Things have changed in Maputo (the former Lourenco Marques) since we were last here in 1999. At that time, it was not long after the war had ended, and we were the only tourists in what should have been the busy December holiday. We did not even see any of the city because Russ had a bad case of dysentery and we confined ourselves to the grand colonial-era Polana Hotel (which was about the best place we could have stayed). The bombed-out buildings have now been replaced by highrises and hotels. There are bustling sidewalk cafes and markets. It is a cosmopolitan city with lots of character.
But that doesn't say that it's orderly. What looks like a one lane road is supposed to fit two cars and often three across. City driving doesn't bother me as long as I know where I am going and Russ has been a great navigator. (We did kind of fix his expired drivers' license issue but it's still a bit sketchy and I will still do the bulk of the driving.)
We made it across the border relatively unscathed yesterday, but not without a few bumps. We are quickly learning that absolutely everything is negotiable. Bargaining is a rather common activity in Africa, but not the extremes it is taken here. It took me a while to get up to speed.
We are staying at Fatima's Backpackers on Mao Tse Tung Avenue, and it's been a long time since we've seen street signs with every Communist and revolutionary leader imaginable on the city map (although in my mind there is a big difference between Kim Il Jung avenue and Patrice Lumumba boulevard). But without doubt, we will see that again in Zimbabwe and Namibia. It's a comfortable place to stay and there is a fair amount of traveler traffic moving through, mostly to get up to the beaches. They are generous with their internet and we have been able to catch up on some things, like taxes. Not exactly what I want to be doing and we will be filing for an extension, but this is a more complicated tax year than most.
The temperature is warm and balmy all of the time and we take several short cold showers during the day to cool off. There is also a lot of fresh fruit - guavas, mangoes, pineapples, and bananas for sale that keep us refreshed. We were advised not to drink the water, but the beer is cheap and quite good. Soda is out of the bottle, and it's cold cold. The neighborhood pasteleria where fresh bread and pastries can be found was an excellent find yesterday afternoon. But the real treasure is the seafood. Today we went to the fish market on the Marginal Way. It was packed with people. The trick was to find a cafe (and waiter who spoke some English). She took us to the market, where we picked out our seafood (choices ranged from every type of shellfish imaginable to all kinds of fish). We settled on barracuda and calamari which they then cooked for us back at the restaurant. So I think for the next two weeks we will skip the textured vegetable protein, pasta, and peanut butter diet and live on fish and fruit instead!
Walking early this morning, we marveled at the art deco architecture that the city built in its heydey of the early 1900's. It seemed to resemble Havana or Miami in some ways. Even the cathedral is designed in this style, making it unlike any large church I have ever seen. The buildings are painted in the most fantastic colors and the details are intricate, indicating real craftmanship. The art deco is interspersed with earlier white-washed Portuguese buildings and then rather dreary concrete blocks from the 1960's. Russ has been wanting to see Gustav Eiffel's grand train station for the past twelve years and we finally made it there. It was worth the hour walk to get there (too hot to walk back, so we took a small tuk-tuk cab back to Fatima's).
We revisited the Polana, which was a lovely respite from the heat, and the Costa de Sol, a tired seaside hotel and seafood restaurant twelve years ago which has been revitalized and is thriving now. It was really nice to go back to the places that we had visited before and we hope to do more of that as we move up the coast.
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