I am half way through my trip in Mozambique. I will give you a brief breakdowm of how long the trip has taken me:
- about 20 hours of travelling from Midrand in Gauteng to Maputo in Mozambique
- I spent 2 days in Maputo. A busy city, diry unfortunately, but fun none-the-less
- 8 hours chappa ride (a chappa is a taxi, a minibus taxi) to Inhambane (but we could take it all the way to Tofo as well so I went there and spent a day there
- 30 min ride from Tofo to Imbambane, where I spent the afternoon and early morning there.
- a 4 hr chappa ride from Inhambane to Vilanculo, where I currently am.
This is what lies ahead:
1. 7/8/9 hours ride from Vilanculos to Chimoio, on the Beira bus. I will get off at the Inchope intersection and take a chappa to Chimoio.
2. From Chimoio, well, I am not 100% sure how long it will take me to Tete, maybe the same time as Inhambane to Vilanculo. Maybe more...
3. Then from Tete to the Malawian border (closest to Blantyre) is 7 hrs. There I will stay at the border towm, or if I can get to Blantyre, then there, I will stay the night and continue to Lilongwe.
If I leave on Monday, travel for the day, spend a day in Either Chimoio or Tete and travel on alternative days, I should have another 5 days of travelling. SO will get to Lilongwe this coming Friday or Saturday.
Now that these technicalities are taken care of, lets get down to some juicey tales.
Nothing really much happened in Maputo. Oh wait! I caught the ferry to Catembe (there are many rivers to cross in Mozambique), with a Canadian lady, Chris and we walked on the beach, drank coffee and ended up at the market where we ate feijoadas (beans) and rice. Divine. And drank one of Mozambiques famous beers, Laurentina (it is so great having this beer as a reference point. Observe: Ola, tudo bem - how are you - chamo-me Lauren - my name is Lauren. And then there follows the person trying to pronounce my name. Or sometimes there follows a blank stare. And then I say, or if I have the bottle I show, like the beer but without "tina"). The young woman, Locai, who owned the shop loved the fact that we were eating at her shop. Exchanged numbers with us and made plans to meet us in Maputo the next day. She met us the next day, ate something with us. She spoke very little English, we spoke some portuguese (Chris was good at it)
Some piece of artwork in the streets of Maputo
Tofo was relaxing, if way over priced as it is a very touristy area. Good sea swimming, good sea walks.
Inhambane (pronounced n-yam-ban-e)was delightful. Not a huge amount to do if you need a lot of stimulation but it is a wonderfully calming place to live and that night we were there, I drink 2M beer (pronounced dosh-em) while sitting on the wall as the sun set behind us.
A young boy outside the old mosque in Inhambane
So I feel it impotant to talk a little bit about beer. I dont like beer generally. Yes if it is boiling hot and the beer is icey cold, it is fantastic. To have a sit or three. But there is something about beer in Mozambique. It just slides down your gullet so well. And it is icey and it is homid here and often the glasses are also chilled well and well, it is just good.
So Inhambane is the place to retire in, I have decided.
The ride from Inhambane consided of a ferry to Maxixe (pronounced masheesh) and a heated debate with a chappa driver about how much he was going to charge us from Maxixe to Vilanculo. in Maputo I met a lady from Finland and we travelled to Tofo and then Inhambane and then Vilanculo together. In the chappa to Vilanculo we were so bored we ate pretty much the whole time.
In Mozambique, tangerines (naartjies), bananas, roasted peanuts, roasted cashews, pau (pronounced pauing, the staple bread of Moz) and boiled eggs can be found EVERYWHERE. I have over indulged on cashews and peanuts.
And now Vilanculo.
This morning I went for a walk/run on the beach. In this escapae, I found fishermen, and fishermen's friends and sisters and brothers, all pulling a rope out of the sea. This is how it went. they'd grab te rope and walk slowly up the beach, pulling the rope behind them. When a person got to the top they'd drop the rope and go to the front and start pulling again. I walked/ran passed them. Then decided to return to my backpackers. but then on the spur of the moment I asked the fisher people if I can help pull. Oh my word, maybe an hour and a half later we finished. I was shuffled from the rope-out-pulling, to the boat where I had to wind the rope onto the floor, back to pulling the last of the net out. I was given 6 fish as a thank you. Bless them. The one lady wound them onto a piece of reed anad I carried my fish home.
on the way, I bumped into 3 artists who asked if tey could buy my fish. I "sold" 3 of the fish for 10 Metecaish and a coconut. On my way from them I found a stall selling naartjies and I used my 10 Mt to buy 5 of them. And then armed with fish, naartjies and conocut I went to Josef and Tina camping, where Hanna (Finland) and Miles and Jess (Uk and USA) were camping, and the owners there quickly braai-ed the fish and we ate some pau, fish, tangerines, cononut and paw-paw.
I think I might go fishing again tomorrow. If my hands are usable tomorrow - the rope was wet, rough and covered in sand.
I wont lie, the sight of the fish flapping there was a bit disturbing... especially one type of fish that was quite beautiful to watch as they swam (I secrectly released on back into the surf). I thanked their souls for giving themselves to be eaten.
Oh yea, mosquito nets... I always have such issues with them!! The first night with a mosquito net (provided by the backpackers) saw me wake up twisted in it. The second night it kept on slipping off the bed post and covering my face in bustly smelling net. I swore.. I once almost fell off my bed trying to sort it. Here, in Vilanculos, the nets are beautiful to sleep under.
The view from my bed, on the floor, through my mozzie net, to the other beds
Ate logo (see you later)
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