And The Winner Is...

After a small interruption, for which we would like to thank President Mugabe yet again, the blog is back on track with part 2 of the final quiz results.

7. How did former president Samora Machel die?
He was a Mozambican military commander, revolutionary socialist leader and eventually the Presdent. Machel led the country to independence in 1975 until his death in 1986, when his presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain where the borders of Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa converge. He is for the Mozambicans what Ataturk is for the Turks.

Machel's widow, Graça is convinced (like most of the country) the air crash was no accident and has dedicated her life to tracking down her husband's killers. In 1998, Mrs Machel married the then South African President Nelson Mandela. She thus became unique in having been the first lady of two different nations, although not simultaneously.

In 2006 it was reported that the South African government is to reopen the inquiry into Machel's death. The Minister of Safety and Security, told reporters in Parliament: "We owe it to the people of Mozambique to ensure the matter is thoroughly investigated. Discussions are under way for dealing with the matter." All of South Africa's law enforcement agencies are expected to be involved in the probe, in co-operation with their Mozambican counterparts. We're still waiting for that one...

8. On what street will our bank open its doors?
And that would - surprisingly - be the Avenida Samora Machel. The bank will open right next to the Gil Vicente movie theatre and Gil Vicente cafe, a jazz/blues blues club described in one of my earlies postings. Across the street there's park with next to it the Iron House designed by Eiffel.

It's a sharp contrast towards where we are now. Our current temp offices are in the middle of a very posh residential area. If I look out the windows there's no way you can tell you're in Africa. Okay, apart from the guards that stand in front of every house.

9. What will be the name of this bank?
BANCO TERRA, O BANCO DA NOSSA TERRA! Say it loud and say it proud! (Guess the movie!) Why do I say it proud? Simply because I am at the roots of this bank. Not just a bank. No, the first real Mozambican commercial bank! It is not a foreign bank that opened a branch here, but a local bank. Admittedly funded for a large part by European money, but still a local bank. Let us have a look at my crystal ball..... The year is 2026 and I'm sitting in an Cuban stadium in Havana watching the world cup football semi-final between Holland and Mozambique. On the bench, the African reserve players and coaches are wearing jackets with the Banco Terra logo on it and I lean over to your grandchildren and say "did you know that uncle Roberto was in the small team that set up that bank?" How cool would that be!? I am, of course, referring to Holland being in a semi final...

10. What type of nut is available in huge numbers in this country?
I loooooooove nuts. I hardly eat chocolate, candy or crisps. When I want to much on something, it's nuts. Not peanuts, but actual nuts. I adore pistachios, walnuts, almonds, hazel nuts and my favourites: Brazil nuts and pecans. But no, here there's only one single nut available. The cashew nut. Together with macadamians my least favourite nut. And it is really the only one you can find here. I have not even seen cans of mixed nuts yet. Oh well...

11. Approximately how many times can you fit Holland in Mozambique?
This one nobody answered correctly. Even though it is quite simple to calculate. Go to the CIA's World Factbook (never leave home without it!) which you can find in the my links section on the right labelled "Facts & Figures" and look up the area sizes for both countries and perform the calculation. And you know, the CIA is never wrong! Never! And Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone! And Iraq had weapons of mass destruction! And Fidel Castro is still a major threat!

There's one slight issue with this calculation. The factbook states land, water and total area separately. Now what should you take? Do you compare land areas? Or do you compare total areas? My logic, but that is not necessarily your logic or any logic at all, says that thou shall take land area as including water is not totally fair. For example, Holland's water area is about 18% of the total area. And are territorial waters included? That would make Canada even bigger! Oh well, everybody answered 20 times, whereas comparing water areas gives you a factor of 19 (actually 19.3) and land areas results in 23 times bigger! On a side note, the population of Mozambique is 20 million, as opposed to 16 million in Cheeseland.

And in case more people got the same number of correct answers, we had the tie-breaker where the closest one to the correct answer wins.

12. How many beers were there on my July hotel bill?
This was obviously by far the toughest question. Okay, I admit. I do enjoy the occasional beer. Actually enjoy the regular beer even more! But I am a social drinker, meaning that I drink in company. For those of you who've been to my place and have had a look in my fridge - and since I'm the kind that will serve you once and after that just point at the refrigerator, most of the visitor have - will have noticed that there's very seldom beer in there. I do not drink beer at home and drinking in the hotel bar is a bit like drinking at home (No, I do not employ bar staff at home. I wish!).

So the number of beers on my hotel bill is actually limited to a few I had with colleagues staying in the same hotel. Actually the bill is tainted as the beers I offered to these colleagues are also on my hotel bill. But then again, the question did not refer to the beers I drank, but to the ones on the bill. The correct answer should've been..... drum roll........ 14! Yes, that is fourteen. The number made famous by that other J.C. That's logical!

So, now you know all the correct answers and know how many you had wrong. All entries have been carefully reviewed by Robertole Lopelulu Abukaramirez from the renowned, respected and trusted accounting firm Arthur Andersen and there was a clear winner. The tie breaker was not necessary as Frits beat out the rest by answering 10 out of the first 11 correctly. Parabens!

In the meanwhile the award ceremony was almost cancelled due to a lack of a prize. That was still inside my suitcase somewhere between Dar Es Salaam and Amsterdam. Luckily for me and Frits (and Kenya Airways), the suitcase found its way back to me. And only a day and a half later. Suitcase and owner are doing fine and can be visited during the day. Please make an appointment.