I have stayed in Luanda a few days. The city hasn't changed much yet. Being away for three months allows me to see some slight improvements here and there.

The most striking one was those brand new traffic lights that now regulate the traffic around the Kinaxixi place. No more policemen in the middle of the street dodging the reckless drivers trying to control the flow of cars - each one making up his own gestures to direct the drivers. Now they stay safe on the roadsides chatting with the street sellers. Too bad many drivers here just bought their license off corrupted administrations and never saw these nice red and green Christmas trees now decorating the 'Placa do Kinaxixi'.

I received yesterday an email from IRIN - a NGO spin off the UN - that describes quite well the situation here in Luanda. Here is an extract:

<<Human error and basic bad driving, rather than insecure vehicles or bad roads, were the chief culprit [to the tremendous amount of accident in Luanda], speakers said.

They reeled off a list of driver faults, including excessive speed, reckless overtaking, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, absence of respect for the rules of the road, excessive emotion and a 'super-hero' style of driving.>>

This description is quite correct except for the roads part. Just imagine a transportation network that underwent 27 years of civil wars - civil war in Angola from 1975 to 2002 - and a total absence of maintenance for more than 30 years. It used to take me up to 3 or even 4 hours to get to work in the morning when I was leaving here (2002 -2004). Driving around in Luanda is a real adventure per se. That's one thing I don't miss when I am away.

I also noticed that the streets seem much cleaner than before. Trash containers have replaced the huge piles of garbage, now it seems to be just a matter of collecting them often enough so that the piles do not cover the whole container.

Many public buildings have received a well-needed paint lift and some are even refurbished to hide away the years of poor maintenance and some bullet holes. And that's where the incredible Angolan way of life appears.

Public buildings are painted in bright colors. The significance of the colors is a bit lost but a few decades ago the rule was: blue buildings for police and army, yellow for administrations and train stations, pink (the highest ranking) for important people, townhouses, presidential palaces, etc ... Now it seems that just every Angolan wants to paint his house pink! The war is over, democracy is kicking in. Everyone has a pink house so everybody is a 'president' ... or is he? At least one of them sure is. The 'Dono' (literally 'the owner') leaving in the Palacio de Futunga : President Edurado dos Santos ... in position for the past 20 years and still thinking about when the next elections should happen.

Overall, I feel rather happy to be back here. To be exact, I never liked living in Luanda. It is just an overcrowded place filled with all the poverty and despair that the war threw onto the roads. But I know this city is not representative of the rest of the country. Just the thought of leaving in a few hours for Lobito - the little coastal town of the Benguela province in the South - helps sweeten the rest of my stay in Luanda.

*Oh!! and I have DHL'ed you some Cuca (local beer) and Amarula (excellent local liquor) for this weekend wOOtfest !!* ;)