Can we go home now?

(Sunset--Mercy Air farm)

Well, we're still in South Africa... On Wednesday this week we managed to get the new pick up (plus extra wood working equipment) imported. It was a very long hot day spent first at the clearing agent's office, then at the border. We sat literally for the entire day between these two places as the heat soared to somewhere into the 40's. What made things hotter was the fact that:

1. The air con in our old pick-up quit working

2. South Africa is experiencing 'power shedding' which means there are black outs from time to time, so while we waited for the clearing agent to process papers, we couldn't find one little corner in the border town of Malelane that was cool enough to sit and sip a coke. We tried one promising spot that looked shadey, but the heat was so stifling we decided to rather drive around in our oven-warm pick up instead...at least the air moved in there!

It was 6 p.m. before we managed to leave the border for Maputo, and unfortunately straight into a vicious storm. At the customs office in Maputo we were told we'd have to leave both vehicles there, locked up for the night (the new one was being imported, and the old one was carrying other goods for importation...which apparently could absolutely NOT be unloaded into the new pick up to overnight there.) We hadn't expected a night away, we thought we'd make it back to Mercy Air to sleep that night! Such was not to be the case. At 8 pm we found a taxi and finally made our way to a hotel for the night. No clean clothes, no toothbrushes...sounds fun right? At least the hotel had air conditioning and good food!

Early the following morning we unloaded the goods from he old pick up and headed back to Whiteriver (South Africa) to wait while Mozambique customs processed paperwork. Here we have a place to stay and can get work done :) We now have a few days to wrap up business here and do minor repairs on the old pick-up...such as fix the air con before we have to make the 2+ day trip back home in the heat! If Mozambique's roads have deteriorated further due to heavy rains, our trip home may just delay us a few days more. But I hope not. It's nice to go away, but it's also nice to get back home. Right now, for us, it's definitely time to get back home!