A nonTraditional Hash Wedding

Every Saturday that I am in Maputo and not sick, I run with the Maputa Hash House Harriers. It is a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon and Hashers are drinkers with a running problem. get out to see places that I might not go on my own. After the run, we go back to the Maputo Aeroclube (where we're based) for a drink. Hashers like to think of themselves as drinkers with a running problem. Most people have a beer. Sometimes I go for a beer, sometimes a Fanta. Mozambicans bottle beer in 40 oz. bottles so I only drink if I can find someone to split it. 40 oz. is way too much (for me anyway).

On Saturday last, after the run, we had an impromptu and nontraditional Hash wedding. The wedding party were all Hashers and the 50% of the guests hashed. The other 50% were either relatives of the bride and groom or locals who just laughed and shook their heads at our craziness. Wonder Woman and Hotzenplotz were married in an official ceremony a few weeks earlier in Europe. This one was just part of a party to celebrate with their friends here in Mozambique.


The couple had an Irish "pope" (Big Gun) preside over their nuptials which included promising to love, keep each over inebriated, and overlook the occasional sheep shagging (bride promised) or milkman (groom promised). An acappella Hash version of "Amazing Grace" ensured that the musical bases were covered. The locals sang the real words to the hymn in Changaan.


Before kissing one another, the bride and groom had to drink a down-down (i.e. a beer). That made some of the older local men and women looking on chuckle. Afterwards everyone shouted, ululated, yipped, howled, laughed, and expressed their happiness at yet another couple being committed.

Parabens Wonder Woman and Hotzenplotz!

Outside the City - Pequenos Lebombos Dam

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy now that the national archives are open. I'm finding good stuff. I found one source that provides a very detailed snapshot of flora, fauna, and human communities at the Maputo Elephant Reserve from 1972/73 - maps, species lists, cattle herds, population sizes, crops, etc. That was a pretty exciting find (so I'm easy to please). I also have some materials from the 1990s on species presence, agriculture, and human population size. It looks like one of the big areas I will ask about during oral histories is the time period during the Civil War.

I have left the A/C of the archives to get out into the city and countryside. The following pictures were taken this Saturday on a Hash Run at Pequenos Lebombos Dam. The dam holds back the Umbeluzi River. Some websites talk about how this is where crocodiles pee into Maputo's water supply, but I was told this weekend that the water is primarily for irrigation. The dam is about 5 km outside of Boane and 45 km outside Maputo.


The Maputa Hash House Harriers are about 1/3 Mozambican, 1/2 African (at least), and majority "drinkers with a running problem." No one forces anyone to drink (and there is always water and sodas), but everyone can kick back with a beer after the run (and sometimes on the run).

Runs are usually 5-12 km (that's 3-7 miles for those who don't get commie units).

This part of the trail was quite nice and went through a guava orchard. I didn't illegally pick any guava here. ;-P Most of the fruits were green anyway. There was a wild tree growing at the base of the dam that 2 Mozambicans and I picked some ripe fruit from.



The funny looking plants in the center are members of the Euphorbia family. The milky latex they produce is not something you want to accidentally rub into your eyes. It is poisonous and can cause "intense irritation to the skin." Rhinos (probably Black Rhinos) eat some types of Euphorbiaceas. Cassava and Poinsettia are 2 members of this family, and natural rubber comes from another member.

Most of the trail was fairly rocky and followed cattle paths.

Sunset on the Mozambique-Swaziland border. The mountains in the distance are the Lebombos.