Caboledo Beach & Caçosso Waterfalls

This weekend was a blast. We went to a new beach with two wonderful families and then went to a small waterfall here in Angola. Our driver hadn't been to either place and he had as much fun as we did. He played soccer with the boys and then took a swim in the ocean. At the waterfall I seen a new side to Baptista. He was dancing to the music the locals were playing and smiling more than I have ever seen him smile. It took us about 2 hours to get to Caboledo beach. There were waves but not as big as Turtle beach. The kids were able to ride the waves on their boogie boards and they had so much fun. After lunch we were talking with the Amer's about the waterfalls in Angola and he said the small one is only about 1 1/2 hours from the beach, so we packed up and headed that way. After 2 hours of driving we stopped at a gas station and he said it was only 5 more minutes to the falls. We got back on the road and was driving about 15 mins and Kenny got a text message from him saying maybe he was wrong on the time. Thirty minutes after the gas station we made it to the falls. It was well worth the extra hour of driving. I told Wael I think he operates on Angolan time and now we know to double the time he says it will take. We didn't stay at the falls long because we had a 4 hour trip back home and the road back is not the best road in the country. There are not a lot of lights along the way and it is only a two lane road. We noticed on our way home that cars kept flashing their lights at us. We thought Baptista had his bright lights on but after talking to Baptista he said that is what they do to make sure you see they are coming.

We had lots of talking time with our driver on the way home and learned so much about the country and people. One thing we learned is that a lot of people make their own alcohol here. He said they don't always have the money to buy beer so they use water, corn mill and yeast or they boil the leaves from the coconut trees. He said if they drink to much of this they fall down a lot.

Another funny story on the ride home was when Jacob needed to use the bathroom. We still liked about an hour until we would be home and he could not hold it any longer. We told him he would have to go on the side of the road. While he was doing his business I commented that I needed to go as well but I would wait until home. Kenny and Baptista said go ahead here everyone else does. I said that was ok and Baptista said, "Maybe it's better with a seat." I agree totally!!!

Below our some pictures from the day.

We stopped at a look-out point on our way to the beach. As far as you could see the land was like this. Baptista checking out the view.

The Jones'

The Horton's.....I love this family!!!

Paying to cross the Rio Longo Bridge. Cost 200kwz

Rio Longo Bridge

A tank that guarded the bridge during the war.

Rio Longo Bridge

Jacob and the Rio Longo River

Rio Longo River

They haven't had much rain here this year so you would go miles seeing nothing but brown, like the picture below, and when you would get close to a river everything was so pretty and green.

A village on the way to the beach.

The clan....Amer's, Jones', Horton's

Shimo after spotting a snake behind our chairs.

Jared and Miles

Jared

The 3 Amigo's....Hana....Jared.....Miles

Another river we crossed on the way to the beach.

We seen lots of cactus.....

Goats......

Pigs.......

and even cotton. First time I have seen cotton here....our driver didn't even know what it was.

A small village by the waterfalls.

A mom with a child on her back and food on her head.

Caçosso Waterfalls. There were a total of 3 falls.

The other two falls.

Farah, Hana, Adam, Jacob and Jared

Wael and Kenny

We were the only people of different color and everyone stared at us the entire time we were there. 

See the rainbow?

Jacob, Jared, Baptista and Adam

Baptista being silly.

Jared with the locals dancing in the background.

We stopped at a market on the way back to get some sweet potatoes and all these girls came up to the window trying to sell us sugar canes and melons. I took their picture thinking they would leave but I think they liked it. The boys had some vanilla wafers and gave them to the girls and they started fighting over them. Kenny had to roll his window down and tell them to share them. The ran across the road with them held in the air very excited. The boys still don't understand completely what kind of life people here live because they said why are they so excited they are just vanilla wafers. 

These were grave sites. There was not really a cemetery they were just scattered across the land.

You can see them in this picture in the background.

Another village on our way home.

Some more houses.

and more houses.

Jared being silly.

The white building is a slave museum. Sorry for the bad picture but we were driving by.

This is the road we traveled on.

We even saw a diamond mine. On the other side of the road was their camp with tents set up. We were going to fast to take a picture of both sides.