Moz 2

Just a quick thought before I continue on Mozambique:

Reasons why I hate small towns
- The closest Spar with coconut milk is 40km from my house
- When you go to a bank to try and open a savings account all your enquiries are met with a blank stare and rapid confused typing on the computer followed by the person turning around and finding her superior
- There are no banks in my town so the bank is the same distance from me as coconut milk

Reasons why I like small towns
- No traffic so driving to the spar/bank takes half the time
- Cars flash you when there are traffic cops and you get to thank trucks for making space for you about 5 times a day by switching on your hazards when you pass. I like doing this. Especially when they flash back.
- After sorting out the not-so-hard questions a guy with golden teeth and tattoos keep you entertained by telling you his life story and listening to yours while you open the account

Mozambique part 2

The next day we were off to Tofo. Miracle beyond miracles we left 15 minutes early. About an hour into the drive the car behind us unexpectedly stopped. We (in fear of the police) did not do a U turn and stopped a few metres ahead. We then waited about 20 minutes while they went to the bathroom and into the store (did we not do this before we left) Anyway so we drove some more and stopped halfway for some lunch by the side of the road. True rural style we plopped onto the ground under a tree and had some sandwiches. We then drove to Tofo. I slept almost all the way. It took about 8 hours as there were MANY potholes and you have to slow down to 60 in every town and the signs don’t indicate when the 80 and 100 zones start again so you have to guess. In this way we once thought a town had stopped when it hadn’t so we were driving too fast and lo and behold got stopped by the traffic police. Again. Same car as the previous night. He gave us a fine of 1000 meticash but tried to bribe us by saying he’d bring it down to 200. We decided it wasn’t right and gave him the 100 meticash and asked for a receipt. Joy. At least we slept fine that night.

Getting there the place was s beautiful. We booked in and realized the huts we were staying in were tiny huts with a metre high wall and a grass roof with two matrasses on the ground of each hut and a mosquito net. It was perfect actually as we didn’t plan to spend much time inside.

That night we had dinner at the bar/restaurant at the place where we were staying (bamboozi lodge) and realized that no one in Tofo (the town) gave change. You either had to give correct change, give a large tip, or be happy with a little paper stating how much credit you had at the bar. We also realized very soon that neither peaceful sleep nor tabart keeps away mosquitos. We had so many mosquito bites we looked like lepers and only one girl had drunk malaria pills. Oh well. At least I know.

The next day 4 of the girls went diving and three of us just hung around. We went exploring to the little market, looking at fish for the night and everything else available. We then stumbled upon Tipo Tinto. Without anyone’s guidance we decided to buy this Mozambican rum. Apparently it’s famous for keeping away mosquitos. Didn’t help for us, but it did help to make new friends. We and our new rum sat around the table at the campsite and made friends with two girls who are traveling for a year around the world. We met because we needed a bottle opener at 11 in the morning. It became the running joke of the week, us drinking rum so early in the morning. A bunch of friendly Christian girls. Goes to show how free we can be in God.

Anyway, the girls were so interesting. Their names were Farrah and Zahra. They’ve been traveling since the beginning of the year, they’ve been in Egypt, Malawi, Zanzibar, Zamibie, Mozambique and Zambie. Now Moz, SA and Swaziland. Their travels sounded so exciting and they had a story for every country. After Africa they’re going to South America then North America then Europe. I’m so jealous and think I’ll plan something like this for 2010.

That night we decided to explore one of the many beach bars. I had a local beer (interesting) and coffee (was dying for some) We then tried to find some dancing but everything was pretty much quiet. Two local Mozambicans decided to be our tour guides for the night and it was quite a mission to eventually go to sleep without them being too upset that we weren’t keen on partying till late.

That’s it for today…. Till tomorrow…