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Archive for the 'Mozambique' Category

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Standing naked without any possessions: Just a thought

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007

Finally leaving Ibo, I packed my things in the morning and rushed to get on the boat before the tide went out, which would essentially leave us stranded in the ocean for a few hours.  I was sharing a dhow (home made sail boat) with another traveler to go to Pangane.  I read about Pangane in some travel book early after arriving in Mozambique (three months earlier), and it was a place I’d wanted to go ever since.  There wasn’t much written – just a little blurb about it being a beautiful, long stretch of beach – but that’s probably why it was my most-anticipated place in the whole country. [read on]

Posted in Mozambique | 1 Comment »

The Legend of Ali Baba, Part III

Saturday, January 27th, 2007

I woke up the next morning at my usual 5:45.  Sleeping was a bit rough, as I had a few strange dreams about Ali Baba.  At a little after 6, one of the ladies from the guesthouse came in to start her day.  “They found your stuff!” she said to me.  “Already?  How do you know?”  “I heard it from my neighbor.”  I knew word would travel fast!  At about 6:30 some other man came in to find me.  “Come with me.  They found your things!”  We rushed over the police station to see what they had found. [read on]

Posted in Mozambique | 3 Comments »

The Legend of Ali Baba, Part II

Saturday, January 27th, 2007

I got up and started running….running through the wet muddy knee-deep field, feeling very vulnerable in the open field that he could still see me if he wanted to. Finally I made it to the path through the bush. And I ran…thinking – what was in the bag? My camera! My passport! Argh! That would be a problem. And I stopped running, tired, but still walked fast. [read on]

Posted in Mozambique | No Comments »

The Legend of Ali Baba, Part I

Saturday, January 27th, 2007

The next morning I went on a walk with Fawn and Meredith, a lovely mother-daughter duo from the States. We went back to the mangroves and beaches I had found yesterday and ventured a little further to a lighthouse on the other side of the island. We found a little community (one or two families) dwelling by the lighthouse, which was evidenced by their little huts and fish and octopus laying out in the sun to dry. It was a long walk but a pleasant morning. [read on]

Posted in Mozambique | 1 Comment »

Ibo – a peaceful, idyllic island…for now

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

I woke in the morning and opened my eyes, remembering that I was on the boat.  I said good morning to the skipper and the new guy who was walking up to the boat.  Wait, what?  New guy walking up to the boat?  Yes, the tide had gone down and it was now possible to walk up to the boat from the island.  I went back to sleep for a little while, very comfortable on my cushion.  I woke up later and looked at some locals sitting on the shore.  No doubt their minds were wondering “What is that white chick doing sleeping out on that boat?”  Finally, the guys hanging around the boat exchanged another “Good Morning” with me, letting me know it was time for me to get off the boat so they could unload the contents. [read on]

Posted in Mozambique | 1 Comment »

…on a dhow in the Indian Ocean under the moonlight…

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

By the time I was in Pemba, I had become a completely different person, and I don’t mean spiritually or any of that crap, but I was definitely a different person than any of you have ever known.  For at least a good month prior I hadn’t woken up past 7:30am.  5:30 or 6:00 was quite common.  Between early buses, sleeping on the shore of the Zambezi River waiting for the ferry, or just camping in a spot where the sun caught my tent and started to roast me, I was up and at the day with the sun…sometimes before.

[read on]

Posted in Mozambique | 1 Comment »

Buying a bus ticket – Play to Win!

Monday, January 22nd, 2007

Things went surprisingly smoothly in the Immigration Office in Nampula, which might have had something to do with my charm in explaining to the officers: “But I don’t want to leave the country! I love this country! Look! I’ve already been here 3 months, and I just want a little more time to make it to the Tanzanian border.” OK. No problem. Solved! The next day I met the Immigration Officer in the stationery store, who told me my visa was ready ahead of schedule – unheard of in Africa! I would be out of Nampula faster than I thought, which can only be a good thing. [read on]

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Eating fresh fruit and fish in paradise…one year in the bag

Monday, January 22nd, 2007

After more than enough time spent on Ilha, I went in search of a long, secluded beach nearby. This time, I was with Oscar, who I had met a few times before in Mozambique. We took a dhow (Arab sailing boat) to the mainland. Getting to and from the dhow involved wading through full-leg-deep water while carrying our backpacks, and was a logistical challenge. Perhaps more for Oscar, though, as he’s the one who fell in the water, backpack and all. On the mainland a local man appointed himself as our guide and led us though mangrove fields to our beach at Carrusca. [read on]

Posted in Mozambique | 1 Comment »

Beaches…public toilets…what’s the difference?

Monday, December 18th, 2006

My next destination was Ilha de Mozambique, or Mozambique Island. It’s a small island off the coast, and has an amazing history. It’s probably the top tourist destination in Mozambique (that is, of course, if you’re interested in venturing a bit further north than the beaches in the south). It started out as an Arab trading port until the Portuguese settled in the early 16th century. For them, it was a convenient post in the Indian Ocean from which to venture further east to India and beyond. It remained the capital of Mozambique until its importance waned (due to the opening of the Suez canal), when Maputo (then called Lourenco Marques) became the capital. There. History.

[read on]

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Good night, sleep tight…

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

The next week or so was not so exciting. I went to a small town called Alto Molocue, where Said and Zein live. (These guys were the father-son duo who gave me a free ride just a week or so earlier). The town was not all that interesting, though there was an American Peace Corps volunteer that I hung out with, who offered interesting insight into being a black American working in Africa. I spent a lot of time staring out the window at Said’s guesthouse to the back area where locals pulled water from the well and a chicken farmer tossed his chickens into the back of his pickup to take to market. Besides that, Said wanted to show me his mine, where he’s apparently starting to mine semi-precious stones. In the end, we got there too late to see it, although I did meet a local man who was apparently a general of the Renamo party during the Mozambican civil war, which was interesting. [read on]

Posted in Mozambique, Travel | 1 Comment »

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