Johannesburg to Maputo

Two friends of the Posers, Louw and Yiull, with 4 others did a trip down to Maputo and back to Johannesburg via Swaziland on scooters. Here is a time lapse video of the event. Look out for Yiull's Disco Ball, a PX200 covered in 40kg of mirrored mosaic tiles.

Spotted in Maputo

It was another of those late nights in Maputo. I was chaperoning some colleagues from Johannesburg who wanted to experience some of the Maputo night life, and were eager to get in as many places as possible - before the daybreak. We had just called for the last round at Mundo's Restaurant, they quickly brought us our drinks and the bill, and continued to clean down and lock up the place for the night.

Where to next I wondered. The faint sounds of laughter and percussion made their way down the street to where were were sitting on the veranda. Sign of a place that still had the magic of the night in close proximity - we had to go and investigate. Putting down our empty glasses, we lifted ourselves out of the bar stools and began to walk on (somewhat) rubbery legs in the direction of where these sounds came. Walking briskly over cracked concrete pavements, meandering tree roots and the odd water puddle, we managed to locate the source of the sound and discovered a vibrant bar called Dolce Vita.

This place oozed with coolness. Its many patrons sat at neat white square table deep in conversation, gesticulation and laughter. The house music was playing loudly whilst this scene spilled over onto the street. We decided to head for the bar, when, sitting there before me, a most unexpected sight, stood a red Vespa 150 LX! I had finally seen a modern Vespa in Mozambique.

Okay okay, it was NOT the elusive Mozambican Vespa, but it was a beautiful Vespa none-the-less. I quickly checked the speedo and discovered that she had all of 44.7km on her clock. I'm willing to take a bet that many an inebriated patron, in a moment of weakness, has attempted to drive such a beautiful ride home!
(Posted by Paulo)
Dolce Vita
Café, Sushi Restaurant, Jazz Club, Free Wi-Fi
Avenida Julius Nyerere, 822, Maputo, Mozambique

The Stone Merchants of Moatize

It is truly amazing what people will do and what measures will be taken in order to survive in this great world. What you do to put food on your table and ensure the continuation of life? The other day, I was driving along on the main road, wishing that I was on my Vespa, when a perculiar type of cart caught my attention. I was passing an area called 'Pedrera' (a misspelled 'predreira', meaning quarry) that is the working area for quite a few destitute people that make their meagre income from breaking granite rock into gravel sized pieces. All day, under the scorching sun, with only a hessian bag sprung up between four thin poles for shade, these people sit along the side of an embankment, and break down the rock using their bare hands and small chipping hammers! Then, they carry the gravel down the embankment and create heaps approximately 1m3, on the verge of the main road, and wait to make a sale. How much you may ask? "oh, about R 115.00 per m3"! The question is how long and what energy is required to break down a m3 of granite! Still, these 'stone merchants' are in business because the local quarry is not the most reliable and the concrete has to be supplied. I digress, the cart.

Amazing simple in design, robust in construction, easy to maintain – sounds like the attributes for another vehicle that I'm fond of. The 'merchants' tell me that they will wheel the cart and its contents another kilometre down the road to the informal market, where they hope to get a better selling price for their product. They see me pull out the camera and they immediately pose for the shot. I look at their faces. They are smiling. I look at their bodies and their worn out clothing. I reflect on the hardships of their work, let out a silent "phew", and promise to make them a copy of the picture before getting back on the road once again.

(Posted by Paulo)

In search of the elusive Mozambican Vespa

One would presume that since the arrival of the Portuguese in Mozambique in 1498, their long stay until 1975, and the years leading to the present; sufficient time would have passed to cultivate and instil upon this land the culture of owning Vespas. Portugal, like the rest of Latin Europe, is a country where owning motorcycles has always been popular. This has been also been so due to the low purchase price, insurance costs, simplicity of maintenance and the general practically of ownership. Therefore, by "exporting" this understanding of motorcycles to the colonies early on, one is not surprised to see present day Mozambique teeming with Chinese motorcylces and scooters. Let's say that it's simply in the blood now.

Now, I know that loads of Vespas, Lambrettas and other popular brands of the time, were exported to Mozambique. I remember my father speaking fondly of the Lambrettas of his era in Quelimane (central Mozambique). The was a story of a local couple that used to go about feeding and taking in the stray dogs of the little city. They were able to train a puppy into sitting contently on the footplate of their Vespa. For many years to come, it was a common sight to see a big dog riding "side saddle" at his masters feet, as the owner meandered down the street on his Vespa. Looking directly at this spectacle, one would observe the head to one side of the leg shield, and the tail to the other!

So where are these machines? Sure, this is not Cuba and I'm not expecting to see something resembling a Vespa, held together by fencing wire and old sardine cans, smoking its way down the street. Some of these machines would be almost 50 years old now and let's face it, this is rural Africa – nothing will take that sort of punishment for ever! I suspect that some have long since disappeared into the dense bush, others have been taken apart and their components and parts transformed into simple implements and tools (that is the spirit of the Vespa, always giving, giving, giving), still others have been sold for scrap and melted down – today perhaps living as the left rear door of your shiny Toyota! Who knows these things, what I can say is that I've yet to see one.

Because I haven't seen one, does not mean that there are no Vespa's or Lambretta's long forgotten in the back of somebodies garage or basement. Once sporting perhaps a shiny lime green colour and a spanking new set of 10' Dunlop tires, today, bearing the scars of time and abuse, it lingers under a thick coat of brown dust under a rotting tarpaulin, next to the long forgotten VW Karman Ghia, still waiting for the engine transplant. Yes, I believe that with a bit more time, poking and prodding about, the elusive Mozambican Vespa will be found! Watch this space folks!

(Posted by Paulo)