bringing in 2008, baixa style

Maputo literally closes down and goes to sleep over the holidays. The majority of expats and even Mozambicans often return home, visit families, or go otherwise on holiday during a 2-4 week period over the holidays, leaving Maputo literally a ghost town. Not only is the office empty, but many restaurants, theaters, clubs, (much of the social life of Maputo) disappears.

Given this, it seemed like I might be in for a quiet New Years. In all honesty, New Year's has never been one of my favorite holidays but I was determined to do something that would at least keep me up past 10! But friend Claire, literally one of the few friends still in Maputo, made a plan to enjoy New Year's together.

After making a stop at a warm and lively party at one of my colleague's house from Ministry of Health, Claire and I headed down to the Baixa, the old part of town down by the sea. Each year, the Cordoso Hotel, perched upon a cliff overlooking the Baixa, holds a fireworks display at midnight. Tickets for the big event at the hotel are quite expensive so the masses instead turn out on the streets in the Baixa just underneath the hotel.

Claire and I arrived about 11:40 and the scene was already wildly animated and frenetic. Cars lined both sides of the road and were wedged into the median strip. So many small fireworks were already being set up by spectators, we were not sure if midnight had already arrived or not. We had seen fireworks for sale all day on New Years along side of the road and let's just say that there are many fewer restrictions and safety precautions with fireworks in Mozambique than one would find in the US.

We climbed up on top of the roofrack of the Landrover that my friend had lent to me while he's back in the States, opened up a bottle of champagne, and took in all the energy. Around us hundreds if not thousands of Maputanese joined in the celebration. Many were Maputo's large Indian/south-east Asian community. Entire families were there, young children, teenagers, adults, grandparents, in a range of traditional dress from countries of origin that included the very conservative (hajib) to more provocative. Music was pumping out of the cars, people were dancing, and midnight buffets were being set up on the trunks of many cars. By midnight, the sky was alive with lights, sound and color in every direction. On one hand it was beautiful and energetic and so alive, while at the same time, when i closed my eyes, I could for the first time imagine what it must have been like to be in Maputo during the civil war, with the whizzing, screaming, and exploding bursts of sound coming from every direction.

Safety precautions around fireworks were minimal to non-existent. Young kids were setting off large fireworks in the middle of the street with lit cigarettes and lighters with cars driving by (or at times cars driving over lit fireworks.) We could see fireworks being set from the balconies of apartments up the hill. We were waiting for a firework to go off in someone's hand or for an explosion to go off in one of the nearby crowds. My friend Claire is a nurse who has worked in Africa for many years and in many intense situations (including Sudan, Burundi, and Congo) and so was half-prepared to respond to any health emergencies that happened (we had the ice coolers and towels from the champagne bottle.)

The fireworks on the street continued on well past the official show was finished. The families in the cars next to us offered us fried pastries and warm wishes at midnight. By 1, we started to head home, but the party would clearly continue for hours. Families were still sitting around tables outside celebrating, kids dancing, and couple lingered around together. Clearly 2008 was off to a good start in Mozambique.