Mozambique is on the east coast of Sub-Saharan Africa. It's a long and skinny country with an Indian Ocean coastline roughly as long as the coast from Seattle to San Diego. At its southern border are South Africa and Swaziland, to its east are Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, and Tanzania is to its north. It's a fascinating country, heavily influenced by Swahili, Arab, Indian and Portuguese immigrants, traders and colonizers over the centuries. It was one of the later African countires to gain independence (not until 1975), and is well known for the seventeen-year civil war which destroyed almost all of the country's infrastructure, not to mention the lives of many Mozambicans. Since the early 1990s, things have been looking up, and among Western aid-givers and NGOs is considered one of Africa's "rising stars."I've been in Maputo, the capital, since Wednesday afternoon. Maputo's an interesting place to be. I imagine it was once a very charming city. It's well laid out, with lots of beautifully constructed buildings and views of the ocean. Many of the avenues are tree-lined and breezy. It has a good road system, "paved" sidewalks and decent sewage/drainage systems. The problem is I don't think any of this has been maintained for decades. Buildings are crumbled, sidewalks completely ripped apart, roads a pot-holed, dusty and filled with trash. Public parks are more like garbage dumps. In terms of the dust and trash, it seems a lot like other African capitals I've been to. But while somewhere like Lusaka, Zambia seems like it started that way and is slowly building up, Maputo has a more complex feel of a city somewhat it ruins, somewhat rebuilding itself.
I really do like the feel of the place, though. People are friendly and laidback, the music of the city and overall vibe are energetic and fun. There are lots of day-to-day amusements to take in, like "OK Furniture Shop" and "Pizza House," which I don't think actually serves pizza. And finding the way around is very amusing, as the street names are still honoring prominent Communists, despite the country's switch to free market in the early 80s. I took a stroll down Avenida Frederich Engles. The American Cultural Center is on the corner of Mao Se Tung and Kim Il Sung - not kidding!Michael and I had been planning to fly up north, to Pemba, almost immediately, but apparently flight costs have changed dramatically since I was here two years ago, and so we're waiting for a cheap(er) flight on Tuesday. We've spent the days wandering around town, getting logistics sorted out, and de-jetlagging on the beach just north of town. We're camping on the roof of Fatima's Place, a pretty typical African backpackers hostel with large rooms of bunkbeds, a few questionably sanitary bathrooms with cold showers, and a creatively decorated outside bar and lounge/patio area where about 15 20-something year old Brits, South Africans, Germans, Norweigans, Israelis, Swedes, Spaniards and occasionally some Americans hang out all evening drinking beers, playing cards and exchaning travel stories and advice. A lot of people are doing a 2-4 week South Africa/Mozambique trip; others have been traveling for over a year throughout Africa and the rest of the world. Fatima's also has a kitchen, and those of us who use it seem to be cooking exclusively eggs and toast for breakfast and pasta for dinner. Otherwise, there are some good, cheap local restaurants nearby. Here on the Southern Hemisphere I've been surprised at the sun going down around 5pm every evening, which seems to be cutting the days shorter than I'd like.
Tomorrow we'll take a chapa (tiny, crammed-in mini bus) to a supposedly lovely town on the Swaziland border. Monday we'll be back in Maputo and will wander around the city market and see the old fort, a train station designed by Gustav Eiffel (of the Tower), and an old mosque. Finally, Tuesday we'll be on to the beaches and islands around Pemba, which despite the nice things here in Maputo, is where I think Mike and I both have wanted to be since about Thursday... Ah well.
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