Residencial Hoyo Hoyo Maputo

... The rasta-haired driver agrees to take me and another foreigner on to our guest house… for a price not made clear. Too bad he doesn’t know where he’s going. Too bad he doesn’t speak good English. I try to get him to switch to my Portuguese, but he’s not having it; no switching allowed. The guy’s no genius, so I pretty much take over the navigation. When we finally get to where we’re going ...

... leaders!) and the contrasted architecture (communist type buildings, old portuguese houses, messy markets...).
Also allowed me to meet Carola, and Austrian girl, at the Immigration office (best place to meet foreigners!).And it gave time to Bo, our friend from Durban, to join us before continuing to the beaches tour.
The four of us finally managed to take a chappa, local communal taxi, to go to Tofo, our first beach stop.

... land met see uitsig en wees sond** die longdrop en stort. 'n Stort en toilet pla tog niemand nie? Hi** kamp ons te lekk** en kui** saans tot ounag om die klett** van die vuur en die kurke van Dirk se rooiwyn. Ons drink aan stories van Varisty en Londen se dae en stof we** and** reise af, vryf dit blink en les die dors daarna.

Al nadeel van in die veld kamp is jou goed is toeganklik vir enige aap om in te kom krap wanne** jy nie daar is nie. Dus moet als van waarde in my ...

... this. Anyways, another big fat question about development I guess, right? With everyone providing such similar services, where is the niche? And what is the point? Bueller? Luckily, I had my share of ocean breezes and amazing seafood to quell any doubts. Maputo is sweet. It is right on the coast, and reminds me much more of Latin American capitals (Lima comes to mind) than any African city I've been in. In most African cities, the city center is one big slum ...

... later a flash yellow pick-up stopped and drove us out to a little piece of paradise> Praia do Farol (Lighthouse Beach...no prizes for guessing why it's called that). The drive there was a lot of fun as we sat in the open air back being jostled and almost be-headed by passing palm tree leaves and other foliage. This group of 5 boys ran after our truck as we drove through one of the teeeeny townships and jumped on board and next thing we knew Carlos ...

... being the portuguese word for the feeling of missing someone or something). I set my own trap up by saying he couldn't miss me because he didn't know me, so accompanying me to Inhaca and phone calls seemed to him the best way to get to now each other. Aaaaanyway, he was called to duty quickly and I made my move. I hit the Maputo Market, stared at the huge fruits and fresh fish and the fishmongers in their awesome colours and beautiful smiles ...

... had the privilidge of pulling all of them out the water at one stage or other. Unfortunately our microlighting over Vic Falls was double booked - we were in Africa where these things do happen - and then we went on a Lion walk. As we turned the corner and met our Lions for the first time my first thought was "**** i thought they were cubs" - the next thought was "lou can go first" - they were huge - weighing in at 103kg there was a male and female in front of us - and they ...

... opting rather to charge me the 600% more than locals pay. I must admit, after my episode where i got gouged earlier in the trip, I am steadfast in my refusals to be taken advantage of again. Hence, the long wait. As my minibus finally took off, with 27 people in this tiny little clown car, full once again with fish and live chickens, buckets of mussels, fishing poles, etc, we headed off for what would become my vacation getaway for the ...

... mall, immigration and want money for it. We are not enthusiastic. But he turns out to be useful, this time. The other white people have a chico too or are completely lost. It is complicated! Not the checking out of South-Africa. But, checking into Mozambique! We had to go to 3 places for the car, alone. For us, we have to wait 10 minutes, while they produced our visa. For: 172 Rand! Compared to the 600 the chick in Nelspruit was going to charge us. Next to a ...

... they are supposed to be the leaders in cuisine lest I be accused of being biased! What, you may ask, am I doing in Mozambique and well you should as at this point it is quite unclear to me and I think even more mysterious to my team members, but that does not bother me because being shrouded in mystery is supposed to be very attractive (don't tell my team leader though because I'm supposed to be an expert in community development and participatory processes for ...