AngolaMapJune 30 — July 2, 2013 The license plate numbers resemble telephone numbers in France (where the digits are written in pairs).  Minibuses, painted blue on the bottom and white on the top, are the main form of public transportation.  An Angolan digger.  Every single car has a box of tissues on top of the dashboard (like in Egypt).  The most interesting detail in Angola is the roofs weighed down with stones. There simply isn’t enough money for anything better.  The homes of the well-off are the ones whose roofs don’t have stones on them.  LubangoMapSome evidence of the war is still visible, though most of it has been covered up.  A new indoor shopping center has already been built. The clouds on the ceiling inside are incredibly pretty.  Street signs.  A public monument. A contender for the title of one of the most beautiful in the world.  All the curbs in the city are painted with black and white stripes.  An avenue.  A side street.  People in the street.  The women of the Nyaneka-Nkhumbi tribe walk around with bare breasts. This is extremely rare in contemporary Africa.  A woman with a stick.  Bus stops are marked with signs with a picture of a bus on them.  Sand for sale.  Children digging through a garbage dump.  Evening.  LuandaMapA reasonably well-developed city.  Decorating share taxis with Apple logos appears to be the latest craze here.  An ordinary bus stop.  A fancy new bus stop.  An ordinary traffic light.  A fancy new traffic light.  An ordinary neighborhood.  A fancy new neighborhood.  African muck underfoot, modern lampposts with sidewalk light reflectors above.  Residents of the capital.  More residents of the capital.  A street market.  The central post office has an art installation of a mail car. I don’t know if a single mail car actually exists in Angola.  The ceramic tile street signs were inherited from the Portuguese.  Suddenly, a fire hydrant pops up.  A pedestrian crossing.  What do Angola and Corsica have in common? Traffic signs with flashing LEDs, which turn the signs into illegible roadside art objects.  A public trash can.  Dumpsters.  They even have semi-underground garbage containers (like the ones in Perm).  Please don’t litter.  Angolan airports have a peculiar baggage system. Just because you’ve checked your bag doesn’t mean you can let your guard down and relax—you have to locate and identify the bag one more time before you board, or it won’t get loaded onto the plane. If you’re not paying attention and fail to do this, you can kiss your stuff goodbye.  |
