROKE DOWN!!! In the middle of no mans land!!!

So, please see map below, we left early and drove on roads that are no roads for hours on end to Malanje. There were slept in a hell hole and paid $160 for that pleasure. (Yes, I will come back to the hell hole later on)

Malanje seemed like a little town under construction. Buildings that have not been repaired after the destruction of the war, but a lot of new things coming up. But no surprise to learn that it’s the Chinese who are building the roads and the hospitals. (more about Chinese influence later)

The following morning we left for the waterfalls in Kalandula- worse roads…

We saw absolutely amazing waterfalls! I can not justify them on pictures, but please see pictures! We spent the day there basking in the sun, eating our snacks and watching locals wash their laundry in shallow waters and little boys swimming and bathing.

On our way back, we noticed the car started heating up really quickly, we stopped and saw the waterfall under our car: the cooling liquid was flushing down… Now, I’ve broken a few cars in my lifetime, and I kind of thought that we can just take it easy, drive slowly and stop to cool the car once in a while, right?

It wasn’t until I saw the worried look on Kamene’s face when looking at the car, then looking at the sun that was beautifully changing its light while slowly descending, and then looking at me and trying to smile confidently. OMG! That’s the way I’m finally going: in the midst of nothing, in the desert somewhere in Africa I will be eaten to death by chromosome coyotes that have the taste for (well toned) flesh!!!

So, to make our survival story short, we did manage to make it to back to Malanje, had some friends of a friend to come and meet us while stopping a few more times to add water to cool it down. Incidentally, one time we stopped in front of a village and after a while, the little girls started rounding up and asking zillions of questions, (in Portuguese of course, that I don’t speak). But they seemed mesmerised by my black toe nails and while skin, that they kept touching. I’m sure had they reached, they would have gone for my hair… Unfortunately, when I took my camera out, they refused pictures, so I have none to show.

The following morning our new friends helped us to take the car to the only mechanic. We finally left Malanje at 17.00 which is about the time for sun set… Bummer to drive in the darkness especially since the roads seemed to be full of Chinese trucks, and we know how considerate they are towards fellow drivers… But it was a glorious night with the moon eclipse at sight- one doesn't see so many stars in Beijing..

My first blog

So... I was recently told that you are a no-body until you have a blog. (Funny enough I was told the same about stalkers when I reported my first in London)

So here I am, in Angola, visiting my "Partner in Crime", who works and lives here. I left Beijing after the Olympic opening ceremony and it took me two days of plane food, airport toilets, weird smells and constipation, but I made it safely and intact!

I intend to write this blog as a travel diary for myself and of course for my friends to have a quick peek into my travels. (And for my mom who might be a bit worried) (And since this is my blog, I intend to be politically incorrect in every way possible)

It’s my second day and before we start rambling around Angola, I am merely relaxing and sleeping off my jet lag with the sea wind, sun shine and great food... (And the beach is two meters from the house!!!)