Traffic in Luanda gives one plenty of time to stare out of the windows and to think. I have even fallen asleep, so hard was I staring and thinking! As a South African who avoids traffic at all costs, this kind of waste makes me want to cry. Most people spend four hours a day stuck or at least barely crawling along the streets.
Tonight is the first time that I have been driven when the world is dark. It does not seem to be too much different to the day. The dust hangs thickly in the air, people crowd the streets, abandoned cars laze around as if waiting to die, not knowing that they are already long dead. Lines of tail lights stretch lazily in all directions and frustrated drivers hoot at other frustrated drivers, especially if there is a metre or two of unused road space.
Our cocoon of air conditioned comfort completely cuts us off from the smells, dirt and squalor that is Africa at both its best and worst. Yet Africa is alive out there and we are pretty much asleep in here!
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