Home » Mozambique » Maputo, Mozambique - July 30th

It's all a big learning curve really. You would think after many years of travel we would have this down. But, this is Africa. First of all, we are not in South Africa as planned. We are in Mozambique. While in Durban, we met an American guy, Matt, who is an aid worker in Africa for the past ten years. He was transporting vehicles back to Maputo where he lives and offered us money to drive one of the cars. An adventure to Mozambique, a place we did not plan on going.... we jumped at the chance. The drive took two days and helped us get a handle on the driving in Africa which the manager at the hostel in Durban described as, "You have to have eyes in the back of your head... it's pretty hectic." While not easy, it certainly wasn't as nerve-wracking as we had expected.
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Maputo, Mozambique - July 30th

Lasulo
2006-01-06 17:06:09

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It's all a big learning curve really. You would think after many years of travel we would have this down. But, this is Africa. First of all, we are not in South Africa as planned. We are in Mozambique. While in Durban, we met an American guy, Matt, who is an aid worker in Africa for the past ten years. He was transporting vehicles back to Maputo where he lives and offered us money to drive one of the cars. An adventure to Mozambique, a place we did not plan on going.... we jumped at the chance. The drive took two days and helped us get a handle on the driving in Africa which the manager at the hostel in Durban described as, "You have to have eyes in the back of your head... it's pretty hectic." While not easy, it certainly wasn't as nerve-wracking as we had expected.

We arrived in Maputo and met Matt's wife and children, who were lovely. Maputo is nothing to scream at - another African city which means unsafe at night and sort of dodgey in the day; so we decided to take a trip only 35 km away to an island with beautiful beaches called Macaneta. Using local transportation, 35 Mozambican miles is like two minutes at the end of a basketball game. One kilometer did not take one minute. It took us THREE hours. The mode of transportation is called a chapa and is a minivan with three bench seats across, seats maybe ten comfortably. Wanting to perhaps break the Guinness Book of World Records, we crammed 27 adults into our first chapa ride. Kate and I were at the back, in the middle, shoulders not fitting, slammed next to the person - the two worst seats.

All was fun and giggles, and we were cracking up because we were the only white people around and were definitely the center of attention to all on the chapa and every teenage boy selling crap who was pressed against the bus. Then they closed the back door. I freaked out - felt like I couldn't breathe and wanted to claw my way over any person to get the hell off the chapa which held 27 contorted bodies doing the Mozambiquan version of Twister. Never has that happened to me. It sort of passed when the Mozambican women next to me opened the window because she could see the panic in my eyes. I made it, obviously, but had to do deep breathing, while trying to get a grip on my racing heart. Horrible experience.....

We arrived in Macaneta, eventually, to find just a small hostel, no town, no restaurants, no ATM, no visa signs. Yes, we were idiots and had expected to be able to get money out using our ATM cards. I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, except instead of the wizard, I had an Indian hostel manager telling me that I was not in Manhattan anymore, but Mozambique. We had very little money but he told us we could stay the night but had to go back to Maputo the next day via a chapa (NOOOO!) to get money.

Macaneta is gorgeous, a never-ending stretch of beach that had a few naked children swimming and catching birds. Yes, birds.. using two sticks in the sand, a piece of rope tied between the sticks, and a small fish as bait. Ingenious but torturous for the bird which was ensnared alive and then carried by its wings down the beach still very much alive. We saw two children with four birds between them. The children were smiling, but the birds could not have been having a worse day. We stayed for there for three days and just relaxed. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and the only thing we got was windburn.

So, back in Maputo today. I got the window seat in the chapa and so was okay. Heading back to South Africa tomorrow to meet up with Michelle on Monday night. Looking forward to fun and games in South Africa....