Goodbye Mozambique, Hello Malawi

I guess I'll start this one with a story about Farooq. We met him on a 'chapa' (the 15 passenger vans Kim mentioned before). He's from Malawi, and about 26 years old. Hands down the nicest guy we've met so far. Our conversation started when he asked us how much we paid for the ride to Vilanculos. Our fare was 250 p/p, and the fixed government rate is 175. He taught us quite a bit about why the chapas are so overfilled. Turns out, the driver only gets charged by the government for 15 passengers per trip, so any extra fares go directly to the driver and the doorman. It turns out we were charged "for our luggage" and that is why we paid more, but Farooq told us to be on the lookout for similar overcharges in the future. When we got to our destination he walked with us for a while and pointed us in the right direction. Two days later we were on our way to the market to get some bread for our upcoming bus ride when we ran into him again. He walked along with us for a while and showed us a few things. Most interesting was that he pointed out the mayor's place. Previously Kim and I thought it was a 5-star luxury resort. This is in a town were most of the people live in reed houses. Farooq didn't seem to think he would get re-elected this year as the townspeople were getting suspicious. At least I hope they were. So, I guess we have a new friend that we'll unfortunately likely never see again. Too bad.

Our lift to Maputo courtesy the Heubners

I've been having a really tough time getting pictures uploaded lately. A few days ago I spent two hours and finished about 17, only to realize that Kim had already put 5 of those up. Today, to test the speed here, I put four shots that looked good in the thumbnails, but they mostly apply to Kim's last post. I can apologize for the lack of coherent story line and illustrations, but it's the best I can do.

A cold morning, one fish, and lots of fun

Mozambique has been great, and we'll probably be in Malawi tomorrow. Some things about Mozambique that will remain with me are the reed and thatch houses, the friendly people on the streets, relaxing on the beach, and the utter lack of animals along the roads. The reed houses are spectacularly built, and the thatch on the roofs is 8-12 inches thick in most places, very watertight. The houses are so authentic, and the people living there seem happy with their lifestyle. Most places have veggies growing in the garden and clean clothes hanging from the line. The children are playing and adults mostly doing something. Far, far less people just standing around than in South Africa. (They also walk a lot faster here.)

Now that's a shrimp!

In Maputo we were routinely hassled by street vendors, but as we got away from the capital most of them we content with a simple "No, thank you." In South Africa, they were very persistent, intent on telling you the price, and quickly lowering it, for things you had already made clear you didn't want. I found it very refreshing, in fact we finally bought some art from a street vendor.

Our dhow to Maxixe

The roads were not great here, but better than I thought they might be. There's a good amount of swerving to avoid potholes and just driving on the sand shoulder to avoid the tar altogether. But the countryside is very nice, a lot of it reminded Kim and I of Kruger Park in SA. But there are NO animals. None. I read that many of them were killed during the civil war here 25 years ago and the populations are recovering in the parks. But none, anywhere in the open. In SA I could understand because most of the land along the highways was under cultivation of some sort so the animals have been confined to the parks. But here, there are miles and miles of untouched wilderness, but not a single creature (other than birds) to be spotted. Utterly fascinating the impact we can have. So if you want to see animals in SA or Mozambique, expect to pay a park entry fee.

We got to spend quite a bit of time relaxing on the beach here, and it was fantastic. I got another stupid splotchy sunburn yesterday. Apparently when I sprayed the sunscreen on, I missed my triceps, the upper right part of my chest, and between my shoulder blades. I look completely ridiculous. Luckily, the spray sunscreen is almost gone, and I'll be using the traditional rub on kind from here on out.

We're really looking forward to Malawi, of which we have heard only great things from fellow travelers. Of course, we don't really know where we're headed or when, but have a few things picked out. I'm really looking forward to spending a little time in the national parks. One of them allows you to take a bicycle out instead of a car, which sounds great to me. I guess I'm ready to see some more animals after Mozambique.

Thanks to everyone who has posted comments lately, and it's true, there are cows/goats/sheep routinely on the SA roads. For Auntie Connie, I've been doing a good deal of thinking about what might be able to be done here to best impact the people, but it's terribly complex so I'm not ready to write about it yet. To everyone else, check out our pictures using the link on the left, as we've just added some more.