Day 125: Cabinda at last
Soutpiel Safari
John & Jenny
Wed 9 Mar 2011 17:36
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Day 125: Wednesday 9 March 2011. Catholic Mission
garden, Cabinda. S05 33.736 E012 10.679 Distance driven 103 km
It was a long, hot, sticky night and we were troubled by
mosquitoes. we had to have the car windows open for ventilation, but that
let the mossies in. we covered ourselves in Tabard and burnt coils inside
the car. We were up at 0500 in order to have a sluice down and change our
clothes in the privacy of darkness. The border guard came over once or
twice to check that we were alright and apart from that all was
quiet.
We were outside Immigration at 0800 when they opened but
it was 1000 before the bolshie little chief came out with our passports with the
entry stamps. We were through and gone 5 minutes later! What it was all
about we shall never know, but the incident has not encouraged us to linger in
Cabinda.
The drive into Cabinda was uneventful and ran along the
shore most of the way. We rocked up at the Catholic Mission because it was
the only place we knew that allowed camping. It is a pretty run-down place
but friendly. I suspect they are not really used to campers as there is
one filthy public toilet and no shower. One of the staff has kindly allowed us
to use his bathroom but it is a rather awkward arrangement.
We decided to treat ourselves to lunch out once we had
showered and found that we could walk to a nearby hotel, However, the meal was
mediocre, the price astronomic and we had a row about payment! They
advertised that they took Visa cards but couldn't make the machine work, the
bill was printed in both Kwanza and US dollars but when i went to pay in dollars
they didn't want to accept them as they suspected that they were counterfeit!
All in all, not a very successful lunch! However, the hotel toilets are
magnificent so i may call in tomorrow to get my money's worth.
We had a small commission here for a British overland
friend, Peter Crichton, who had asked us to try to trace a priest whom he had
befriended 3 years ago when he passed through Cabinda. We soon managed to
find Padre Carlos Gime and he came round for a chat and to proudly show us the
school he has been building for the last 10 years - an enormous and impressive
project. Carlos was amazed when I called him that a friend of Peter's
was here in Cabinda.
Jenny is feeling quite ill and I am very tired after
last night, so we will have an early night and may stay over tomorrow as we have
masses of email to catch up with.
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