Sunday, June 19, 2005

Mozambique

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Mozambique trip was not planned at all. Due to a constant rain and cold weather in Cape Town I have decided to escape north for few days. After looking into few options, the only available flights to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.

Upon arrival, the customs process was very slow and unprofessional, what to expect from an ex communist country. The Mozambican Immigration officer took my passport and I had to wait for about an hour for a visa stamp. Lonely Planet recommends Fatima’s Backpackers in the city centre, so I decided to check it out. Fatima’s son picked us up at the airport and dropped us at the hostel. The hostel was very clean, people were friendly and beer was cold, I guess a world travellers dream. I had few beers at the hostel terrace chatting away with other travellers. It was too late for sight seeing so we stayed.

Malaria is sort of a big scare here in Mozambique. I covered myself completely with the mosquito repellents. All beds in the hostel had netting. It was pretty scary stuff and reminded me of a Travelocity TV commercial when a couple was shopping online for a vacation.


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Anyway, the next morning I took a long walk along the city centre streets, bought some awesome carved wood art and had some pizza. The streets were packed with street artists, fruit vendors and the one can hear Creole music everywhere. It felt like I was in Martinique for a minute. One of the funny things I’ve noticed was that the streets were named after communist leaders.

Mozambique is well known for its wood art. In addition to the wood art, Mozambique is famous for its prawns. The best seafood meals I’ve had in Maputo were in Costa del Sol, about 15 minute drivenorth of the city centre. Before I headed back to Cape Town, I went to the beach up north of Maputo and ate more unbelievable seafood.

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