We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time - TS Eliot

23 May 2019, Lubango to Cacula, 91,6km
Hospedaria [unnamed] 3,000Kz (R134)

We had thought to spend the night in Hoque, around 60km from Residencial Dumas in Lubango, but when we got there we decided to push on to Cacula and were glad to have done so as it has a hospedaria (hostel). We know other cyclists are camping throughout Africa; we know this is perfectly possible and certainly cheap. But we have been strangely reluctant to camp. Perhaps not “strangely”. I like my comforts, or at least a hint of comfort. At the end of a day on the bike, I want to bathe, I want a chair to sit on, I want a meal, and I want a bed. What can I say? We are prepared, of course, to camp and feed ourselves, but if we can find accommodation within our budget (probably higher in our retirement than that on which youngsters are bumming the world), we are happy.
Cacula’s hospedaria did not advertise itself as such. As we entered town from the south, we asked a few women seated on the roadside if there was a pensão in town and received a positive nod and followed where their hands waved. We passed the hospedaria which looked like a municipal building, but were directed back to it by a resident, and in fact escorted there by a Vietnamese man living in this out of the way place, his corner store an electronics repair place.
Our room was very basic and the mattress had seen better days, but the tile floor felt clean under my bare feet and the sheets were changed once we had agreed to pay their price. The shared bathrooms were a little rough, but also clean; the water for flushing and bathing stored in a large drum and obviously drawn from the river. We agreed also a price for a meal - rice and chicken - freshly cooked by our host. Africa’s chickens are … er … muscular; sometimes so tough, it is really hard to tear the meat from the bones. But the sauce was good and the rice plentiful enough for some serious carb loading.
Entering or leaving a large city by bike is always a little stressful, but our route out of Lubango was very simple, and in fact we had driven some of it the day before with Dumas who had taken us to get our “visa” extended. South Africans do not need visas, but are granted 30 days only, not enough for us to cycle around 2,000km to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border. [We were unable to extend so early into our visit, so will try again in a week or so.]
Initially the countryside was uninteresting, but later in the morning, pleasing again with mountains in the distance and lovely trees and greenery. In Hoque, it was market day, neat buckets of tomatoes and potatoes and garlic and oranges for sale; varieties of beans piled on fabric, with a tin for measuring what is bought. And women barbecuing chicken pieces, sold later by girls from brightly-coloured plastic basins on their heads. Though we were quickly surrounded by eager salespeople, we did not feel overwhelmed or bullied, and those who did not manage to sell to us, accepted this with grace. Later on the roadside we saw groups of people selling varieties of pumpkin.
We did just over 90km on a hilly road, but, though we were ready to get our butts off the bikes by the time we reached Cacula, we still felt relatively good. Getting stronger…

For today's route see below photos
For overview route, click on ROUTE tab above…