Tasty Tofo
Day 249
Up at 4:30am it was another early morning for us as we rushed out to a taxi to make our bus to Tofo. Pronouced tofu, like the food. The bus station, more like a market with a bunch of buses parked around it was a chaotic place. The heavy rain that fell overnight did little to enhance the beauty of the place, turning it into a sea of mud and sitting water. There was a strong stink from the piles of garbage and constant calls from hawkers selling airtime for phones, water, food and trying to get people on their buses. Standing there watching our bags get stuffed in the back of the dirty bus I couldn’t wait to get to the beach. I climbed on the bus, a mid-sized 30 seater. It was packed with bags, and boxes all through the aisle and under seats. Jordana had secured us the only two seats she could find. I sat on a seat that folded down in the aisle and Jordana next to me. We were packed in, behind me was a mother with two young kids. I thought I was in a tight spot, the three of them had the same space plus a few bags. As we finally departed, 1 hour late, Jordana and I wondered why the smell of urine was so prevelant in Maputo? The beach couldn’t come fast enough.
We drove out of the city and every so often through a poor village. The countryside was green and since the bus was full and not many people got off we rarely stopped. We did stop at a service centre for fuel and a washroom break. It took about 15 minutes to empty the bus as everyone had to climb over the bags and everything that was loaded aboard. Eventually we were all back aboard ond off again. The sun had broke through the clouds and the temperature rose. We couldn’t figure out why people wouldn’t open the windows. They would open them just a crack but no more, certainly not enough to cool off the bus. Most certainly not nearly enough to combat scent from the lack of deodorant people wore. It was about then, just after the bus was really heating up that I felt the boy from behind me fall into me. Then I felt a bit wet just under my left shoulder and heard coughing. Oh yeah, you guessed it I was just puked on! Could this ride get any better? “You have GOT to be joking, this kid just puked on me!” I said to Jordana. Apparently the guy next to me had it all over his foot and flipflops. Jordana cleaned it off with a wet wipe, it wasn’t as much as it felt, but it felt gross in the heat. I didn’t even look behind me, I was angry at first but what could I do? Soon I just laughed it off with Jordana.
7 hours after leaving Maputo we were winding down a road with palms swaying and the blue Indian ocean in view. Tofo was a scruffy village built on a beautiful sandy beach. Just up the beach from the village was Fatimas Nest where we were staying. We checked in and someone showed us around. The place has a fantastic setting atop the dunes overlooking the beach. However I think they got a bit greedy with the rooms. Thatch grass huts were everywhere, spread about without any rhyme or reason. To be honest it looked like a shanty town. Inside our grass hut we had enough room for a bed, a hanging lightbulb and a small table. There was no floor, it was sand. We’ve stayed at a place like this before in Thailand, thing is that was about $3/night. This was $30! To say it was bad value would be an understatement.
Even though the room was a let down the beach was beautiful and the water warm. We spent the rest of the day swimming until sunset. Oh and what a beautiful sunset. The manmade wasn’t so nice here in Tofo but the natural was beautiful and that’s why we are here. That seemed to be a common theme here in Mozambique.
Tags: Africa, Mozambique, Tofo
Michael Coroneos
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