Notes from Africa. Part 8. Guinjata Bay. Day 6.

We're off into Inhambane today to do the touristy bit. See the town, stop for lunch, do a little shopping, harass the locals. That kind of thing.

Little did we know that today was the day that the president of the country was planning on paying a visit to the town and the shops were closing early so that the staff could go out into the streets with the rest of the town and spend the day driving up and down the main drag in the back of dilapidated old Iveco trucks while waving flags, singing and generally making lots of noise to celebrate his arrival.

I think to myself that this is the beginning of the end for some of these people. Little do they know that democracy is just another way for the people in charge to fuck you from the day you are born. Then? The shit will hit the fan. Hard. On the outside these people look as though they measure themselves on two things; Fear and farming. Or that is the impression I get from the emblem of the country of Mozambique which is prominently displayed on the local money and a town monument. It bears the picture of an AK47 and a plough. If the common man is tread upon by the new government I get the idea that the local freedom fighters will certainly step up to defend their idea of freedom. Many young men will fight and die. But I hope that is not the case. The people in Mozambique have suffered enough in the past.

We drive around town and take in the sights of political banners clumsily nailed to palm trees in a display of hope that the new president will be good for the country and it's people.

Young people of around 16 to 30 are prominent in the party. I have no idea if they voted or not but they were certainly the lifeblood of the constant parade down the main street. I'd like to have had the chance to get out and go with the flow of the thing but Steph isn't keen on the idea. And to be honest I could see why. It's not that it looked like trouble was very far away but having been in South Africa and seeing the hate and anger in the eyes of the black people there, I was slightly wary.

I'm pretty sure if the shit hit the fan and trouble did start that I'd have been alright in a tight corner and I'm sure Steve is the kind of person who could hold his own in a scrape, but I wouldn't like to get into that same situation with Steph and Tamlyn to worry about.

We stop in at a restaurant that had been recommended by Basil/Bruce from the Casa Lisa and we have a light lunch. I have hamburger with peri peri sauce that's hot enough to start fires if you were to pour it onto dry wood. I knock back a double rum and coke in one gulp to try to kill the heat in my mouth but it fails and I have to ride the hot flushes out for the next ten minutes while my mouth recovers from the scorching it just received.

Driving back to Guinjata Bay later on I feel a bit disappointed that we didn't get to take a walk around the town.

We all hit the beach when we get back to Guinjata Bay and Steve and I get right into the heart of the 10-15 Ft swell that is crashing onto the shore. I stay within standing height and let the waves come in and lift me up. I treat the surf like a rollercoaster and play around on the dips and swells of each wave as it makes its way towards the beach.

Steve has flippers on and spends about a half an hour body surfing on the waves about 20 yards behind me. When he catches the wave at the right moment I can watch him skimming along on the curve of it as though he was a dolphin. I give it a try and get nowhere as close to Steve's amazing distances but I do manage to look along the barrel of a wave a few times. Seriously good fun.

We head back to the hut and have dinner while sitting out on the porch drinking double Paradise Rum and Cokes.

After dinner we all head down to the beach for a moonlight walk. I decide that it is necessary that I take a swim in the moonlight tide. I whip my jersey and my jeans off and sprint for the water yelling "Last one in is a coward!" I swim out about 10 yards and float on my back staring at the moon. The water is warm and pleasant. I swim back into the beach to find Steve laughing at the fact that I went in.

I run along the beach to find my clothes and it helps to dry me off. I pull my jeans and jumper on and ignore the sand as it grinds into my crotch, along my neck and up the back of my legs. Tamlyn says something about me being nuts for going into the water and I tell her that she's the next one in as I grab her arm and begin to pull her towards the tideline. She begins to yell for Steve to help her and he decides that I've got the right idea. He grabs Tamlyns other arm and helps me to drag her into the surf.

Tamlyn says she can't go in because she has her mobile phone in her pocket. Steve takes the phone out of her pocket and Tamlyn resigns herself to walking into the surf up to her knees. I decide she's not wet enough and shove her lengthwise into an approaching wave. I go under the surface of the water with my arm wrapped around Tamlyn and I laugh out loud. We surface and Tamlyn makes a swipe at me with a very wet arm. She misses due to the weight of her wet clothes. I keep laughing.

After Tamlyn and I make our way out of the surf I make a lunge in Steve's direction and he takes off like a bat out of hell. I chase him for a short distance but then give up as I'm an overweight asthmatic smoker and he's fitter than I'll ever be. The only thing I'm fit for is the scrapyard. Or the glue factory.

We head back to the hut and I go to bed still laughing.