Mozambique, More on Mango

The first night I was on couch duty and it turned out to be quite nice compared to my wooden plank of a bed at UB. That, combined with the fact that I got privacy and didn't get as eaten up as the others by mosquitoes, meant that I was happy with the couches. As I said earlier we rushed out to the beach. In order to do this we had to walk up a rickety set of wooden stairs surrounded by thick jungle scrub and onto the top of a dune, where the reception/bar/restaurant was located. This was a wide open wooden and cement structure with a palm thatched roof and comfortable chouches and chairs overlooking the fantastic view of the ocean. Two or three resident dogs lazed around alternating between the sun and sand and the cool wooden floorboards. We hardly took note of this though as we were too busy running down the steep slope of the dune to the water. The waves were strong here too, but not as strong as they were in Xai Xai. We had just as much fun though, and this time no one got injured. The boys went quite far out, and I went further into the water than before. It didn't get deep exactly, but rather there were trenches in the sand and the heaving of the waves was constantly changing the depth. As we were to find out later, at low tide, it's very lucky the boys didn't go any further than they did because this part of the beach was lined with razor sharp rocks. After swimming we explored the beach for a while. It was hard packed (at that time) white sand with huge dunes outlining the whole shore. Resorts, restaurants, and dive shops were all built on top of the dunes and some of them had tall rickety stairs that you had to climb to get to them which seemed somewhat less than sturdy at times. The market we passed through when we arrived was about a 20 minute walk along the beach. There were exciting shells and bit of washed up ocean life all over the beach (which I never got tired of investigating. Cuddle fish bones are fun!) We opted not to eat the gourmet dinner at Mango that night, but instead headed back to our chalet to fix our own dinner and commence drinking. The drinking jenga came out and we played for a long time because, despite the inebriation, we were getting good at it. Diana is a fighter when she gets drunk and she picked a fight with Matt and started wailing on him.

We had decided on bed rotation, since there was one big comfy bed in one room, two single beds in the other, and two couches. I was on couch patrol that night, which was fine with me. Since on the bathroom wall actually reached the thatched ceiling all the rooms were basically connected so that our conversations carried on long after everyone had actually gone to bed. It was a good start to our time at Mango.

Mozambique, the Tofo Chapter

That night in Xai Xai at Casa Ericka was a crazy night. We played Drunk Jenga, which is just regular jenga with drinking games written on each piece. When a player succesfully pulls and places the piece the game on it must be played. We added a few of our own to spice it up, including some improv games.
The next day was a little slow going, but we left Xai Xai and drove another five or six hours up the coast to Tofo. Once again the ocean disapeared and we drove through miles of hilly countryside filled with palm trees and villages. Towards the far end of the trip we were running low on gas and filling stations were hard to find. Each one we did locate only had diesel and we began to panic. All of the girls were pretty much planning on cheering on the guys as they pushed the combi the final miles to Tofo beach. Finally, oh finally, just outside Tofo, we found a filling stations with gasoline. It was also the only ATM for several towns, and la ti da, it did not accept my debit card. TIA.
When we pulled into Tofo we drove through a small and very colorful beachside marketplace. There were bunches of small stands with tin roofs selling food, booze, soda, trinkets, and freshly cooked meat. We decided to stock up on booze and chasers while we waited for Mike (a mysterious guy from Mango Beach, our resort) to come and find us and take us to the resort in his 4WD vehicle. There was no way the combi was going to make it through the deep sand roads. A few yards out from the marketplace was the main beach area and it was crowded with both locals and tourists. The sand was white, the Indian Ocean was warm, and the palm trees were gorgeous. We knew we had come to the right place. Mike did show up in good time and he turned out to be an eye-patch wearing German with blond cornrows ending in a tight braid. He had copious amounts of beaded bracelets on his thick arms and an even thicket German accent. I immediately wanted my picture taken with him, perhaps posing with the thumbs up. Or better yet, myself doing a handstand on his shoulders while he swallowed fire and dolphins jumped in the background. *Sigh*
Mike loaded us and all of our baggage into the back of his pickup truck and we started the bouncy ride to Mango. The road was deep sand and lined with tall palm trees. We left the busy marketplace and beach behind and drove into a palm forest. There were groups of houses and cheerful kids waving at us. There were also goats. All in all, the view from the back of the truck was great, so we figured the view from our oceanside resort could only get better. We were right.
Mango Beach was, again, the furthest resort down the beach, and consisted of a dozen or more little houses with plam thatched roofs, cement floors, and electricity from 5 pm to 10 pm. In our little house there were two couch beds in a living room, two larger bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a porch. Each bed had its own mosquito netting. It was the perfect sized place for six foreign exchange students spending a week on the beach. We dropped our stuff off and changed into our swim suits, ready to charge the beach again.

Mozambique, The Third

After we left Maputo we drove to the coast, heading up to a place called Xai Xai (Shy-Shy). The drive took about five or six hours and we passed through countryside with villages built into hills, plam trees with slots cut into them for climbing, and lots of extremely-poor looking towns. We stopped at a grocery store on the way to stock up on food and had to search around for a while to find what we needed, or even what we recognized. People, let me tell you know, stop your whining about the poor quality of food available in the US. Yes, we're no Tuscany bistro, but we're also not Mozambique, so shut up and be happy about US grocery stores.

Anyway, we drove for a long time and saw no ocean. Apparently we were getting close to Xai Xai, and there were mountainous dunes everywhere. We always thought the ocean would be over the next dune...but it wasn't. It was over the next dune and through the town. Our trusty combi navigated down some steep sandy hills and at last we could see the Indian Ocean, flanked by huts and resorts and colorful looking people. Needless to say we all had our noses pressed up against the windows. We drove for a while longer along a sand road. There was thick scrub on either side of us, so we really couldn't see where we were going. We eventually began to lose hope that the combi would A) make it through the sand and B) find Casa Ericka, our resort. Turns out Casa Ericka was the furthest resort down the beach. It did not disappoint. The resort was a series of little housed built high up on wooden stilts rising out of a jungle. A wide strip of white sand beach lead to the ocean, which was pounded by powerful waves. Friendly beach dogs came and greeted us, along with the obligatory merchants who crowded around trying to sell us things. Compared to the merchants elsewhere, who surrounded the bus the moment it stopped, we were able to ditch these guys pretty quickly. We got our room key from the bar/reception area and climbed a steep sandy hill to our "house". A little dachshund followed us and appeared to be not at all phased by the climb. Inside, we had a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and three bedrooms. There was also a wraparound deck overlooking the ocean and the surrounding jungle. In short, it was perfect. After we dropped our stuff off the first order of business was changing into our swim suites and high tailing it for the beach. The boys jumped head first into the waves, which were strong enough to grab you and throw you around like a rag doll. Diana and I hung back a little and chased the waves as they went out and ran from them as they came in. I had a good time standing out as far as I dared and seeing how much wave power I could stand up in. At one point Diana made the poor choice of starting a water fight and we became to engrossed that we didn't notice the gigantic wave speeding toward us until it was too late. It was like one of those cartoons where Coyote doesn't see the oncoming train until a second before it hits him and his eyes getting really big and his mouth drops open. Well that's what happened, and the wave ripped our feet out from under us and spun us completely upside down before dragging us along with it up the beach. We were covered in sea water and sand and a little smashed up, but it was thrilling none the less. The boys, who had witnessed the whole thing, thought it was quite hilarious. Later on, a big wave caught them up and Zach ended up colliding painfully with Diana's shin. After that, it was time to call it an evening and go up to the bar for some dinner.

Mozambique The Sequel (2)

The fish market in Maputo is where all the fresh catches are brought, including some live crustaceans. It is an area with dirt ground a tin roof and rows and rows of tables with the fresh catches. The ground is puddled with...blood...and...stuff....and scales, and there are rats. Still, for fish lovers this is the place to be. Through the fish market it an open area of restaurants, each with a kitchen waiting for people to take their freshly bought fish for preparation. We didn't exactly know how the system works, so we foolishly listened to the pushiest merchant/kitchen guy who took us to his kitchen. Other kitchen people came over and tried to take us to their places and pretty soon a fight broke out, threatening violence. In order to avoid bloodshed we quickly sat down at a table. Matt went and picked out two kinds of fish I'd never heard of and we ordered some plates of rice to go with it, having been assured that the rice was complimentary with the fish. We also ordered some drinks and tried to be patient but we were all pretty hungry. After being in a dry desert country seafood sounded like ambrosia and honey. Food of the gods, in other words. At one point Matt and Chris went to go inquire about how our food was coming along and we were invited to venture into the back of the restaurant (I use that term very loosely) and see the chef preparing the fish. It was very dark and sooty, with a huge barrel full of scales and guts, and our fish was being seared over and open fire. It was all very impressive.

When we finally got our food it was magnificent, and the rice was extremely tasty to match. We stuffed ourselves on fresh fish. After the meal things got complicated. The bill. It sucked. They tried to double charge us for our drinks and then they wanted to charge us for six plates of rice (there were three) even though we had been assured the rice was complimentary. I was not going to stand for this shit, so we got into a shouting match about it. Eventually the price was lowered to two plates of rice (or was it three?) and then the cost of fish preparation. It definitely left a sour taste in our mouths and was a sobering reminder that we were white tourists to be taken advantage of, not hungry restaurant goers in search of a good meal. TIA.

Going back through the now darkened and empty market place we saw some BIG rats. It was scary.

After dinner we decided to check out one of the local bars. It was a sports bar and looked more upscale and therefore less creepy. There were flatscreen TV's broadcasting the rugby world cup everywhere, so the boys were happy. We did some shots, including one called 'Pixie Dust' which involved tequila and absinthe. After the bar we went back and crashed into our beds at the Base. The next day we left in the morning for Xai Xai and Casa Ericka!

Mozambique Numero Uno

On Friday Mumsy left to go back home (a lot of flying involved) and I left for Mozambique. However, on Thursday night I left my purse with my waller, phone, and keys in the back of my friend Diana's car and I didn't realize it until I was standing in front of my door. Well luckily I had left a spare key with my friend Alexis, so I was able to get into my room. Once in I pulled my closet key out of it's hiding place and was able to access that stuff. Then, I completely panicked. I had no way to reach Diana and she had all my stuff. How could I go to Mozambique without my wallet? I barely slept and I just fussed and worried myself into a heap. By morning I remembered that Diana had once written down her phone number in my notebook, so I borrowed my friend Brooke's phone and called her. Diana dropped off my purse, and life continued. We had agreed to meet in the courtyard at 10 am, which was also the time the combi we hired was supposed to arrive. Because this is Africa, he arrived at 11.30 and had no directions or clear idea of our trip. He also had his girlfriend. Lesh and Tulu were their names, and despite a rocky start, they turned out to be pretty cool. It was a vacation for them too, and they were clearly in vacation mode. With the help of GPS we got under way and withint a half hour had arrived at the Botswana/South Africa border. Crossing was a pain in the neck, but we all got more stamps in our passports at least. Driving through South Africa was stunning- rolling hills and mountains, little towns nestled here and there, big cities, flat expanse of bush, and nice paved roads. It took us all day to drive through SA and we began to get worried that the border between SA and Mozambique would be closed before we got there. Because we started late we were more than a little irked with Lesh. As it turns out the Mozambique border is open 24/7 for the month of September only, so even though we arrrived around 11.30 we got through. As we were driving through the big gates there were security guards doing vehicle checks. We saw some guy open up the back of a van filled to bursting with supplies (there were a lot of vehicles like this) and hop in. The guard didn't notice him. TIA. We drove some more and finally arrived in Maputo around 2 am. The place we stayed at was called Base Backpackers and was a cozy little hostel. It had a small TV room, four dormitories, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a balcony, and a basement. We all trudged into the dormitory we were sharing and fell into bed immediately. Because there was no bedding provided other than sheets and a gross pillow, I was very glad of the sleeping bag mumsy had kindly bought for me before I left.
In the morning we discoverd a frenchman and bedbugs.

The whole next day we explored the city of Maputo. It is the capital of Moz, and located in the south of the coastal country. It is an exciting mixture of artsy, poor, high end, tropics, and Africa. Quite a change from dusty little Gabs! The people speak Portuguese and it is a lot more European than Gabs. However, no one in Mozambique knew what or where Botswana was...eventually Lesh ended up telling them it was in the States and people would nod and go along with it. Now the thing you need to know about Maputo (and Mozambique in general) is that the cops are very corrupt and will charge you for anything just so they can get a bribe. Lesh had to bribe his way out of a ticket for not wearing his seatbelt; he had been wearing it, and only took it off when the cops pulled us over and told him to. We were warned to always carry our passports with us, or run the risk of being thrown in jail.
Aside from all this, Maputo was gorgeous! We wandered around town, marveled at the site of a body of water, and explore the weekend craft market. Craft markets in Moz are much different than Bots (of course) and so all the items for sale were new and exciting. The merchants were pretty crazy though. We couldn't stand still without being surrounded by people insisting we buy things from them. Two or three of the merchants were so persitant that they followed us out of the market and down the street. We managed to shake off one who was selling a ugly wooden mobile, but another, with batique cloth, followed us all around the city! It was so rediculous! He only stopped when the cops pulled him over. We really hope they didn't end up beating him...
We ate lunch at cool little cafe overlooking some tennis courts in the park. We found it by following a colorful mosaic on a cement retaining wall. It was a good find. After lunch some of us had money problems to sort out. Only two of the six of us had remembered to call our banks and tell them we were travelling. No one would exchange pula for medicaish (the local currency) and so were stuck. Luckily one of us, Matt, had some US dollars to change, so he bought us time at an internet cafe where we used my unlimited skype calling to reach our banks and our families. It was a hassle, and took hours, but eventually it all got sorted out. With money in hand we got ready for dinner at the famous fish market. That, however, you will have to read about in my next post because I am running out of quota time for my blog. Until next time!

The Rest of Mom's Visit to Bots

It was still pretty early and we didn't want to end the day there, so after a refresher at UB we called a cab to take us to Riverwalk. Our plan was to get there, eat some Debonairs, and then catch an 8.15 movie, but apparently our cab driver had no idea where Vegas dorms are, so he was 40 minutes late. His name is Brenda and he is smarmy. We really don't like him. Anyway, when we got to Riverwalk it was getting close to movie time but we thought that we just might make ordering food, gobbling it up, and getting in. Well, food took longer and since we had ordered a large pizza it wasn't exactly like trying to sneak in a can of soda or a bag of chips. The lady at Debonairs helpfully sped up our order when we told her our dilemma. The fact of the matter was, though, that we would either have to sit down and eat and miss some of the movie, or find a way of sneaking a large pizza into the movie theatre. All three of us were game for the latter. Debonairs lady brought us a paper bag and helped us fold our piping hot and fresh pizza in two and stuff it in. In effect, we had created a big pizza sandwich, all of which was oozing greasy, cheesy goodness into Mom's new purse. We made it in though, and sat down and ate our pizza sandwich in the dark while enjoying our movie.

On Monday I went to my morning class, ARC, and then head right back to Innisfree. I had booked a safari trip at Mokolodi for mom and I in the afternoon and I wanted to make sure that we would get there on time. Batsi had said the best way to get there without having to walk to mile to the gate was via taxi, so we called our favorite driver. Mokolodi is a bit of a drive outside of the main city of Gabs, but the drive is very scenic. One can get a good sense of the Botswana countryside, which is all bush. After we arrived we only had to wait around for a short while until our vehicle and our guide arrived. There was just one other person on our safari tour, a Canadian businessman named Neil. It was a little odd to be riding as a tourist in the place I logged so many leaf raking hours. We saw a lot of great critters! Giraffes (they were very shy), antelope, wildebeest, a monitor lizard, ostriches, kudu, warthogs, Letoatsi my cheetah friend, and some of the stars of Mokolodi, a white rhino and her two month old calf. They came pretty close to the vehicle and we managed to get great photos. While we were watching the rhinos our guide parked the vehicle and passed out bags of chips and drinks. Mom and I both discovered the deliciousness that is Appletizer, otherwise known as sparkling apple juice. Yum! Still, after the excitement of the game drive and the heat of the day we decided to have another tasty meal...somehow the single bag of chips just didn't cut it. I had been talking up Equatorial Cafe so much so Mom suggested we go there. We did and shared a meal so that we would conveniently have room for the delicious ice cream over at Milky Lane. Good planning on our part, I say. After dinner we wanted to continue our night, but since we had just seen a movie the night before and there really wasn't anything to do at night in Gabs besides drink we decided to go back to UB and watch a movie in my room. I put on 'Death at a Funeral' because it's a classic and Mumsy hadn't seen it before. After the movie we said goodnight and so ended another exciting day in Africa.

On Tuesday morning I got a ride over to Innisfree from my friend Diana and she suggested that Mom and I check out Botswana Craft. It sounded like a great idea so we called a cab (Brenda, the smarmy one. Our usual guy wasn't working) and headed over. Botswana Craft is a building full of handmade crafts from all over Botswana. There is everything from San/Bushman jewelry made from ostrich egg shell beads, to wooden animal carvings, to biltong (which is basically beef jerkey), to postcards, to the beautiful handwoven baskets that are so famous around here. We took our time browsing and soon each of us had accumulated quite the pile. I found a lot of gifts for friends and family, as well as some pretty things for myself. Mom was really fascinated by the baskets and we looked through what felt like hundreds of them trying to find the prettiest pattern and the best weave. They came in all sizes, a range of shapes, and used beautiful earth tones. It turns out that in order to gather the ingredients needed for basketry the women make a three day trek into the wilderness and often come face to face with dangerous animals. In one instance, while crossing a rive with a group of women, one of them was bitten by a crocodile. Everyone fled except her sister who had the presence of mind to beat the croc on the head with an axe until it released her.

After made our numerous purchases were had worked up quite an appetite so we went to the little tea garden which adjoined the store for lunch and some cool drinks. The food and the service were excellent, and it was extremely pleasant to sit and catch a breeze and look at the gardens. Incidentally, it was the same place I had been to for a concert months before. We called our cab and went back to Innisfree after lunch and I, being a genious with a mind like a steel trap, left my phone in the back of the car. I discovered this when Mom and I wanted to order Debonairs for supper. Fortunately the front desk was able to call the driver and arrange for him to drop it off. We were also able to use the room phone to order a pizza. So I got my phone (Brenda, the smarmy, wheedled and tried to get more money out of us), we ate our food, and then we went back to Mokolodi for a night time game drive. We had had such a fantastic time on the day drive that we wanted to experience the other end of the spectrum too. This time it was just us and we were drastically under dressed for the chilly night. Our guide drove us slowly along and we were surprised to come upong a large male kudu right on the trail fairly early on. He was unconcerned about our vehicle and took him time ambling away. After that we didn't see much except for some thick knee birds, a couple of night jars, and some hares. We came across antelope and hartbeest eventually, and even saw a small herd of eland! Eland are rare in Mokolodi. Letoatsi was hiding for the night, but one of the resident hyenas was napping near the fence and so we got a good look at him. Most of the time we just saw glowing green eyes peering out at us from the bush. It was cold, so so cold. Nonetheless, we had a beautiful drive and were happy to see the stars in the clear night sky. Success!

On Wednesday Mom came over in a cab to UB and hung out in my room on the computer while I did some much needed laundry and a few other tasks around campus. I bought her a papata so that she could experience the deliciousness! We decided to spend our morning and afternoon exploring the National Museum, which was conveniently located nearby. It's a free museum and has good exhibits (if a little dusty and worn) on the natural and social history of Botswana. There is a good bit on the ecology of modern Botswana as well. I have so far found two taxidermied hedgehogs there. They are Phin's cousins alright, but he is much more handsome. Outside there are a few of the round huts with thatched roofs called rondavals, well as a dried up pond. One drinking fountain completes the ensemble. We were disappointed not to be able to find the gift shop, and a little more disappointed that the art gallery was apparently closed, but we rallied gamely and walked over to Main Mall. Mother is a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith's No 1 Ladies series, so I took her to one of the places often written about in the books. Mma Remostwe, the main character, likes to sit at the President Hotel and drink tea, so that is exactly what we did...except we drank Appletizer and ate sandwiches instead. There was a big read sign reading “Mma Remostsww Tea Corner”. We were very pleased. The view looked out over the hustle and bustle of Main Mall; street vendors, music, shops, and crowds. It is a good place to people watch. We left lunch and went to join the throngs and made our way through the street, stopping occasionally. We decided to go back to Game City after this excursion and once there we were both parched from waiting in the scorching sun for a cab. Mumsy suggested getting a cold drink and we spotted a cool looking coffee shop on the second floor, so we headed up. It's called Mugg & Bean and we soon discovered that both the food and drinks are especially delicious. I got a surgary iced coffee drink, something I sorely missed, and mom got a fruity drink which was very creamy and full of chunks of real fruit. So good! When we sipped the last drops from our drinks we made our way to the theatre to see “Crazy Stupid Love”...again. I enjoyed every minute of it, and I think mom did too. The movie took us right up to dinner time, so we high tailed it back to Mugg & Bean for more tasty food. On the menu we saw that they had fajitas. This sounded good to us, so we ordered some to share and some more of the fruity shake. The waitress was very pleasant and took our order for “fa-jee-tas”. TIA. Just thinking about that dinner now makes me hungry! I wonder when I can go back and get more...Too bad mom won't be there too.

On Thursday I went over to Innisfree and we decided to head back to Riverwalk and take care of a few errands. We made the rounds to Pick n' Pay, Cape Union (Mom bought me a wonderful sleeping bag!), Woolworth's, Mr. Price, and Exclusive Books. We spent a long time and a lot of money in the book store. One of the books mom bought was Cry of the Kalahari by Mark and Delia Owns. I am currently reading it and loving every page. I highly recommend it if you are at all interested in the wildlife of Botswana/Africa! When we had finally exhausted the mall mom suggested oh-so-casually that we go back to Botswana Craft. Needless to say, I did not argue. We arrived happened to meet up with our favorite cabby right away (he was already at Riverwalk) and we happily made our way to Botswana Craft. I bought a pair of earrings I had been thinking about, and one or two more gifts. Mom enquired about the history and culture behind a beautiful wooden nativity she had bought there before. We again browsed the baskets, and this time we were armed with a book about them. After shopping we went back to the tea garden. Mom decided to go local and be brave and ordered oxtail soup. It was served with an enormous dumpling- larger than a baseball! We had some refreshing seasonal juice and were all in all quite pleased with ourselves. While waiting for a cab back we goofed around taking photos by the fighting zebra sculptures out front.

Back at Innisfree I collapsed face first on the bed and was asleep instantly. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was. After my little nap Mom and I made plans for our last evening together. We contacted my friend Diana to see if she wanted to have dinner with us and we agreed to meet her at an Indian restaurant at Riverwalk. Because we had some hours to kill we went back to our favorite place, the movie theatre, and saw 'Friend With Benefits' for the second time. Again, we liked it just as much the second time around. How can you go wrong with Justin Timberlake? When the movie was over we still had some time on our hands so we sat on the comfy couches outside of the theatre and chatted. Now I am all excited about the new Three Musketeers movie coming out. When we got bored of sitting we got up and very slowly took care of some window shopping. Woolworths is very entertaining for mom! Finally it was time for dinner and we went to Embassy, the Indian restaurant. The food there is always good and the menu has a lot of selection. Mom and I always decide to order several dishes and split them because it is just too hard to pick on. Plus, as Matt knows, I have abulia and can't make decisions. Diana joined us and together we ordered a magnificent feast! We also have very quality conversation and as dinner wore on I tried not to think about saying goodbye. That time came in the end, of course, and Diana helpfully gave us a ride to Innisfree. Mom and I hugged and said goodbye many times. I was annoyed that the security guard was hanging around creepily outside. When I left at last I asked him, “So, you watching me?” He said yes and started to say something else slimy, but I said, “No one cares, you're creepy,” and left. Diana gave me a ride home and that was that. Mom and I had a really fantastic week together and did so much it's all a whirlwind! I had to have her send me the notes she jotted down in her cool guinea fowl notebook just so that I could remember it all. African holidays with mom are the best!