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!