Ilha. Portuguese for « the island ». Ilha de Moçambique, the old capital city of Mozambique, in colonial times.
An aside in the Indian Ocean. An aside too, in my life in Maputo, the current capital, 1200 miles to the South. Asphalt, buildings rotting with time and humidity, traffic, air that’s difficult to breathe.
Had to leave. All at once, it’s possible. You and me. So off we go, we board the sheet metal buses made of doubts, we trace back up massive Mozambique. It takes a week to reach the Island.
On the bus you sleep against me; sometimes I read the Tao and I watch the landscape closely. Whenever I see baobabs I’m like a child, happy, excited. It takes a week to get there. On the way, once there, and on the way back, I take pictures, with a toy camera I altered somewhat. I can only open it at night to replace the film, under the sheets. I’m in a different measure of time.
Just like this whole trip.
Just like Ilha.
An aside in the Indian Ocean. An aside too, in my life in Maputo, the current capital, 1200 miles to the South. Asphalt, buildings rotting with time and humidity, traffic, air that’s difficult to breathe.
Had to leave. All at once, it’s possible. You and me. So off we go, we board the sheet metal buses made of doubts, we trace back up massive Mozambique. It takes a week to reach the Island.
On the bus you sleep against me; sometimes I read the Tao and I watch the landscape closely. Whenever I see baobabs I’m like a child, happy, excited. It takes a week to get there. On the way, once there, and on the way back, I take pictures, with a toy camera I altered somewhat. I can only open it at night to replace the film, under the sheets. I’m in a different measure of time.
Just like this whole trip.
Just like Ilha.
