Villa das Arabias Boutique Hotel Maputo

The mini-van from Swaziland to Maputo runs when it's full, a kind of slow burning aggravation that’s hard to describe, like watching paint dry. But we finally get off, over to the back door into Mozambique. The visa at the border takes forever to happen, but that’s because the guy with the key is slow to show. Soon we’re coming in to the outskirts of Maputo, then finally park in the old 'Baixa’ area of ...

Welcome to Mozambique... latin feeling straight away: portuguese speaking country, people drinking beers at the terraces, crazy bureaucracy (bureaucrazy!) and really messy immigration procedures which caused me to stay 10 days in the capital city, Maputo, to sort out visa issues.

It gave me time to learn a bit of portuguese, enjoy the markets of the city, the seafood, the Mozambican crafts, the street names (all named after famous ...

... is die bruin trui se v**haal met smaak v**tel.

Tydens so 'n eksursie in Tofo, Mosambiek, kamp ons op 'n stuk veld aan die eindpunt van die dorp. Ek, Dirk en Phillip het ons eenheidsgevoel van vakansiehou gou ontdek. Ons betaal nie deur ons nekke om agt** die duin sond** ‘n seeuitsig in die oorvol

Karavaanpark te bly nie. En dit saam met dronk Suid Afrikan**s, hul 4x4's, bi**pense en om by die stink kamplongdrop uit te kom nie. Dan kamp ons e**d** op 'n stil ...

... s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Bush's huge $50BN initiative) money out there, and while I do understand the value of competition and survival of the fittest and somewhere in my public health brain I can see the economic reasoning for all this (though it would be nice if someone would remind me) ... but I tell you, it just felt weird pitching PCI as some great hope all week, when really we're no better than anyone else. Man I hope no one from my organization is ...

... pics when this guy walked by and asked if I wanted him to take a picture. I asked if I was going in the right direction to get to a beach and he said no, that this local was helping him out. One thing led to another and Carlos, that was his name, Nicaraguan born and Washington DC raised since the age of 8, became my travel buddy for the day. We asked for a "cab" to the nearest beach and the guy with the flash red-framed sunglasses got on his phone and 5 ...

... on schedule at 11am again, and we were out again, Anna to work and me to explore this city Maputo. Tried to buy tickets for the boat to Inhaca and the Isle of the Portuguese (Ilha dos Portugueses) tomorrow, but the only fruit my wait rendered, was the honest interest of the guard who repeatedly requested my number...I said it'd cost him a lot and my husband wouldn't be so pleased, he replies he'd pay what it took to hear my voice "e pra matar saudades ...

... Zambia was not on our itinery so this had not been looked into - and now here we were looking to do white water rafting, lion walks and microlighting and we didn't have a pot to pee in. So for four days we ... well when in Rome ... we begged and borrowed cash of our fellow travellers. we managed to go white water rafting down the Zambeze - it was quite rough but not as full on as when we did it on the Nile in Uganda - I had a boat with 3 other girls in it including Lou ...

... admit though, I was wrong in my quick assumption on the beaches south of Vilanculos. Enter Tofo. Tofo is this small sleepy little fishing village about 5 hours south of Vilanculos. Not easy to get to, it took me two minibuses, followed up by a ****** old rowboat with motor and 30 people crossing a bay to city of Inhumbane. From there, I waited a good 1.5 hours as the local minibus drivers refused to charge me the local bus rate to ...

... are you leaving?' Now, tiens! Ah, no, there is no power so it will come back on within 4 hours, normally, so come back then. Hubby says, no way, we just drive to the border. Me: 'what if they do not let us in?' He: 'then we drive back, it is only an hour drive'. Makes sense to me and here we go. The expensive toll road is indeed comfortable and we reach the border after an hour. As usual, a little manny is jumping on us. They 'escort' you through a village, a ...

I made it home safely from Moldova and Rome, without incident although with the expected delays from Ethiopian airlines - breakfast on the plane was terrible though I must admit. My family and the few animals I saw seemed to recognise and appreciate my presence so all is not lost. I am now gadding about Mozambique trying out my rather rusty Portuguese and may I say sampling gastronomic delights which would put a French chef to shame. I only picked on the French ...