This is pretty much what we faced all day, although some sections were better than others.
The police have traffic control stop points in all sorts of places. Most are consistently in the same spot at a guard house or under a shade tree. Today, our second stop was under a shade tree.
When we come to a stop, I always pull up behind the trailer and wait. Rodger talks to the police and explains he is moving to Ilha and I am there to help...but I don't speak Portugese.
Today a young soldier came to my window with his AK-47 slung on his shoulder and asked me a question. I looked at him and said, "No Portugese, only Engish". He smiled and said, "That's OK, I speak English". He wanted to know where I was gong and why and then asked if I could give him money or something to drink. He saw the Coke cans and wanted one of those, so I hopped out and got a cold Coke from the back of the truck, which seemed to do the trick.
When he walked back to the bench that he, a young female police officer and an older male officer were sitting on, I knew something was wrong.
Rodger was involved in an animated discussion with the 2 police officers and in a couple of moments walked back to the truck I was driving. He asked for some paperwork for the truck and the calmly told me he was probably going to jail until Monday. Since this was Saturday afternoon, I was looking at a loooong wait.
The young female police officer did not like Rodger's Colorado license. His international license was being sent to him, but he had been assured by other officers that this was OK. This was NOT OK with this young woman, and she was writing up a citation that had to be paid right then back at the police station.
The male officer had other thoughts. He did not like Rodger in the least little bit and had decided that Rodger had not properly respected the officer's authority. He was going to write up a report and Rodger was gong to jail until Monday. He left to go get his Dell Laptop to write his report.
Anyway, we changed car keys and Rodger took off for the police station to pay his fine and, of course, left me on the side of the road with the van in the middle of Mozambique. I started talking to the soldier and the nice police lady.
The male officer returned to the check point with his laptop and when he got out of the car asked me where the other driver was. I was all, "no Portugese, only English", only to find out he spoke very good English. After a quick explanation, he calmed down and wanted to know if I was also from Maputo. I told him no, "I'm from California". He looked at me and asked, "California"? What's it like in California"?
I have to stop here and let you know I had really been praying. Rodger and I both felt we were under attack from the enemy, and I was praying that the Holy Spirit would soften this man's heart.
Well, we stated talking about California and what it was like and he was explaining to me about him being a traffic officer and just as I was explaining about our Highway Patrol, Rodger get back on the scene,
Rodger approached the police officer and showed him the receipt from having paid his fine and then stood politely and humbly before the officer. The officer was sitting I his chair and then reached over and got Rodger's license and residence card. He held them in his hands and looked up at me and said "Let me tell you about your friend". At this point I couldn't claim I did not know Rodger, so I leaned down to listen to what he had to say.
He explained that the Colorado license was not valid by itself and Rodger needed 1 of 3 other types of license. I nodded by head and said I understood. He then went on to say that in all of their "talks", Rodger had called the female officer and him thieves and this was an insult to their authority. Of course, Rodger did not call them thieves. I, on the other hand, looked at officer very sincerely and nodded my head up and down and said that I understood.
The officer then handed Rodger's ID's back to him and said he had decided not to send Rodger to jail and that we could go. Rodger thanked him and we walked to the van to exchange keys and decide where to stop very shortly so Rodger could collect himself. I took my keys and walked past the trailer and I was going to go straight to my truck without saying goodbye to the nice police officers and young soldier. But I just had to stop....
I walked up to the male officer and shook his hand and thanked him.
Then I invited him to come visit me in California!
After the officers, the soldier and I laughed, the officer wanted to know my email address, so I nodded my head politely and gave it to him. I have not heard for him yet, but I am sure I will.
We drove for another 4 hours and finally pulled off the road for the night to an unbelievable oasis in the middle of nowhere.
After a restful night....we were ready for day 4..
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