Day 1/2 – JoBurg
Our flight left at 9:30 pm and we got there close to midnight. Asmaa’s friend Moekitse (sp?) and his friend picked us up from the airport. Our bus to Mozambique wasn’t leaving until 8 am… Mission? Stay up all night. Mission accomplished: They showed us around the various parts of the city at night, saw the art district with all the beautiful graffiti murals (didn’t take pictures… :( next time), headed to Melville for some bars and more bars, then set out to try to make it to the top of a hill in time for the sunrise, which was harder than it sounds. We made it. Poor Moekitse and his friend were exhausted, but the view was spectacular enough to stay awake for it. It was getting close to 7, so they dropped us off at the bus station.
Day 2 – trip to Maputo and first night there
So, Asmaa and I didn’t get our visas for Moz ahead of time because the consulate in Cape Town told us that if we got them at the border, they’d be cheaper (R175 vs R600). However, the bus company won’t let you ON the bus all the way to Maputo if you don’t already have a visa, so we bought our ticket to the border, thinking we’d catch a minibus from there. Asmaa made friends with the bus people and it turns out that recently the visas at the border are ALSO now R600. They told us they would wait 20 min for us to try and get the visa and get back on the bus to Maputo. At the border, Asmaa and I, along with a couple other tourists, hauled ass to get this done. There was a guy who “helped” us by cutting the queues and filling out our papers (I had read about this… of course they want to get compensated for their efforts). I had told him I wasn’t going to pay him from the beginning and didn’t need his help, so when all was finished and Asmaa and I didn’t pay him, he threw a hissy. Oh well. We made it back on the bus (they had threatened to leave us already) and made it to Maputo at around 5 pm. We had made friends with a Mozambican named James, who invited us to dinner at his house with his family the next day. We had also made friends with Matias (one of the other tourists trying to get a visa), who didn’t have a place to stay, so I suggested he ask our couchsurfing host, which worked out. Emanuel, our gracious host, picked us up, got some food, and headed back to his place. He informed us that there was a Brazilian party in town that night, so off we went (Asmaa and I were crying a little on the inside due to our lack of sleep). At the party, we ate Brazilian food, drank caipirinhas, and learned how to dance fojo (sp?). It was a fun night and after our feet were worn out and our minds almost were incapable of working from being so tired, we headed back to sleep.
Day 3 – Inhaca Island and Isla Portugesa
Woke up at 6 am in order to catch the 7:30 am ferry to Inhaca. Matias and Emanuel joined us and after a mad dash in the morning, we got there just in time. The ferry trip was delightful – the sun was shining and Asmaa and I cozied up outside on the deck and passed out for a little while. The ferry ride was about 2 hours long and the views were spectacular. We even saw dolphins! Since the waters were too shallow to dock, we had to hop into a smaller motor boat to get to the dock. And at the dock, security officers insisted we pay them to get ON to the island. This is ridiculous. As James had called it, we were getting “skin taxed”. MTC200 for the ferry = awesome. Then MTC15 for the motor boat (uh, ok, shouldn’t that be included?), MTC100 for “entering the island”. No. I walked straight past them and ignored their calls. We met a group of Brazilians on the boat who suggested we go to Isla Portugesa, which is right next to Inhaca. I had read how beautiful it was and totally uninhabited. So off we went (another R100 per person). Goodness… as I said, totally uninhabited, completely peaceful. Just endless beaches and plants growing straight out of the sand. I found what I needed and plopped down my towel and absorbed. (Side note: Emanuel is a chiropractor and masseuse… which really came in handy at this point, haha.) After a couple of hours, headed back to Inhaca and got some overly priced lunch there (eh, figures). Heading back to the boat, the “security officers” once again stopped us and wouldn’t let the boat leave until we paid up. They spoke no English, and my Spanish wasn’t really helping the situation, so frustrated, we finally gave up and coughed up the money. It wasn’t even that it was much (MTC100 ~= $5) BUT IT WAS THE PRINCIPLE, DARN IT! I later found out that the MTC100 was only necessary if we had entered the bio reserve in the middle of the island, which we didn’t. Oh well. They have to make money on an island some how. Warm day and lovely ferry ride back, we got to Maputo during the sunset. Got some groceries and Luciana (a lovely Brazilian lady) made us dinner at Emanuel’s complete with chocolate fondue dessert (that’s right, I’m salivating just thinking about it). Afterwards, we headed to Nucleo d’Arte, an amazing venue with live music, art, and bar. It was the first place in Maputo that I saw such an eclectic mix of people – all races, all ages, all types. Another wonderful night in Mozambique, then we headed back home for some sleep.
Day 4 – Discovering Maputo and our chapa adventure to Swaziland
Got to sleep in a little today and eventually made it out to go figure out where and when we could take a chapa bus (van type bus) to Swaziland. The last one leaves at 6pm, so we would aim to take the one at 5. We’re meeting James at Costa del Sol at 1, so we take a tuk tuk there. We walk to his house and are introduced to his beautiful family. The area we are at is outside the city, right along the beach, but perhaps a poorer community. While his house has a barren yard and simple features, I think they are relatively quite well off (he and his wife have traveled the world extensively for work). We make friends with James’s son, Raul, and his friend Fernando, the artist. We walk to his “studio” (a small room in his mother’s house) where he shows us his amazing art and a mural he did for a neighbor. He hopes to one day go to art school. We then head back. They buy fresh crab and calamari that JUST came out of the fishing boats and we have a feast. Poor Asmaa, my vegetarian friend, is horrified when they show her the live crab (and his leg falls off in the process) and then crack it open once it’s cooked. Won’t lie though… it was delicious. Now it’s past 3 and we need to start hurrying. Raul takes us back to the chapa stop (not before we give in and spend most of our money on arts & crafts at an outdoor market). We make the bus that’s to leave at 6 pm, but doesn’t end up leaving until 6:30. It’s supposed to be a 2 hour ride and Asmaa’s friend Sabe would be waiting for us in Manzini starting at 8:30.
So. The chapa trip. Perhaps the most memorable portion of the trip. Of course first we get “skin taxed” and they try to get an additional R20 out of us for our bags, which we refuse. We get to the border and get our passport stamps. Then, we wait an additional 2 hours for them to go through the giant bags of clothes (I’m talking bags as big as me) and count each article (each article gets taxed R3) and to check for drugs. KC, a Swazi guy we make friends with on the chapa, tells us that these clothes had been donated during the flood disaster in Mozambique a few years ago. Instead of the government giving them to those who need it, they sell it off for a profit to those who then resell it in Swaziland. Another example of corruption in Mozambique. After the 2 hours, they pack up and we literally drive a few yards past the border and get stopped again. A guard asks me to open my window and shortly after asks me to be his wife (I would get free trips back home, he promised, haha). Apparently his flirtations saved us another inspection, a lady on the bus told me. The victory doesn’t last long because not another mile later, we get stopped AGAIN. There’s another chapa bus in front of us that’s getting inspected (again). The passengers in our bus pass me money to give to the driver for a bribe to get us through faster. Since I’m anti-corruption, I felt somewhat dirty just being the transferee, ha. The driver gives the guard R150, but we can’t leave until the bus infront has gotten fully inspected. The guard retorts that R150 cannot be split evenly (uh.. what? Hi math) and that they want R200. We still are forced out of the chapa and searched (dude, it’s cold outside!) and while Asmaa and I were THIS close to objecting, we figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to talk to men with guns in the dark of the night like that. So, a few hours and a bunch of inappropriate comments later, we are off once again. We finally make it to Manzini at 12:30 am. Poor Sabe. While this adventure may sound inconvenient, I kind of loved the experience in hindsight. We got to experience the REAL Mozambique and Swaziland, plus get to know some amazing characters in the chapa bus and learn about corruption first hand. KC was an incredible person to meet with the frustrations of his country on his heart. Thank you for informing us.
Day 5 – Swaziland!
Sabe and his sister live on an incredible farm on the top of a hill that they inherited in Mbabane. We woke up, met his sister and Jen (a US masters student doing her dissertation), and then we saw the views. The rolling hills, the calm life. Sabe just graduated from studying law in London and has come back to his homeland because he wants to help his country. Swaziland is Africa’s last absolute monarchy and it has shaped them well overall. There’s little turbulence and less poverty than its neighboring countries. Sabe takes us to a breathtaking restaurant, with the plan to take a horse ride in a game reserve after. Unfortunately, we took our time too much and missed the last horse ride at 4. So instead, we toured around a little, met some friends, and headed back up to the farm house for a night of board games, wine, friends, and a fire. Things got competitive with Pictionary, 30 Seconds, and Mafia and political debates (isn’t there a rule this isn’t allowed to be discussed during parties? But the wine helped).
Day 6 – last of Swazi and racing to JoBurg
Sabe is so amazing that he’ll DRIVE us to JoBurg (usually a 8 hour chapa ride). Our flights at 4:30pm, so we need to leave BY 11, the latest. Asmaa meets her good friend’s mom and so Sabe and I get breakfast at an art store/restaurant. It’s past 11 now and I’m trying to not show my nervousness since Sabe told us to trust him he’d get us to the airport in time. Get gas, get munchies, and head back to South Africa. This time, the border stop goes quickly and without much ado, we’re on our way. Some more great conversation (I act as the “translator”/peace keeper a lot because sometimes things get lost in translation with English not being Asmaa’s first language), and while we left at 12, we made it to the airport at 3! So back to Cape Town we go…
This was an overly exciting trip. While we definitely weren’t in each place long enough, at least we got a taste (and a taste that makes me want to come back some day). Now, I have a week left in Cape Town, which is the perfect time to catch up on sleep and finish doing (hopefully) all the things I have left to do. Of course these day accounts were only snippets and I can’t fill it with all the wonderful people we met along the way. But thank you, Africa, for this.
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