Pedalling through Mozambique – Dusty Guro and administrative patience

Posted on 23 May 2009

The road north to Tete has been interesting. It has been hard going with long stretches of dusty detours and trucks.

The road works are definitely a nuisance, but the new surface is well laid and an impressive piece of work.

It became a game on the dirt detours, zigzagging across the road finding the smoothest path and getting on the windward side of the passing trucks to avoid being choked in a cloud of dust. Never the less we still arrived at our host in Guro with a mask of mud on our sweaty faces.

We soon watched the locals and learn’t that the road workers don’t mind bicycles and pedestrians on the incomplete stretches of new road. Already compacted and some half tarred, it felt like we were on the autobahn racing at speeds not normally achieved on Mozambican roads. Cyclist heaven, no traffic and good surfaces.

No more dusty duals with trucks, just friendly waving and greetings from the enthusiastic locals. The younger guys on bicycles would push to keep up with us, until the next hill where the gears kick in and the panting local fades back in the rearview mirror, smiling. Some of them on unloaded “dikwiels” do keep up on the hills and escort us, smiling and laughing, while they crank their pedals squeakily for kilometers on end. Then they turn around and go back, happy to have ridden a few kays with the crazy “Mzungu’s”.

In Guro, the Administrator of the Guro District of the Province of Manica, Miss Deolinda organised us accommodation. Her large home was full so she booked us into a room in town and insisted we have breakfast with her in the morning. As it goes with people of status, Miss Deolinda was unfortunately unable to join us for breakfast because of circumstance and we were given our contact for Changara and warned to be careful there.

Our contact was the number of the Commander of Changara Police Commando.

No name, just the number. It was a late start, but all administrative affairs take time in Mozambique, even breakfast.






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