Power Moves at the Mozambique Border

What had all the makings of of a tough border turned out to be quite harmless.

As we approached the South Africa/Mozambique border, Bodds and I both clenched up. We had witnessed scenes like this before. The two lanes heading into Mozambique were impassable, a mix of halted tractor trailers and honking diagonal sedans and buses. We slowed to a crawl and considered entering the fray. We were delayed by the car in front of us throwing it into reverse and accelerating toward us. Confused, we allowed him space until he cleared the central median. At that point, he jumped out of line and 4-ways-a-flickering dove into on coming traffic on the opposite side of the median. We looked at each other and Kulsum commanded that we follow. Timidly at first, we engaged three 18 wheelers in a game of chicken. Each time, the big rigs pulled into their shoulder just enough to provide us passage at the last minute. We bit our nails and passed the whole traffic mess on the wrong side of the highway.

Just as we were declaring victory through relieved high fives and cries that we were 'above the law', we pulled up to immigration offices. As we parked the car, the flurry of pseudo officials were drawn to the tiny Chevy likes moths to flame. As we emerged from the vehicle we were met by a chorus of Afrikaans, English, and Portuguese greetings. This we were more prepared for, and we shouldered our way past our tip seeking welcomers. The assistance proved particularly superfluous, as a series of short lines and paperwork later we were back in the car and headed toward Maputo. The border seemed to be one of the easiest I've crossed by car although perhaps partially due to our initial boldness.

We did pick up one clingy border helper. I bodied him out while Bodds filled out the paperwork and entertained him with attempts to count to 10 in Portuguese. He was nothing if not persistent, but we ended up not requiring his help as we traveled from line to line stamping passports and showing off our previously acquired visas.

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