June/July break 2016: Maputo, Mozambique

                We had opted to fly to Maputo instead of take the Intercape bus. Though it was more expensive, we figured it would be worth it for the time saved. The flight on LAM Mozambique was quick, but they still fed us sandwiches and juice. Jen said it felt like flying in the 90s, with plenty of leg room, good food, etc. After landing at Maputo airport, we got the obligatory new-country sim cards and airtime, and called our hostel Fatima’s to come pick us up. Fatima’s backpacker’s is pretty cool: colorful, muraled walls, upstairs areas and other lounge areas to chill, etc. I could have done without the three Justin Bieber songs on loop, though. We had heard of this famed fish market, so we took a taxi (300 Meticais/75 rand! So much! Why are all taxis outside of Lesotho so expensive?) to this fish market, where we just put our heads down and marched through lots of dudes trying to get us to go to their restaurant stalls. We couldn’t handle it (harassment in Lesotho seemed so mild now that I was experiencing it elsewhere), and we just walked out the other side of the restaurant area, popping out at the beach behind it. I did my obligatory touch-the-ocean and watched some fishing guys with their colorful boats bobbing in the surf.

We decided to walk down the sidewalk parallel to the beach for almost an hour as we looked for whatever else could possibly be the fish market. Rows and rows of restaurants were not exactly a market, so we thought it was somewhere else close by. The only thing we saw was people grilling whole chickens on braai stands made of half-barrels, next to displays of drinks for sale: cokes, beers, wines, anything you could think of, just on the side of the sidewalk. 

Then we turned and went back to the harassey restaurant place, realizing that this place was actually the fish market. Literally right where we had been dropped off, had we turned right instead of turning left and putting the blinders up, we would have found the seafood for sale. Inside, the clams were spouting water, and there were many piles of other fish, squid, prawns, and lobsters. We went back and braved the restaurant area, just plopping down at a random table, and way overpaid for squid, prawns, and fries, while hawkers tried to sell us the same old crap over and over and wouldn’t leave us alone. Overall, it wasn’t a great experience. We both agreed it had been a very weird day.

Back at Fatima’s, we sat and talked with a Finnish girl and a Slovakian guy named Matus (who, unknown to us at the time, would soon become our best vacation friend ever). I went to bed fairly early, as we had to be ready to go at 4:45 for our 5am bus pick-up the next morning to go to Tofo.