Mozambique: Land of prawns and cashews

Journeying on from St. Lucia, after a croissant fresh out of the oven of the local coffee shop, we headed for the Swaziland border. Through a dirt road detour and border crossing into Mozambique, we powered on to the capital Maputo. The frenzy of urban commotion and the throngs of people and cars was a display of a city pulsating with fitful life. The gritty beauty of a place whose streets heralded the names of communist heroes of a bygone red era, and whose buildings were like lego blocks with faded and chipped pastel veneers, made me wonder what had come and gone there, and what was to become of this grubby surging concrete behemoth of a city. It was sad these musings would go undeveloped as we were only to spend mere feeble evenings and hurried mornings there.

Weary from the three countries traversed in the day, we arrived at The Base, a backpackers where we happened to run into Laura, a good friend of Lulu's who had been staying at the house (Lulu is the owner and occupant of the house I live in) before heading out on the Baz Bus, a southern African backpackers caravan. Strangely enough, she had also made Niv's acquaintance on the bus before they had parted ways, only to find each other there in Maputo.

After a dinner of prawns at a seaside restaurant, we turned in for the night. And boy, were those prawns succulent and tasty. The mosquito buzzing around my room that night thought likewise of me.

The morning came and with it, renewed determination to reach our faraway destination of Tofo Bay. Breakfast at a pasteleria, strong coffee and flaky pastry, waffling over SIM cards, and we finally the road. All the roadside signs prepared me for the conversion of my meager Spanish knowledge into an even more limited implementation of Portuguese. In Xai Xai I was able to cobble together enough to ask , "adonde vende naranjas?" And then I promptly followed the fingers pointing to where we bought those oranges, some bananas and little pasteles. The women purveyors were amused at my poor Portuguese.

Potholes everywhere on stretches of road, delinquent children tossing dirt in the way of our car, bags of cashews hung on trees, and homemade peri peri sauce beckoned along the way. As the day was on its last legs we passed through Inhambane, a town with candy colored houses from bygone days. The ocean avast, boats totting about, and village market shacks offering the latest in junk, biscuits and sweets, fruit, fabric, and other random goods imaginable blessedly began to give way to signs indicating the path to Praia de Tofo.

Just as the twilight crept up we alighted at Bamboozi, a chalet well equipped with mosquito nets and palm tree construction. It was like we had discovered paradise, albeit a slightly dingy-fabulous paradise. We four, having jettisoned Lisa in Maputo, walked along the beach squeaking about in the tightly packed sand, eyes fixed to the starry heavens above. Stopping at beachside bar Dino's for a much needed dinner, our outdoor dining was rained on. Content, we returned for an evening of Set and chillaxin'.

Praia de Tofo at dusk

Sadly, choppy waters prevented any snorkeling or scuba attempts, so we just laid around on the beach for a long while. I also walked a stretch of sand as the weather got warmer, picking up seashells and letting the waves lap up against my feet. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the town and sent a few correspondences at the internet cafe.

Kenney sisters gaze upon children playing in Inhambane as our tires got rotated

The next morning, after getting stuck in the sand briefly, and after Tofo Scuba's "Wet your dreams" truck made a failed attempt to tow us out, we dug around the wheels and finally made our way back, stopping to get our tires rotated, grabbing some oily snacks for the road, picking up a huge bad o' cashews and some peri-peri sauce, only to arrive in Maputo once again bleary eyed and only seeing an Indian restaurant across the street from the backpackers before calling it a night.

A cache of cashews!

The sun rose and we greeted the day with a repeat of pastries and juice, and headed for the border, crossing into South Africa in the early afternoon and stopping in Nelspruit for groceries and a Nando's lunch.