Well here goes my next post.
After yet another 4 to 5 hour trek we left south africa and entered no mans land between South Africa and Mozambique, it was one hive of activity….so glad I got a water at the stop before the border cause dam it was warm, surrounded by three armed bodyguards we where marched to the desk, an old guy, stern in face checked our passports…. fortunatly there we no hitches, but what a story that would have been, just thought I would break you in to the post softly as this is a little heavier then usual in parts.
The drive continued, till we arrived at Maputo capital of Mozambique, strange place people selling goods down both side of the roads, people weaving in and out of cars at traffic lights, trying to sell you watches, it was a major culture shock for me, this sounds weird but I have seen poverty in other places, but there always seems like there is a class system all in itself, Maputo was so poor, not just a few but everyone, civil war had ripped the economy out of it, considering at one point Maputo had more tourists then South Africa and Botswana put together, here is was a shell of its former glory…..okay okay…to deep for a blog post but wanted to kinda describe how I felt and the way it looked to me.
Our home for the next two nights was a place called Maputo backpackers, at last the comfort of a bed!! it was on the beach front and was an experience, the children from the schools up the road always smiling running along side our friend kia in an attempt to out run it, long sandy beaches with strange crab like crab creatures scurrying and diging a home in seconds to escape my huge feet!
The Presidents place was bizarre, you couldn’t walk on the pavement next to it or the soliders situated every 200yrds would step from behind the bomb proof looking concerete forts and introduce you to their huge vicious looking machine guns!
We went for food in a five star hotel, sat next to some suit from the U.N or something, had a burger, yes I know all the way to Mozambique and I have a burger and a cup of tea (only an englishman would sit and drink tea in that heat!) the meal came to 300 of the mozambique currency, which translated into pounds was like seven quid, absolute bargin I’d say.
Interesting experience Maputo but was kind of pleased to leave, as much as the place had so so so much potential, after you looked past other things, most of the people were amazing I say most as people with guns got a little scary and the lack of police was somewhat disturbing…is that me being a slight snob? I hope not!!
Anyway I’ll leave that post here for now.