As usual i wake up around 06.00h without alarm clock and start to realize that we crossed the equator since it is still dark out there. The swim in the pool is nice and i do my moo pal exercises (martial art breathing exercises). It feels rather cold; we are not used anymore to the 28 degrees!!
Tom and rainer feel the same at breakfast and we discuss whether we should put on some sweaters. We wonder how people back home in switzerland are doing with the weather there. Service is extremely slow again which means waiting 45 minutes to get the coffee. Captain tom with his uniform steps into the kitchen and then things are moving. We wonder how one can get these people motivated.
Fuel stop in franceville is very efficient. The ground handler flew especially in for us from libreville and soon we cruise again on 24‘000 feet with 430 km/h. After crossing congo, we follow the coast south and air traffic control in luanda is not so up to date (to say the least). Refueling is no problem and immigration is to local standards: 7 girls standing there and one of them working. The cab driver wants to bring us to the wrong hotel and at the skyna hotel they have no reservations (even though we show them their confirmation). At least the hotel room is nice; but expensive!
Tonight we have dinner with the swiss ambassador and three local businessmen: the local representative of abb, a private investor and an avogado and professor. The government official from the chamber of commerce does not show up. We get a comprehensive overview of angola, the business environment and investment opportunities. The country produces roughly 2 mio barrels of oil a day which represents 95% of the country‘s revenues. The state oil company is a state within the state and has some very creative account practices. There are estimates that so far around 4 bio us dollars are missing somewhere. Telecommunication is untouchable since it is controlled by the president‘s daughter. She also owns around 10% portuguese telecom!
Before the wars (independence and civil), angola was the bread basket of the region. They produced every kind of food and was a major exporter. Today the country imports everything; even fish. The ties to portugal are extremely strong and it is one of the major trading partners. Portugal also provides major trade financings for its exports to angola; most likely with the compliments of angela merkel. South africa could provide basically all goods at much lower prices (i.e. 50% – 70% cheaper). But angolans don‘t like the south africans; they were involved in the civil war, cheated them in the diamond trade during these days and are arrogant on top of it!
The real estate market is at its peak; office space in luanda goes at 2 1/2 time price of top office space in zurich‘s bahnhofstrasse (not quite the same quality though). The office space of the swiss embassy is usd 23‘000.– a month and the same amount has to be paid for the residence of the ambassador. A normal flat is between usd 7‘000 – usd 10‘000; a decent house for an expat is around usd 12‘000 – usd 15‘000. The abb man got a bid for his house at usd 7 mio (bought it recently at around usd 2 mio); but he does not dare to sell it since the buyer is a known“not so nice man“; he would pay him only 50% as down payment and then the family and abb man himself would have to fear for their lives. It happened in here. It is really a real estate bubble as we have seen in other, similar countries. Stay away!!
Diplomatic relationships with switzerland are in the deep freezer at the moment. A court in geneva froze around usd 40 mio of some well connected families here in angola which is obviously not very helpful. So poor mr. Fenini does not have the easiest job at the moment and he tries to find a solution.
The food and the portuguese wines were actually very good and the discussions very informative. In the hotel we go for a night cap and in the bar is a great local band that plays fantastic music for the young, local crowd.
It was a long day today but one thing became very clear: no investments in angola.
21st of May
Beach day today! We sleep longer and tom orders an omelet for breakfast (we don‘t understand why). We leave breakfast after 45 minutes and tom still waits for his omelet (he doesn‘t understand why) and try to rent a car without driver from the hotel. A lexus should be here in 15 minutes and after 2 hour, a beaten up suzuki jeep with driver shows up. No, he can‘t drive us around since he has to pick up somebody else. But he an drop us off at the beach and pick us up later again. Knowing the angolan way of doing things by now, we gratefully decline the offer.
So rainer goes to the hertz office in the hotel. Nobody is there! Finally somehow some hertz people organize a 4×4 but the tank is empty; we should fill it up. We have seen the queues at the petrol stations yesterday and don‘t feel like staying in line for hours. Finally we go to the main office of hertz which is just around the corner! Somehow they fill the car up half way and to make a long story short: after 3 hours we have a car costing usd 450.– for the day; great service included.
We drive out to the 7 km long bahia de luanda where all the beaches are. They are amazingly clean, so we spend the afternoon in the sun. The water is cool but clear and nice. We watch the local boys play football; quite some talent here. Lunch we have at coconut‘s which was a recommendation of our ambassador. Really good but not cheap.
We drive back and make a detour to do some sightseeing. We drive through some really ugly slums and get stuck in traffic. Doors are locked by now. Back in the hotel, the hertz people can‘t do the payment for the car; the can‘t find the machine for the credit card.
We walk over to the tropico hotel for dinner. Just 5 minutes but enough. Dinner is more expensive than kronenhalle in zurich but at least we get some kind of proper service.
Tom finds out how he can call his family and is all excited about it. We really wonder what our facebook junkie did before he had his iphone!
We have been to many expensive cities around the world; but luanda beats them all. Not only are the prices high here, the quality of service is really bad. People here don‘t have any idea about value for money.
