maputo

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we arrived in mozambique in a rust bucket old mercedes. Since then it has been on the up swing. The journey from joburg took about 7 hours, which was not too bad. The border crossing was intense. First of all, all the people crossing going back to work after the holidays were impaitent, the heat and humidity made it like hell, the men with machine guns controlling the 10km long que (going towards south africa), the inefficency of the person who put the bloody visa in my passport. but, we arrived and had a nice drink at the closest bar and carried on to Clive ´s (friend of pauls uncle) mansion.
Thats where thge good stuff started.
He lives by himself in a 6 bedroom mansion. We have a queen sized bed ensuite bathroom, airconditioning, and a chef, and a maid. He doesn´t live in maputo but in a close suburb, so each morning on his way to work he drives us to the centre of maputo and says he´ll pick us up in the evening. life is GOOD!

Our first night back the chef was missing so we went out for seafood at the local expat hang out, the food left something to be desired, but it was all it took to knock us outcold for the night. YEsterday we explored maputo, looking in vain for the canadian embassy (i might need a new passport, it seems the smaller the country the bigger the visa and I´m quickly running out of pages) we found the tanzania embassy and are going to apply for our visa today. $50 usd each and two pictures..... oiy.

Last night after we were picked up, Clive spotted the chef on the road so we picked him up and brought him home with us, we had clams, fish, salad and chips for dinner. and some sort of omelte for breakfast. I can´t complain, thje food is excellent, and he only speaks portugese like most of the people here.

Funny enough, portugese doest sound at all like spanish and I rely on hand signs, pen and paper and my small phrase book. A few people speak english but certainly not as many as in mexico.....

Maputo lives up to its latin feel, the music is awesome, the food is great and for those who are wondering how long it tookus to be eating prawns it was 2 hours after arrival and the enormus bag of cashews we bought inthe after noon yesterday for 130,000 metacais which apparenty was a rip off.

The current exchange rate is $25,000 mt to the usd. And most things are reasonably priced, yesterday we spent $30 between us on food, film and misc.

Today the misson is to change travelers cheques so we can have some usd to buy the tanzania visa with and to get that, to takethe ferry across the bay to a place called catembe to eat more prawns.

Tomorrow morning we are goingto try to get to xai xai (shy shy) a place with aq beach so we can relax in hammocks inthe hot partofthe day and swim inthe ocean.

Its really hot and humid here, I think about 35º c and as humid as it can get. air con is welcomed but I´m afraid the tent won´t be as welcoming as the luxury of both joburg and the mansion.

I´m pretty sure that the internet connection is too slow to load a picture but I´m going to try.

happy new year añd a belated merry christmas to everyone. thanks for all the messages keep em comming

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Comments

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Enjoy Mozambique
How fortunate you both are to have had a ride to Maputo with Clive. I am amazed that after over 20 years of Civil War in Mozambique and over 30 years since the Portuguese pulled out of the country that Airconditioning, is availabble in aprivate home, in one of the poorest countries in the World. Enjoy the magnificent beaches and your trip through Mozambique. I hope you are able to visit one of the magnificent close to the shaw, fish watching reefs. Enjoy the Prawns - hope you try prawns peri peri. Much love Colleen

[johnb]

Obrigado !
Enjoy the Latino-cum-Portuguese atmosphere, prawns, cashews.....you lucky folk, the Batwell's in Jhb.

[deleted_9521]

Prawns, sun and surf!
I am jealous! I bet there are at least 50 different recipes for prawns. See if you can collect some local spices and we will have go go at making some of the recipes you collect. I think that $5.00 usd is a good price for a big bag of cashews. I also think that you may want to run back the the mansion for a/c and the comforts. Kinda hard to forget when you are sweltering in a tent. Speaking of tent..did you get it sufficiently repaired? Erin sends her love and can't wait to see you in Spain. I send you my love, hugs and kisses...this much.

[philip]

mozambique
hi guys - keep the journals coming and send me over some of those cashews - they don't grow very well here in ontario, y'know. i'll say a big obrigado, have you seen many bicycles? i have hooked up with this org to do some worthy work in the future: http://www.bicycles-for-humanity.org/ est. by a bicicletta customer. take care - think of the mangrove swamps that made way for prawns ;) p.

[Shelagh and Tim]

Happy New Year
Hi Luc and Paul, sending best wishes from Whonnock to you both and loved reading about the chef and mansion, not to mention the maid, lide is good. We are getting back into the rut after holiday and look forward to reading your adventures, sounds so exciting envy abounds here. happy trails.

[Mary (Mamie)]

If Only
If only......I started out to wax eloquent, but having just undergone total sedation for a root canal in Victoria, my thinking is slightly skewed, somehow. Shall I say, "If only......I were there with you?" Or "If only mozzies were there but didn't bite", or "If only money really did grow on trees and passports were their fruits", or some such good wishes. Sorry, Lucienne, that's the best I can do. Our monsoon rains wish your monsoon rains much brotherly love and comraderie. Ciao! love from Mamie