The entrance to Maputo becomes endless. There are a few kilometers but the road is under construction and the way of driving does not help advance. Instead of going one car after another, Everyone tries to advance, which causes a large collapse. Once within the city it is the same, cars stopped everywhere. A fairly chaotic city is seen, Like most African capitals, With Barracas-Genta on each side, Reversing products bought in South Africa.
Let's eat at Javier's house, An oasis of peace in the middle of the city chaos. The reception is magnificent, More than a guide seems to be a friend with whom we travel. It is really being an exceptional experience. We eat as if we were at home, salad, pasta, vino,… These details are much valued and more in a situation like this in which he had no reason to invite us to his house. After eating and having used your wifi to send WhatsApp and upload some photos on the mobile we go to the center of Maputo.
It was a splendorous city, richer than Lisbon herself
Maputo, Antigua Lourenço Marques, It is the capital of the country. At the beginning of the 20th century it was a splendid city, richer than Lisbon herself. Now the decline of that time remains: A train station with wrought iron elements from an Eiffel disciple, Rationalist style ruins, Some theater with elements of Deco Art, … remains that show a rich past, When the city was an important port and one of the most prosperous cities in East Africa.
We stay at the Tourism Hotel, A hotel without any charm, just to spend a night. We have dinner at one of the popular sites of the capital, Stick up, And we eat one of the typical dishes, Piri Piri Chicken, It is a kind of grilled chicken with a very spicy sauce that is put on top. To finish the day we are going to make a drink at a bar next to the hotel.
Sunday 10
We get up without hurry. We have a road time to Chidanguele. As of today the Rural Mozambique begins. Let's go on the road that runs through the coast, practically the only road in the country. After a few hours we arrive at Chidnguele, A small town with four houses, There we take a sand track that borders a huge internal lagoon. We make a few klomros on the track, The cars are about to sink a couple of times. It is dry season and there is a lot of sand, Let's go to the Lodge, Take, Where will we spend the night. The place is idyllic, a accommodation made with pleasure, open cabins, store type, full of curtains and mosquitors. On the shores of the Lake there is a pool, A platform that enters the lake from which to dive into the warm waters of the lagoon.
A jump we are inside the water, The impact of cold in the bodies is bearable, We are in the southern hemisphere and it is winter. After a few jumps you get used to temperature. We take some kayaks, We refer to the center of the lake. The moment you stop rowing and letting yourself be carried away by the impulse of the small boat floods you a feeling of peace and serenity. In the background the sun puts creating a reddish sky over the waters of the lagoon. Thrown on the bed I write these lines while waiting for dinner feeling the background noise of the frogs on the edge of the lake.
Monday 11
The first daylight begins. A few steps approach the cabin. We get up. On the porch we find a tray with a thermos of coffee and a madalena. The sun rises behind the hills that surround the lagoon. The place is paradisiacal; The moment, magical. I sit on the couch on the porch, I prepare a coffee while I see the first lights of the day. I have a feeling that I had not had. The conversations of the last hours, The removal of daily routines and responsibilities, The context and the environment make my mood approximately what I am looking for for a long time, The inner calm, Happiness, Take advantage of the moment you are living without questioning aspects that retain you and prevent you from enjoying the simplicity of things and feelings. Relationship reconduction, The beginning of a desired and desired complicity reassures the inner agitation that had taken me in recent weeks.
We get in motion, Desuse Tashes. We are waiting for a few hours along the same asphalted road from the coast that runs through the country from north to south. The landscape has changed. In one day we have gone from a landscape with little vegetation, Dry grass and some acacias that splashed the typical African savanna to a tropical landscape, denser, characterized by the palm trees that with its long trunk, Right and peeled rise to look for sunlight. Here and there, Two big trees, green, that will accompany us throughout the trip, The mangoes and the anacardos.
To a tropical landscape, denser, characterized by coconut palm trees
We arrived in Tofo. According to what I have read is a Backpackers and Expats Alternative Paradise. My impression is rather disappointing. The beach is normal, Without any grace. The accommodations are bungalows that give the sea, A little decadent. The place is desert, No trace of the backpackers, nor of the environment that characterizes the place. Tofo is well known for diversism. It is the best place to see whale sharks, humpback whales and blankets. We hire a water safari for tomorrow, although it makes a bad sea and we do not know if we can leave. Let's see if there is luck …
Tuesday 12
We haven't had luck. It makes a bad sea and the boats do not come out, o sea, that we run out of immersion. We are going to Inhambane and instead of going by road throughout the Peninsula, We cross Ferry. We take out the tickets in the port, 10 MZN, And we wait for the boat to arrive. It turns out that we bought a large boat ticket. We wait for us to arrive. While the small boats are coming out, full of people with packages and packages. They go to the limit, above what they should carry. The big boat is a kind of ferry that crosses the bay between Inhambane and Maxixe. Despite being less picturesque, The boat is full of color. Women carry a kind of fabric as a skirt called Capulana. They wear head packages. I am surprised by the amount of weight they can carry in my head, Sugar and rice bags, whole dishes, … Even a woman makes the journey with a cream cake in her lap, ….
We stop at the Carretera to eat a snack and win time. We have four hours left to get to the next destination, Vilanculos. We stayed at the Lodge Villas do Indico. The place is fantastic, isolated, waterfront, With all kinds of luxuries to be Africa. We arrive when it has already obscured, But the thing promises. We settle and prepare for dinner. We let ourselves be for the chef, The suggestion of the day is a barbecue of fish and seafood. They take us some trays with fresh tuna, squid, clams, prawns and lobster. Everything is great. The coasts of this country are rich in seafood especially Camarões, What we call prawns.
Wednesday 13
We get up without hurry, willing to take advantage of a relax day in this place. The beach has no coconut palm trees, But the isolation of the place compensates. We make a good morning bath with the low tide, What causes you to have to walk quite inside so that the water cover you minimally. The beach is fine sand, Long and lonely. In the background there are small boats of local fishermen. We run for a while on the beach, overcoming the rocky pitfalls that the lack of water has left in sight. A little exercise is going well after so many hours in cars and not stopping. Back, A dip in the pool, Take the heat accumulated by the effort.
In mid -morning we are going to visit the town, Vilanculos, A small tourist town of scattered houses with several lodges aligned in front of the sea for foreign tourists who come to spend a few days off, although it seems that tourism is not going very well. It is a complicated country. There is very little infrastructure and the little one is made to pay. It is a expensive country for what it offers. Until recently Mozambique was one of the poorest countries in the world. No wonder. What I have seen so far and what I have been told shows me a face of Africa a little different from the one I knew. The Portuguese had to leave in 24 hours, which did not allow a minimally planned decolonization, shortly after there was a fifteen year civil war. The result is that the few Portuguese infrastructures have been lost, The buildings of the colonial era with reminiscències of rationalist architecture are in ruins, The railroad that linked several populations in the country is abandoned, There are only two operational lines, .. . Today we have approached the port of Vilanculos, what's left of it. What was a breakwater where the ships tie, It is nothing more than a lot of broken cement. The supposedly loaded ships are abandoned on the beach, half -tumbed anchored, oxidized, creating an image between ghostic and ruinous.
We go around the market. Women wrapped with capulanes, typical African screens, They sit on the ground selling four tomatoes, Cocos O Patatas. Beyond, Dry fish stalls. No chickens or meat stops are seen, The locals do not have enough money to buy those foods. It is something that surprises me because in the other African countries I have visited I have always seen. This confirms the state of poverty in which the majority of the population is found. For what Javier says, our guide, There is no will to get ahead. People do not see beyond today, They are not able to assume labor responsibilities, … There is an important change of mentality of the people so that this country can close. Sincerely, I see it difficult.
Came to look for fortune, But the country is not for these stories
Today we are going to eat at José Bar, Maxibombo. José is the other driver we carry. He is a Portuguese based here, carpentry, A mechanical workshop and a bar. A person who cares about us and who came to look for fortune, But the country is not for these stories. After visiting the town and lunch, We return to Lodge. Another dive in the sea and in the pool. We wait for dinner while I write these lines; Today the cook will make us Matapa, A typical Mozambiqueño dish based on peanut flour and camarões.
I approach the beach, Next to a bonfire, The branches on when they release luminous sparks creak that take off with the sunset marine breeze. The branches of the palm tree that I have behind the half dried stamped leaves that the premises use to build their cabins. Clear about the sand listens. Everywhere, The rumor of the background, subtle melody that dyes everyday conversations.
Thursday 14
Dawn early. I sleep with mask because the morning light wakes me right away. Today we have to spend the day at sea, The Indian Ocean. His name evokes distant lands, exotic. Before Vilanculos is the Bazaaruto Archipelago, Five islands surrounded by a coral reef; The ideal place to immerse yourself in the turquoise and crystalline waters that we have in front.
Having had breakfast we climbed in two small motor boats of the Lodge. Propeller engines leave the foamy wake typical of these vessels. Below is clearly the sand of the ocean bottom, splashed with greenish algae and fleeing fish of a thousand colors. In just over half an hour we arrive at the largest island, Bazaruto. We tie the boat, We go down and walk through the sand to the shore. We started up a dune of fine sand, We go up to the crest and from there we see the other side of the island. We go up to the boats to go to the coral reef. Equipped with glasses, tube and fins, We prepare to do the first immersion. Before us the immensity of the ocean, below, The tropical underwater world of Indian. We swim around yellow fish, red, Blue, that are scared when we pass by their side. The reef is full of coral in different ways, small living trees full of marine organisms. Occasionally, A sea star, A huge shell that closes the shell when some danger is approaching,…
Let's eat at the beach. When we arrive we have a table under some awnings that protect from the sun. We eat some snacks, Something of cooked squid, roasted chicken, … Is being a wonderful day. After eating we walked along the seashore collecting shells and snails that the low tide has exposed. We walk over the wet sand, spongy. The footprints of our feet are marked, leaving the trail of feet that move away towards infinity and that are erased when the small waves of the sea touch them.
We return to the boats. I go in front, furrowing the blue sea to the sway of the waves, While the air that lifts the speed caresses my face and I see how the mainland approaches by leaps and bounds.
