An Easter Overview

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Back in Maputo safe and sound after a very eventful holiday! I won't be able to remember everything that's happened and I stupidly left my journal at the backpackers, but I'll try to give you a rough overview 😊 I think I got up to the Swazi Tour before...

SWAZI TOUR

Stop No. 1: GONE RURAL
This place is a bit like Fancy Stitch but instead of embroidery they use grass-weaving. It's fantastic for the women in the community and they make really beautiful things - they can weave baskets so tight that they can carry water! It's definitely worth checking out their website as they can ship all over the world 😊

Stop No. 2: SWAZI CANDLES
Again, definitely look at their website! We watched the candles being made and they're incredible, the people who work there have got their art down to about six minutes! They make the most intricately patterned candles in all sorts of shapes and sizes, even in African animal shapes 😊. My favourite by far was "the zebras are mating"...which by the way I can say in Zulu :P

Stop No. 3: BAOBAB BATIK
(Haha batik :D) This place is nice too, we didn 't get to see them making the things but I did buy a gorgeous African animal cushion cover!

Stop No. 4: SWAZILAND CULTURAL VILLAGE
Here was very cool. Firstly we watched a traditional Swazi dance which was a million times better than the one we saw before, and later we found out this was because it was the king's dancers and choir! Also we met our tour guide Albert who showed us around the village. We each had to take on family roles, i.e. grandmother, 1st wife, children etc - and children had to get on one knee and ask their elders if they could carry their bags, as a sign of respect. We then walked round the village an d had to fulfil our roles, for example mother had to stir the pap and grandfather had to hand out punishments when we were in the hut! The huts are huuuuge but have tiny doors, so if your enemy entered you could spear or hit him in the doorway. There are forfeits for being late, or sitting on the wrong side (the genders are very separated in all aspects of Swazi life) and these forfeits ranged from putting some money in the grandmother's pot, to having to put on all the traditional furs!

Stop No. 5: MANTENGA WATERFALL
Just above the cultural village this waterfall is absolutely gorgeous 😊 and we were allowed to swim in it! We could get right up close and dive in off the rocks, the water was freezing but it was so fun!

Stop No. 6: THE MARKETS
Probably the cheapest place in all of Southern Africa to buy handmade bits and pieces so we made the most of it! The market was soooo big, we spent about two hours there and I didn't even get to the other end! It was fun trying to haggle at all the stalls and I bought some lovely (and v cheap!) things, but some of the ladies were a bit too pushy. Sometimes they would block your way out of their stall and start guilt-tripping about not having any money for food - awkward!

OK next stop after the Swazi Tour was a shuttle to Maputo, and I think I wrote about that before so I won't bore you with the details again. We only stayed in Maputo one night and then in the morning we had some visitors! Ben and Del from Swazi backpackers had been talking about coming with us to Maputo but we didn't see them that morning so assumed it was just one of those things you talk about and never do...but then they turned up! They'd hired a car, and we went to watch the football with them that night and told them we were going to go to Tofo the next day, and they offered to drive us there. We didnt think they'd keep to their word again, but sure enough when I woke up I heard a familiar voice going "erm do Samy and Linda stay here?" haha, so we got driven to Tofo and saved ourselves a good 500METS :D - good times :D.

TOFO

I already said what a beautiful place Tofo is, but I 'm gonna say it again. It really is like heaven on earth, and after seeing all the poverty and poor places right on it's doorstep in Mozambique I didn't think such a place could exist. It's sad in a way that they can't even it out a bit more to make everywhere as nice, and make things a bit fairer for the people here. No wonder a lot of them resent tourists.

My favourite thing about Tofo was a place called Waterworks - I can 't remember if I already mentioned it but it's a little cafe that does drinks and light meals and cold beer, and has hammocks and magazines and surfboard hire...it's seriously making me reconsider my acting career to open my own cafe :P

We spent most of our days either surfing or sleeping on the beach or swimming, or spending some time at the markets. When you get over all the people forcing you to buy things the markets are a lovely place to hang out - you get to see the people making eveyrthing and they're all really friendly and want to know more about you. We did make the mistake of accepting one lady's offer to braid our hair...it looked awful and we were highly overcharged, but it was funny. She 's a huuuuge lady and I had to sit down between her legs on a cloth, while she pulled (hard) on my head and ordered me to "fass" (hold) each plait as she did it. It was even scarier when I looked up to see another woman about 2 inches from my face - biting off the bits of cotton that were tying the braids! She only braided five plaits on one side of my head and one on the other side - it looked ridiculous but it was an experience!

On Sunday we found out that we would nt be able to do the ocean safari on tuesday coz the weather conditions looked too bad 😞 I was really disappointed, then Ben suggested we go diving instead. Scuba diving is verrrry expensive, but still a fraction of the price it would cost to do it anywhere else, and after a lot of umming and arring we decided just to go for it. I did the "Discover Scuba" course, which now means I'm certified for one third of my Open Water Qualification, so I can complete it when (yes when :P) I go to Thailand! We first had to watch a training video, and then changed into wetsuits and tried on our gear and practiced some techniques in the pool. I'll never forget the first breath I took underwater, it's so surreal! It feels scary at first, like you can't quite get enough air and it's very dry, and when you go deeper it feels like your head is going to implode, but they taught us ways to deal with that. We then had a break, and got on the boat for our sea dive. Now, I'd been told by the Waterworks people that diving was the perfect CURE for a hangover. They were right to some extent - once we were under the water we felt incredible...but they didn't warn me about the bit when the boat stops in the middle of the ocean and is rocking up and down...definite hamster cheeks situation! Haha, it was really scary too when you have to do that fall-back into the water, then they checked us over quickly and we had to hold onto a rope to go 10m down, to the Clownfish Reef. It was BEAUTIFUL, I've never seen anything like it and I can't wait to dive again. It honestly looked like the opening scene of Finding Nemo! Everywhere I looked there were coloured fish darting about, or anenomies or bright blue starfish :D. It took a little while to get used to the actual diving, like how to go up and down and closer to things without bashing into the coral, but it was one guide between two of us so it felt very safe. Some highlights were a giant catfish and a clam, and a stingray. Also, our guide kept pointing at this little hole but the current was strong so I couldnt get close enough, all I could see were little fish. In the end he pulled me closer and I jumped out of my skin when I looked through the whole and about 2 inches away was this huuuge puffer fish's eye!! The best thing by far though - our guide took us a bit off track compared to the rest, and as we were swimming looking down he pulled on my ponytail and pointed up. Above us was an enormous Manta Ray, about 6m, it was incredible!! Probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen - I had to remind myself to carry on breathing! It was scarily close but SO awesome. Apparently we were really lucky too - some people come to Tofo for 2 months, experienced divers doing three dives a day, just to try to see one of those and never do! I was kinda disappointed we didn't get to see a whale shark, but after that I really don't mind. 😊

The evenings in Tofo kinda blend into one, as we pretty much did the same thing every night. Fatima's Nest (the backpackers) is nicknamed the place that never sleeps, and it's true to it's name! The bar was buzzing every single night and didnt close until the last person left, which usually wasn't until about 6am! There was live music almost every night from Mozambican bands, and almost always a campfire going on the beach. We met new people every night, and really did have the best time 😊.

Our shuttle on Wednesday morning left at 4am, and originally we were going to go to bed early but when we realised we were still at the bar and it was 1am we just thought better of it and stayed up. Oooh funny story...back a month or so again when we visited St Lucia we met a Scottish guy called Dave. We hung out with him for a few hours that night, and just assumed we'd never see him again, but guess who pops up in Dino's Bar on our first night?? He works in Turtle Cove, doing ocean safaris - talk about coincidence. So he stayed up with us and so did Ben, then we did some sad goodbyes at 4am.

The shuttle dropped us at Marcia and from there we got a taxi to Bilene, which is where our bad luck started. By this point you can imagine we were very tired, and we'd seen two posters for this place in Bilene which has tented campsites and only costs 50R a night, so we couldnt wait to get there. We found a sign for it as soon as we got off the taxi so started walking with our rucksacks, but couldnt see it at all along the road. Finally right at the end of the lonnnng road we saw it's sign, then on closer inspection realised it said "only 2km this way" - arrrrgh!! We walked the stupid hilly dirt track and were so relieved when we got there - until on arrival we were greeted by a very jolly man who informed us that the posters we'd seen were in fact 10yrs old, the place is now a holiday resort and charges minimum 1500METS per person per night...as if that wasnt enough he also told us there a rent ANY backpackers in Bilene! By this point it was too late to get a taxi the rest of the way to Maputo, and the jolly man kindly asked one of his employees to drive us around to find a cheaper deal but to no avail. We managed to find the cheapest place in Bilene - a motel - but typically it was full! We were honestly starting to lose hope and were contemplating just tying our mossie nets to a tree and sleeping on the beach - when we saw a sign for a place called Complexico Palmeiras, which had a picture of a tent on it. When we got there he told us it was just chalets unless we had our own tent, but we pleaded and pleaded and mjustve looked so desperate that he rang someone to lend us a tent for two nights. It actually turned out fairly cheap, and the place was nice, but it's the two most uncomfortable night's sleeps I've ever had! We obviously hadnt planned for camping so had no ground sheets or sleeping bags or anything! Our bad luck didnt end there either haha, on the second day we were catching up on sleep on the beach, and we'd left our lunch (bread rolls from the market) and when we woke up a crow had eaten them all and spread them all over the beach! Thennnnn when we taxi's to Maputo today (the most cramped taxi ride in the world - wedged between rucksack and seat with oiver 25 people in the minibus, and Im not even exxagurating! And at one point he folded down the back of my seat to use as a chair for someone else so I just had to balance!) we got all the way to The Base Backpackers to find out it was full! Sooo frustrating! But all is well now, we're back at Fatimas and we're gonna have a nice last meal out tonight, catch up on the sleep we've missed for the last week, and leave for Manguzi in the morning. A very busy holiday and I've spent wayyy too much money, but I'll remember it for the rest of my life and I had the best time 😊 despite all the bad luck I'm very happy, at least it's funny memories!

Ooo I forgot a funny story - one night at Tofo I was in bed on the top bunk talking to Samy and Alvaro and there was a big crack sound, which sounded like one of the wooden bits from below my bed had fallen out. I started to climb down to see what had happened and the entire bed collapsed! It turned out I had only been balancing on one bit of wood that actually fitted the bed! Luckily there was no-one below me...it was hilarious :D.

Missing you all lots and hope everyone's OK...can't wait to get back to Ingwavuma on Sunday and look at all my post!!

All my love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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