Big City Life-Likeness In A Small Beach Town

My life at the beach means an alarm clock is no longer required as my internal body clock has fallen into its own natural rhythm.  A watch serves only as decoration, there’s no need to rush.  I can’t help but think the fishermen dotted around the beach, really do have life sussed.  Big city life-likeness in a small beach town are still evident, but they’re outshone by the other wonderful aspects of beach life.

On my first morning in Montego Resort I heard a noise outside my bedroom window that sounded like piglets.  Turns out my hearing is not yet tuned into nature as it turned out to be a small group of monkeys happily larking about.

The old saying is true that it’s the people who can make or break a place and the owners of the Montego Resort are such lovely, welcoming and helpful people that they turned my stay in Xai-Xai, which was only supposed to last a couple of days into a stay that was hard to bring to an end. As well as taking me under their wings, they also took me into town a few times to pick up supplies, get money changed and other odds and ends.  It was fun and a novelty to go in and see the sights of a bustling small Mozambican town.  Very rural, very basic.  It does have a KFC, however, which I was told is the last bastion of western-chains before you head north.  It’s all Peri-Peri chicken from here on up. (which, just quietly, is a lot more of a scrumptious option)

On one trip we went to a supermarket which is the only supermarket I’ve ever been inside where I’ve been tooted at to move out of the way.  The forklift driver didn’t seem too impressed that I was pushing a trolley down the aisle he was trying to maneuver his forklift down – aisle rage in Xai-Xai!

Mini Hustlers

Just outside the exit door of the supermarket was a small group of very grubby, shabbily clothed kids that were very animated, boisterous and loud. So much so that a guy, that I presume is employed by the supermarket, would occasionally chase them off by running at them with a baton raised in his hand.  While I watched, he actually struck one of the kids as he ran and the boy hit the ground but got up laughing while he rubbed his arm.  It was shocking to me but it appears the attempts at discipline are all accepted/disguised as fun.  The group of kids offer to push your trolley and help you load your groceries into your car.  Apart from the fact the kids are not at school, on the surface, it seems like a basic and sound economic supply and demand market.  But unfortunately, the equilibrium gets a little bit skewed when some of the kids take it upon themselves to relieve you of some of your groceries, at the same time as they’re helping you to load them.

Corruption

To leave the supermarket you have to show guards at the exit your receipt and open up your bag of items to ensure you haven’t managed to squirrel some away without paying. While waiting outside in what I deemed the safety net between the guards and the band of kids, I watched the guards doing their job.  There was definitely underhandedness at play by the guards themselves.  I watched one of them question a customer about his receipt and the items in his bag and then watched as some money got passed from the customer to the guard and then straight into his pocket.  Wow!

Hordes of Peeps

Something that really hit home to me while I was in town was just the sheer number of people.  This is a smallish rural town geographically and infrastructurally, but it is huge in terms of people!  It reminded me of the build up to Christmas or a Friday night in my home town as that was the only time you saw a lot of people in the streets.  Here there are queues constantly, in places like the bank, the Vodacom store and that’s only when queuing is enforced as queuing is not the norm. The norm is to forget about being polite and it’s every man for himself, otherwise, you’re never going to get served.

Iron Fist Inside a Silk Glove

I’ve been told a few times already in the month I’ve been here that; “it’s not for the meek and mild, you have to be strong to manage Africa”.

Or maybe Africa is going to manage me. Time will tell . . .