Welcome to Around the Day in 80 Worlds

Welcome to my blog – Around the Day in 80 Worlds. The idea is to give a brief impression of what my wife, Rosa Isabel, and I have been up to for the past 4 years or so. Since I have just created the blog, some of the postings are “out of date” – but I hope you will enjoy them nonetheless.

I will be posting short texts and photos from my work and my travels in Africa and Latin America – and I will throw in recommendations for good books, discs and films every so often. New postings will appear below.

I have borrowed the title Around the Day in 80 Worlds from the book La vuelta al día en ochenta mundos by Julio Cortázar – the brilliant Argentine author. It is off course a playful version of Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. Despite the title, I am afraid this blog will not do justice to all the intriguing philosophical games of Cortázar – but if it could lead just one person to read Julio Cortázar then it will definitely have served a noble purpose.

The Trees of Nampula

The nature of Northern Mozambique is breathtakingly beautiful. And even though the city of Nampula might not be that interesting from an aesthetic point of view, it definitely has its own particular charm. These photos are of some of the trees in the City of Nampula – and includes a photo of the cathedral; the most imposing building of the city.

These photos were taken just before we left some time in January 2007. Time flies, but we still miss Mozambique and all the friends we had back there.

54 People Killed in Bus Accident in Guatemala

A so called chicken bus – the colourful former US school buses that transit the Guatemalan roads – had a horrible accident Friday night. I saw it on the news later on.

The bus had fallen off a mountain side on the Carretera El Salvador and had been completely destroyed. I have never seen a vehicle look like that before. Long lines of corpses covered in blankets were placed along the roadside, while the police struggled to get survivors out of the wreck.

It turns out that the bus driver was a 21–year old guy who did not have a professional bus driver’s license. And like all other drivers of chicken buses he was going way too fast. A survivor told that the driver had said the brakes were not working just before the accident.

It also turns out that the bus company did not have any insurance, so the relatives of the departed – among them apparently several orphans – will not receive any compensation.

But this is not an exceptional case in Guatemala – apart from the number of victims. In many ways this was the story of a death foretold.

It does not take a rocket scientist to see that most of the buses in Guatemala are only fit for the junkyard. And you do not have to be psychic to foresee that the insane driving of the bus drivers will lead to this sort of accidents. And it does. Every week.

Politicians and police and everybody else are apparently very upset and will take measures to prevent this from happening again. But this is not something new. They have known about the state of things forever and have done nothing.

They will put on a serious face and talk about it for the next week. Then there will be silence, and then people will gradually forget about the whole thing. And then nothing what so ever will happen. In a month or two another incompetent driver will drive like a madman and crash another defect bus - and a few more families will be destroyed.

Walking our dogs in the Nampula province in Northern Mozambique.

My wife, Rosa Isabel, and I lived in the city of Nampula in Northern Mozambique between 2004 and 2007.

We had this spectacular and tranquil setting just a 15 minute drive from our home.

Charles Mingus – The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

It would be disrespectful to have a blog named after a Julio Cortázar book and not to have any jazz on it.

So I would like to recommend this mind blowing album – a milestone in jazz – made in 1963 by the afro-American composer, bass player and pianist Charles Mingus - the same year Cortázar published Rayuela (Hopscotch in English).

CV

Work (selected)
2007- : Regional Communication Adviser, Ibis Central America
2004-2007: Information Officer, MS Mozambique
2003-2004: Information Worker, Dan Church Aid

Education
2001: MA in Comparative Literature, University of Copenhagen
1994: BA in Comparative Literature, University of Copenhagen
1990: High school Degree, Mulernes Legatskole, Odense

Travelling / Staying Abroad
2007- : Guatemala
2004-2007: Mozambique
1999-2001: Mexico (MA Studies)
1997: Ireland
1996: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
1990-1991: France

Languages
Fluency: Danish – English - Spanish – Portuguese
Understand reasonably well: French - German