cuito: humidity, fogged lenses, & ghost stories in every frame

i've been stuck in cuito, angola for ten days now, and the humidity is leeching the will to live from my camera batteries. seriously, it's 86% moisture in the air-i swear i saw a lens cap condensate into a tiny lake. the temperature hovers at 17.93°c, but it feels like 18.02°c because the air is so thick you could slice it with a knife. pressure sits at a steady 1011 hpa, which is about as comforting as a constant hum from an old generator. every morning i wake up to a sky the color of wet concrete, and the light does this thing where it’s simultaneously harsh and diffused; perfect for portraits, they say, but my shutter speed has to be cranked up to avoid blur from my own sweaty hands.

i came here to photograph the echoes of the battle that split this town back in the 80s. the skeletal remains of old bunkers dot the outskirts, and the locals still tell stories in hushed tones. i’m sleeping in a guesthouse that’s basically a concrete box with a ceiling fan that sounds like a helicopter. the owner, auntie maria, makes a mean moamba de galinha, and she warns me every evening: 'the mosquitoes here don’t care if you’re a photographer, they’ll bite you anyway.'

i pulled up the map to get my bearings and it’s wild how this place sits in a bowl of hills. check it out:

the coordinates -12.2333,16.7833 put us right in the province of Cuando Cubango, smack dab between lubango and the floodplains of the okavango. it’s remote, yeah, but that’s the point. i wanted to get away from the instagram crowds.

gear wise, i brought my trusty fujifilm x-t4 with a 35mm f/1.4 lens, plus a couple rolls of kodak portra 400. the humidity is a nightmare for film-i can already see the edges of the frames starting to curl even before i develop. i keep the rolls in a ziplock bag with silica gel packets, but i think the packets are giving up. i’ve also got a tiny travel tripod that wobbles in the wind, which is constant. the afternoons bring a breeze that feels like a hair dryer set to 'tropical'. i’ve been shooting at f/2.8 to keep iso low, but sometimes i have to push to 3200 and the grain looks like sand. i’m learning to love the imperfections; they match the vibe here.

yesterday i wandered into the mercado municipal. the colors! stall after stall of dried fish, chilis, and handwoven baskets. i caught a moment where an old man was chewing on a sugarcane and staring right into my lens. that shot is gonna be a keeper. the light was that golden hour stuff that makes everything glow. i should have been there with a longer lens, but i was too busy dodging stray goats. TripAdvisor actually has a page for the market, but the reviews are all about the 'exotic smells'-some people are so narrow-minded. anyway, check this photo i took nearby (not from the market, but from a field i stumbled upon):

the image doesn’t do justice to the heat haze, but you get the idea.

lunch was at a tiny hole-in-the-wall called cantinho da ana. the menu is chalkboard scribbles, and the special was calulu (a fish stew) with funge. i asked for the wifi password and the waitress just laughed. i posted a quick story and a follower from lisbon slid into my dms: 'someone told me that the secret ingredient is a dash of palm oil and a lot of love.' i think it’s just overripe tomatoes. but hey, you should check the Yelp page-it’s got some wild reviews, like 'the place is a time capsule' and 'i got food poisoning but would return in a heartbeat'. angola travel forums also have a thread on best eats: Angola Gastronomy Board.

when the humidity gets to you, hopping over to lubango feels like a breath of (slightly) drier air. it’s about a four-hour drive on a road that’s more pothole than pavement, but the vans are always packed with people hauling sacks of maize and roosters. i considered renting a car, but the rates at the agency made my eyes water-i mean, $120 a day for a clunker with no AC? no thanks. a local bus will do, even if it smells like diesel and sweat.

on my way back from the outskirts, i passed a colonial-era church that’s been abandoned. the paint is peeling in great strips, revealing brickwork like old bones. i set up my tripod and did a long exposure at dusk, capturing the sky turning purple. that’s when i heard a rumor: someone told me that the old museum downtown is haunted by the ghost of a portuguese soldier who lingers near the artillery display. i think it’s nonsense, but i still shot a long exposure there at midnight just in case. the museum itself is a dusty collection of rifles and photos from the civil war. the curator, an elderly man with one glass eye, let me in for free because 'the spirits need publicity.' i took a few shots of the exhibition hall; the dust motes caught the flashlight beam like tiny stars. here’s a pic from that session (actually it’s from the church, but close enough):

i also spent a morning at the river, where kids were jumping off a rickety wooden bridge. the water was brown but cool, and i tried to capture their laughter mid-air. that's the stuff i live for. i’ll admit, i’m not the most patient photographer; i usually just shoot and hope for the best. but here, the rhythm is slower. i find myself waiting for the light to shift, watching the clouds crawl across the hills. it’s a good lesson in slowing down. i even tried some macro shots on the red flowers that grow along the riverbank-here’s one:

cuito isn’t for everyone. the power goes out most evenings, the internet is a joke (i’m using a usb dongle that speeds up and down like a yo-yo), and the water sometimes comes out brown. but if you can handle the humidity, the dust, and the strange feeling that time has taken a detour, you’ll find beauty in the cracks. i’m heading out tomorrow, heading south to the okavango delta for a change of scenery. i’ll miss the way the streetlights flicker orange against the blue dusk. thanks for reading, and if you ever need tips on shooting in 86% humidity, hit me up. i can tell you how to keep your lens from fogging (spoiler: don’t blow on it, let it acclimate). also, don’t forget to check the local tourism board for updates on road conditions. stay cool(ish).

You might also be interested in:

• https://votoris.com/post/tokyo-where-the-wifi-is-fast-but-the-heart-is-cold
• https://votoris.com/post/the-safest-and-most-dangerous-neighborhoods-in-uvira-5
• https://votoris.com/post/is-milwaukee-overrated-a-reality-check-for-newcomers
• https://votoris.com/post/how-to-connect-snelstart-to-your-custom-ecommerce-website-a-complete-guide
• https://votoris.com/post/sweating-through-another-humid-night-in-rio-again