Welcome to Mozambique

I had no idea what to expect... And I still don't... We only landed in Beira 2 hours ago.

Most people were moving through immigration quickly ~ the person behind the glass took my passport and said, "$25." I happily handed him the $10 and the $20 US Dollars I had in my wallet... He told me, "wait over here." As time passed they gathered a few foreign passports ~ I poked my head in and said, "look, I don't need the $5 change, just keep it, and let me get on my way." Eventually, he said, "follow me."

John whom I was traveling with had already collected his luggage and was waiting ready to enter the country.

I follow the gentleman, he turns left into some doors, and left again through a rickety door, and says, 'follow me, and shut the door behind you.' I left it open.
He says "sit here," this old green leather like chair and the room would remind you as would he of the first scene in Slum-dog Millionaire where the star of the show was being tortured by the government, hooked up to a battery for shock treatment. THAT, is what the room looked like.
The knife on the desk! The machine gun in the corner! And I'm in this crazy looking room, with this guy I can barely understand, he's got my passport it's blazing hot, and I'm starting to get super nervous. Thinking I'd let him know I was 'with a group' I said, I'm going to go out and tell the group that's waiting for me, that I'm going to be awhile, "How long should I tell them this is going to take? 10 Minutes?" He said yes 10 minutes, and I started to feel a little better.

I then go out and John is standing there with 75% of our luggage. My bag was missing. I start looking around the terminal to find nothing. He says, " I just saw a guy load up a bunch of bags and take them out 'that door.' I tried communicating with the 'bag guy' nothing not a word of English - and I don't speak Portuguese. So I walked all the way around to the exit that led onto the actual flight tarmac ~ following the direction John pointed to where the guy was moving the bags! And UNDERNEATH other bags on this cart, ON the tarmac was my bag ~ I didn't ask, but pulled it off and bolted.

We get the bags finally delivered through some strange exit to the guys waiting to pick us up ~ but my passport is still back with the 'torturer' in the back. So I ask John to walk with me ~ we manage to find him, and he eventually stamped my passport and we were off to enter into Mozambique.

We get outside and are greeted by about 10 kids begging ~~ and a lot of men standing around ~ it's dirty and sweltering; we head towards the direction of our transportation... Apparently the 'cars' broke down 'yesterday' and so we were being picked up in a small truck that seats 2 in the cab... there were four of us.
I offer to jump in the back and do so, only to find out, they have LOCKED THE KEYS IN THE TRUCK and left it running.

Now the men standing around have something to do ~ stand and watch us try to break into the truck ~~~ someone went of to get the Moz. version of a coat hanger ~ and started to work on opening it ~ another guy got a bigger stronger 'coat hanger' and started working on it too ~ there were about 7 guys working on it ~ for about 20 minutes.... finally they got it opened and THEY ALL wanted to get paid! It began to get loud between all of them - and some yelling ensued ~ when I freaked out a little bit was when the kids 'in unison' scattered as if someone had a gun or something... I didn't see a gun, but I saw the kids respond quickly and at the same time ~ I jumped out of the back of the truck to potentially go back inside to torture man and get some change or assistance - as the aggression rose around the truck - and the driver began to take off.... I hoped in, and did not hear any gun shots, and off we went...

I road in the back of the truck for the approximate 20 minute drive to the place we are staying ~ we after a bit of rigmarole, got let into the front doors, began to disseminate our stuff to the appropriate rooms ~~~

I got into my room where it was approaching 95 degrees inside - we managed to get the air conditioning blowing and it's cooling off now ~ there's two beds - with netting a sink and a dresser ~ I have yet to look for the bathroom, or the light switch and it's getting dark now.

Better go find both ~ interested to see how the night and the rest of the trip unfolds.

~~ Well.... here we are at 12PM ~ it's blazing hot ~ can't sleep ~ is it good for the pores to sweat profusely? Perhaps I'll return with more radiant supple skin ~ free-man facial.