4:35pm
Mozambique was exquisite. It truly, truly was. During the planning of this beach get away (sorry to all those in the snow right now), I had apprehensions that 7 days was too long to spend at a beach. I’m not your typical sun worshiper. Spending hours baking in the sun sounds painful, because my now slightly darker than neon white skin fries in the African sun. Plus, I get bored. Nonetheless, my friends were psyched for this retreat and I was ready for a long break from Swaziland. Ocean-ward ho!!
The first night of our adventure got us just to the northern border of Swaziland were we crashed with our amazing PCV friends, the Goldens. I had made it up there a day early to discuss the library project with Brooke, who is my partner in the Books for Swaziland project. Once the rest of the vacationing crew, 7 of us in total at this point in the trip, arrived at their homestead the holiday officially began! The Goldens’ part of Swaziland is much different than my dry bushveld area. They live on top of a plateau that makes up the northern part of the Lebombo Mountains, which run down the eastern border of Swaziland. They get a lot more rain, the vegetation is drastically different, and a cool ocean breeze can be felt. A few of the guys and I even explored a waterfall, which was only a 45 minute walk away! Gorgeous. On clear days they can even catch glimpses of the ocean and the city of Maputo, our first destination in Mozambique.
With the wonderful directions given by the Goldens, as well as a small lift from their Babe to the main road in the back of his truck, we took public transport to the Lomahasha/Namaacha border gate. There we had to wait while some of our friends got their visas, since the Embassy in Mbabane was closed for the holidays and did not open on the day posted. They had to pay a LOT more at the border, but Ali and I tried to decide if that would have been better (see Black Friday Fiasco blog entry). On Mozambique soil we jumped into the back of a truck that took us to the small bus rank. Already we noticed major differences in this neighboring country. Portuguese was spoken and not English, buildings were still touched by the remembrance of Portuguese design and art, flowers were grown to sell, and the most striking difference for us was the adherence to the concept of a line or queue. We are so used to being trampled on and fighting for a seat on public transportation that when a line started forming behind us while waiting for a khumbi, we all were shocked and awed. We thought surely this was just a trick of our minds and tried to get on the khumbi as fast as humanly possible when it arrived. Most of the people >laughed at us and the order was actually kept!! Oh the first of many wonders of Mozambique!! :-)
The port city of Maputo is much larger than any of the “cities” in Swaziland. Mozambique’s very violent history is apparent on the tattered and damaged facades on many of the buildings. These post war-zone buildings present the perfect foil to the malls, cinemas, and restaurants that are being built next door. As on any other PCV vacation, the first objective after dropping our stuff at a backpackers is showers and good FOOD!! Gelato was our target, but was sadly closed. Plan B (which was actually what we were going to do anyway after Plan A) was Thai food. We then perused a craft market before deciding it would behoove us to get some sleep before the 5:30am transport the following morning.
The vehicle that pulled up in front of Fatima’s Backpackers was a strange hybrid between a mini-bus and a khumbi. Plus, it had cases of alcohol under every seat and some under the aisle seats! Transporting passengers isn’t the only source of income for this driver it seemed. With the 7 of us and another foreign couple there were still about 8 seats vacant. To remedy this, the driver pulled into the Maputo bus rank and there we sat for over an hour waiting for the remaining seats to be filled. Transport doesn’t seem to work unless full in Africa, and in Mozambique that means people are hanging out of the doors. Luckily, ours didn’t have to get this full … well, until our return trip to Maputo.
Notable observations on these trips include that mangos, coconuts, pineapple, and papaya grow wild like weeds in Mozambique; rural houses are rarely made with concrete blocks, like in Swaziland, but instead are constructed using thin poles bound vertically with thatched roofing; and to indicate that you can buy cashews (not grown in Swaziland but abundant here) multiple white, plastic grocery bags are tied to branches, poles, or signs like eerie, ghost, cashew banners. The landscape is so much greener and denser in Mozambique. Even though it was raining most of the trip, which kept us cooler, the scenery was beautiful. Six hours on this road running parallel to the coast delivered us to the paradise known as Tofo.
We rented a house up on a small cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean about a 4 minute walk from the beach!!! Fan-frickin’-tastic! It was up a flight of 92 steps (I don’t remember who counted them) and was divided into three sections. The center section was a large kitchen and dining area with a thatched covered deck of about the same dimensions. On either side of this building were mirrored, identical 2-bedroom 1-bathroom buildings. Sans the stealthy, silent mosquitoes (we all left with limbs looking like small pox was back in vogue) the deck was by far our favorite spot. Coming in a close second was a tie between the showers (running water amazes us :-P) and the kitchen, which quickly turned into a seafood experiment lab. Some nights we got dolled up and went out to the restaurants which obviously catered to the tourists, but a few nights we rolled up our sleeves (if not still in our bathing suites), bought seafood at the market which came in that day from the boats (and hopefully didn’t have too many flies buzzing about it), had a cocktail… or two, and attempted to figure out the anatomy and culinary secrets of prawns, barracuda, and squid!! I can proudly report that every single one of our dinners was a huge success, even better than a couple experiences at the restaurants! Mmmm…. seafood.
It seemed that we picked the perfect time to vacation at Tofo. The beach was practically clear of tourists, which were in abundance just over a week before during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Heavy rains were predicted for every day of our vacation, but other than rain on the trip there and morning showers the first full day, we had clear, sunny skies. Most in our group, which grew as other PCVs from Swaziland joined at different parts during the time there, enjoyed reading, laying on the beach, swimming in the unbelievably warm waters, walking the coast, and/or renting body boards. Brandon and I enjoyed these things, but also had other plans for our vacation. We signed up for the 4 day course to get PADI certified as scuba divers!!! It was the best decision I could have made. The first day, which happened to be the only rainy one, we had book work to do and movies to watch. By the time we emerged from the classroom the skies were sunny and swimminga was the only logical action. The next day we spent hours in a pool learning all the practical skills necessary to avoid issues when underwater. The most interesting fact I learned that day was that I don’t use much air! Our instructor was shocked when I reported, using the newly learned hand motions, the amount of air left in my tank. No one can accuse me of being full of hot air (sorry, lame joke :-P).
On the third and forth days, we dove four different times. Clownfish Reef, Mike’s Cabinet, and Simon’s Town were the names of our underwater destinations (don’t ask me who gets to name them). There truly were completely different worlds hidden just a short distance from our beach house. Being in “class” we had to perform a few tasks underwater first. I HATE taking my mask off, and we had to do it every single time! After those were completed, though, we got to go hang with our underwater friends. By the way, Nemo says “hi”. :-P We saw moray eels, different colored star fish, barracuda, lion fish, baby reef sharks, sting rays, crocodile fish, octopus, spotted box fish, and a whole bunch of brightly colored, beautiful fish I could appreciate but not identify. On the surface, after we completed our final task of the course, we were congratulated for being officially certified and then slapped the water, which I am now convinced is the cool scuba diver’s clap. :-P Before the final day of our trip we convinced Laura, who has previously certified, to take a review course so we could dive together on our last day in Tofo. It was all amazing, and I am now addicted. :-) If I happen to have any friends who are scuba divers out there, LET ME KNOW!! I’m thinking there are some sunken ships I want to explore and underwater adventures to plan.
As a huge group of PCVs, we went on an “Ocean Safari”. This meant we were all given flippers, masks, and snorkels and then tooled around the ocean for 2 ½ hours. This area off the coast is known for the whale sharks, but sadly they were nowhere to be found that day. Instead, we got to swim with dolphins! Someone would spot them jumping and the boat would get as close as it could. We would then get the signal from our guide to slip off the side of the boat and start swimming! I got so close to them. Most of the time they would let us tail them for a while and then decide we were too much of nuisance. At that point they would simply dive down out of our reach and we would hop back onto the boat. It was a fun experience to say the least!
The trip was so good for my physical and mental health! I did get a bit of sun, read a couple books, threw the Frisbee, and didn’t felt bored for even one second! Our trip back through Maputo was just as fun. We went through the markets and bought some beautiful fabrics (with my sewing skills they will probably all turn into tablecloths!!). A few of us die hard seafood lovers went to the Maputo-famous Fish Market. There we walked by stalls and stalls of different fish, spitting clams, lobsters, pots of raw prawns, and crates of live crabs! We picked out some barracuda and a few pounds of the active crabs. From there we went to the other side of the market where about 8 different kitchens circled an area of picnic tables. As with ever business transaction in Mozambique, we bartered for the price of cooking the seafood and then sat down at a table with a draft Lorientina, a Mozambique beer. Soooo delicious, sooooo fun, and a perfect way to end an amazing vacation!
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