Our first week in Moçambique

Rein checking in –

“It’s been exactly a week since we arrived in our new home country, Moçambique. During that time we have been through a lot.

To be honest, it isn’t easy to arrive in a completely new destination, to make it your home, for the third time in one year. We are getting a bit jaded with the discovery of new destinations, the challenge of creating a home base out of whatever you can bring in two big back packs and the struggle that comes with finding your way around unchartered territory.

And just when we felt that we were getting there in Maputo, we had to repack our bags again yesterday morning to head out to, what we hope is our final destination: Maxixe in Inhambane province; where we arrived last night after a long, long drive up north.

But let me start at the beginning.

Maputo City Hall

Simon already wrote about our first impressions of Maputo. Truth be told, we were a bit shell shocked by all the advance warning we had received about how dangerous Maputo could be. We were acting like two scared rabbits that have been frightened to death and barely dare to leave their cage. Once we did manage to venture out and do a bit of exploring we soon learned the city isn’t all as bad as the misfortune predictors had it made out to be. While remaining vigilant we started to enjoy the city for what it is; a multi-faceted capital of a country with a dramatic history undergoing rapid change. 

The Municipal Markets

The fish section

The city is scattered with buildings in various states of glory, or despair, from several by-gone areas: The imposing colonial buildings from the Portuguese oppression era, the colourful Art-Deco buildings from a period of hope and optimism, the depressive monstrosities of the communist episode and finally the glitz and glamour from the recent economic boom. And then of course there are the Moçambicans; ever smiling, always in a good mood and in for a good time.

Remnant from soviet times

A striking Art Deco building in the city centre

Costa do Sol restaurant,
a Maputo institution since the 1930'ies

The "Villa Algarve", former HQ of the Portuguese secret police

Thus we had a good first weekend, in which we explored and discovered and met new people.

Drinks with Becca and Sam

Then on Monday came the start of our first real working week in a very long time. The office of TechnoServe is located in Maputo’s central business district in an office building that could really be anywhere in the world. We started the day off very civilised, meeting with some colleagues over a cappuccino on the plaza of the office block, surrounded by people in business attire and it really felt like being back at work in Brussels, Melbourne or New York…

Those first days were filled with meetings with several people within the organisation to get our head around what it is exactly that we are expected to be doing for the next two-and-a-half months. Now we are 5 days ahead, have an equal number of meetings under our belt and things aren’t getting much clearer… It’s becoming very déjà-vu from our Indian volunteering experience.

In the meantime we travelled from Maputo to Maxixe by car, which was an adventure in itself. The ‘ute’-van was packed to the brim with our luggage in the back and 5 travellers in front, with my being lucky to get the front passenger seat, as Simon sacrificed himself for what turned out to be a 7 hour trip, to be squeezed into the middle seat – which, without any leg room, strictly speaking wasn’t even a seat – between the two sisters Madeira, who were hitching the ride with us.

After waiting for an hour to be picked up from our hotel, the moment we set off, the driver and the sisters entered into a heated discussion in Portuguese with a crescendo that we are starting to associate with the passionate locals here. Simon and I just settled in for what we knew was going to be a long and animated drive. Once we left the city the food containers came out and the sisters started preparing sandwiches from the back seat and passing them around to all of us. Soon we were contently munching on delicious home cooked Mozambican food while enjoying the passing scenery.

Street vendors catering to the travelling public everywhere

While the driver was speeding at 140 k/h (!), we passed through lovely country villages, with a striking mix of traditional African huts and Portuguese colonial architecture from the 30’ies through the 50’ies, in faded pastels.  Along the road we saw thousands of uniformed school kids marching back home and at intersections of the road, colourful clusters of women trading local produce, such as cashews and tangerines. The moment the driver would pull the car over for a short brake locals selling food, drinks and trinkets surrounded us.

A colourful mural on-the-road

A roadside bar along the way

A colourful village where we stopped so the Madeira sisters could stock up

The moment it became known they were in the market for goods,
they were surrounded by vendors!

By the fall of evening we arrived in Maxixe at the TechnoServe office, cum guesthouse. The guidebook had warned us that there is not much reason to stop in Maxixe, other than to fuel up on the way further north. After our first day here, we are afraid the guidebook might be right. Maxixe is a provincial town along National Highway One, with one restaurant and two shops… The guesthouse is located two streets back opposite the local school. It is in fact a three-bedroom apartment located above the office. While it is very spacious, with its three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen and living area, it is also very bare and scarcely decorated and a far cry from our comfy little hotel room in Maputo. It will take a lot of creativity and imagination to turn this place into a “home” for us for the time to come. It is at times like these that I irrationally despair if we will ever be able to rebuild the home we so carelessly gave up last December.

Tomorrow one of our local colleagues will take us across the bay to Inhambane town, the capital of the province. According to the guidebook, this is one of Mozambique’s prettiest coastal towns, so we hope it can serve as a place of respite for us to soak up on some atmosphere and colour as an antidote to the grey drabness that is Maxixe… After all it is only a short ferry ride away and an important part of the reason we are here in the first place: to help promote the region as a tourist destination of choice. Let’s hope that Inhambane provides some good “material” for us to work with…”

- Rein checking out.