Back in the saddle again

Quelimane has many paved roads--none of which are without enormous craters in them (undoubtedly a road pictorial will appear on this blog at some time).  But a curious thing about Quelimane: I have never been in a city of this size that has not a single traditional taxi.  It does however have many thousands of non-traditional bike taxis.  They are a standard 3 speed bike frame (I hear that they are generally devoid of brakes) with what appears to be a regualr bike rack on the back over the rear wheel--and that rack has a little padding affixed to it.  People sit on the narrow padded rack and put their feet on slightedly extended rear wheel hub/pegs.  The taxi drivers drive around the city offering their services (pedaling them if you will)--and many people, lds missionaries included, use them several times a day.  They are quite inexpensive, costing 5 meticais (or less than 20 cents) to go a couple of miles.  Herewith are some pictures of the phenomenon.

 As shown above it is quite common to see women carrying babies on their back while straddling the taxis and not unusual to see them nursing babies or carrying enormous burdens while riding.  Some will straddle, and some will ride side-saddle.

 I have tried to persuade Debbie to adopt the colorful "capalana" as a skirt, but thus far she is balking--even when offered the chance for a matching or coordinated head scarf.

Actually, far more men than women ride bike taxis, but women were the focus of these pictures Debbie took today.

The past few days we have been plagued by power outages--coinciding unfortunately with a period of intense heat (which we are beginning to see, may not be at all unusual).  When our AC goes out, our house becomes an oven--though we can open enough windows to sometimes get the air moving a little.  Last night, we visited a wonderful investigating family--during the black out.  They live in a small, not mud, but concrete home lacking any visible windows.  The home had been absorbing heat (And retaining it quite nicely) throughout the long day.  We taught and visited with them for a little over an hour.  It was almost comical how sweltering it was in there--sweat just poured off of us.    The meeting truly was wonderful and inspiring and productive but also truly the hottest hour that I have ever spent anywhere at any time.  On the other hand, we hear that it was -35 in Fairbanks last night, and that does not sound particularly appealing either.

At this same home last night, there was a long-leafed plant growing next to the home.  I was told to break off a leaf and rub it and smell it--and asked what I smelled.  The strangest thing: it smelled EXACTLY .like Fruit Loops.  They say that it makes a wonderful tea, good for congestion and I have been promised some the next time we come by.  We discovered a delicious new type of banana today.  It looked different so we were skeptical of purchasing them--but we were quite pleasantly surprised and will keep our eyes open for them in the future. 

Another young misisonary in Quelimane fell ill with Malaria yesterday--this time it was I who heard him complaining about his symptoms and did the diagnosis.  We have a good drug that aids recovery if it is taken immediately--but does little if the diagnosis is late.  This one might have been a bit late.  Since I hear that some missionary mothers read this periodically, If your name isn't  Brogan,  don't worry.  Actually, Elder Brogan takes his anti-malarial meds religeously--I don't know why he has come down with it for the second time.