Good morning, Mozambique!

Sun, palm trees, and Kenny G's "Forever in Love" greeted me this morning, my first in Mozambique.

Once we made it past the border, the real adventure began.  The physical border between Swaziland and Mozambique is a very large, long plateau called Lobombo.  The border post was situated in a pass in the plateau for obvious reasons, and once we passed through the plateau and mountains quickly gave way to flat country leading down toward the capital city of Maputo and the Indian Ocean.

I did not get to see Maputo, it was too dark by the time I passed by.  I did see a large concentration of lights that said "city" but nothing else.  I will see it Thursday on my return.

We hit the rush hour traffic and it was absolutely awful.  Bumper to bumper most of the way, frequent pedestrian crossings, and tight intersections.  No New York City cabbie could negotiate it any better than Mancoba did. 

After passing the city traffic the way got easier but in the dark considerably less interesting. The roads were narrow but straight and there was very little light as we passed through the rural areas between towns.

We stopped in town I don't go the name of and decided to have dinner. Mancoba ask the proprietor for a menu and we perused it, but when we asked her a specific meal the proprietor said he didn't have that. He asked for something else and they didn't have that either. Finally he asked what they did have and the answer was fish or chicken. Then Mancoba  asked why he had us a menu in the first place.  "Because you are my customers" the proprietor replied.

Anyway, the fish was delicious. I was surprised that it was served with the head still on it although in retrospect that shouldn't have been. Some people are squeamish when their food is looking at them. Not me. I was proud of myself for not skipping a beat and diving right in. I carefully ate all the way up to the head and cleaned the bones.Then Mancoba showed me up by taking head off my plate and showing me how to eat it, eyeballs and all!

After dinner we still had 2 hours to drive before we reached our destination. I dozed off and on most of the way. We finally reached the town of Macia.  It was late so we set up our beds - that consisted mainly in hanging mosquito net - and said good night.  I slept more comfortably and snugly than I have any night so far on this trip, including the three nights I spent in hotels.

Now as the morning sun greets us, I am getting prepared for my first full day in Mozambique.  We will be heading up to the town of Licilo where One Heart Africa has a pre-school.  More to come ...