...that a large part of the movie "Blood Diamond" was filmed right here in Maputo? Mainly the scenes supposedly in Freetown, Sierra Leone and the fisherman's village where the son of Djimon Hounsou was abducted in the very beginning of the movie. That means that Djimon, Leonardo Carpaccio and the very cute Jennifer Connelly were right here, sitting on the same barstool as I! It is quite cool to read the production notes on the subject.
(Yes, you can click on the blue text to see the notes in a separate window)
...that in March an army weapons depot exploded killing 115 people? This explosion was 15 kilometers away from our current temp offices, but you can still see the cracks in the ceiling caused by it. Even during my first week here (3 months after the explosion!) a few kids were killed due to stepping on live ammunition found 10 kilometers (!) away from the depot. The army restarted their search for explosions and found some buried 6 meters in the ground. A bit like Enschede, and then some!
...that just last month an airplane could not land here because the runway light were stolen? This one just cracked me up. It turns out that local thieves trespassed airport terrain at night to steal the light bulbs from the runway. I guess these can be used at home (?). At first the police was called in to patrol the runway at night but that didn't work out. Only the second night of their patrol an airplane was forced to circle this town four times until they lined up enough cars with their headlights on to illuminate the runway. I am not kidding! This is the actual truth! Can you imagine sitting in seat 12A, a nice window seat on your plane, about to touch down at the airport of your destination, looking out the window and seeing total darkness apart from a bunch of car headlights? I too was laughing out loud for at least 10 minutes when I heard this. Now the airport employs their own security and that seems to work. Whatever that implies, I leave up to you.
...that Maputo has one of the strictest traffic police in the world? You will be checked here at least 3 times a week in a normal week. They will check your drivers license, insurance, etc. It is almost impossible to speed over here and get away with it. They are everywhere! However, it is good to know that most cars on the road here are technically incapable of speeding. If the average car over here goes over 70 km/hour I think it will literally fall apart. Seriously, Fred Flinstone had a better car!
...that the fine for ignoring a stop sign of the traffic police is 100 meticais (4 USD)? And that the lowest fine for a traffic offence, apart from ignoring a stop sign is 400 meticais? ...ehhh..... hmmmm... shall I stop? Or maybe.... ehhhhh......... Go baby go! Pedal to the Metal! See ya! Run, Forest Run! Heeehaaaa!
...that there are two cell phones companies in Mozambique and that the competition is fierce? You have M-Cel with 2 million subscribers and Vodacom with 1 million. How do they advertise? They pay poor locals who actually live alongside the road a few bucks in order to paint their house in the company's colours with the slogans and logo's on it. Just last week M-Cell accidentally splattered their adverts al over historical houses which are on the Unesco World Heritage list! What a waste!
...that because of filming Blood Diamond here there is an error in the movie? In the beginning you see a sun rise on the beach. Supposedly the Sierra Leone beach. Problem is that Sierra Leone is on the other (west) side of Africa and therefore doesn't have a sunrise at sea. Only a sun set. I bet you didn't figure that one out for yourself!!! :-)
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