What have I learned in a month in Mozambique?

So all of a sudden well over a month has passed here in Mozambique, can't believe how fast the time is flying. The first month here was nothing like expected, mainly because of the bureaucratic problems of not being able to get a work permit and thus not being able to go to the office and start working properly. Apparently there are some check-ups every now and then and fines for unauthorized workers are extremely high. So I was able to mainly just familiarize myself with the project and Plan Mozambique through various documents and try to work a little bit from home. Altogether I was more or less on an obligatory holiday for almost a month, which is a bit of a shame as I only have 6 months here in total. However as said before, I think this is probably one of the best places in the world to be on a holiday anyway.

On holiday

2 weeks ago I finally started working and just for a change then pretty much only came home to sleep a little during the week. This is mainly due to the fact that at the moment I'm living quite far and commuting can take me over 4 hours a day in total, depending on the connections. After 1,5 weeks in Maputo, I was ready to leave the city and ended up in a small beach town called Tofo. This beautiful place has been my little paradise for the last month, but I'm currently looking for a house in Maxixe, a town where the office of Plan is located, as that will save me hours every day. Seeing what Plan is actually doing here has been extremely interesting, and I have so many things I want to write about. I promise to get to that next week, now just wanted to do a small summary about some of the things I have learned so far during my first month in Mozambique:

Going down to Tofinho beach

-There's always room for one more person in a chapa. Chapas are minubuses and most common means of transport. They go often and are a cheap way to travel, but they can be slightly uncomfortable too, as there really always is place for one more passenger. The first time I took a chapa in Maputo it was already fully packed, but as I was invited to hop on I ended up more or less sitting in someones lap and later had still another person sitting on top of me. Normally it's just a confusion of arms and legs everywhere, with the person collecting money hanging outside the vehicle. To get to work from Tofo I need to take the first chapa of the day at 6:15, that takes about an hour to get to the nearest bigger city Inhambane. The distance between Inhambane and Tofo is only about 20km, but the chapa stops frequently to take passengers from all along the road. Price for the trip is 18 meticais (about 0,5€).

Inhambane pier

-Ferries are a really nice way to commute. After the chapa drive to Inhambane I then need to take a ferry to cross the bay from Inhambane to Maxixe, where the office is located. You can choose between a big ferry boat or small wooden boat, I personally always try to choose the small boats as I find they have more character and I have always loved being on a boat. Price is the same for both, 10 Mt (about 0,25€). The ferries leave as soon as they are full and they take about 20 minutes to cross the bay, depending on the wind and the tide. Normally they operate very well, although every now and then some small engine problems do occur. Once the driver was unable to stop the engine as we were approaching the pier and the arrival was quite a lot rougher than expected. One of the best part of the ferry ride is sometimes seeing the flamingos standing on the beach when approaching Maxixe, your day can only start nicely after that view.

The smaller wooden ferry

Inside the smaller ferry

-Watching the sunsets, sunrises and the starry night sky of Africa never gets boring. My camera and phone are full of pictures of the sunsets and sunrises, they are just too breathtaking and totally require you to take that one millionth photo. I'm also always up for having sun downer drinks. On top of that I have never seen such a beautiful night sky as here and the stars don't stop amazing me, whether watching them by a bonfire or laying under a duvet on a beach or while driving through the dark roads in an open-top Land Rover.

Sunset in Barra

More Barra

Sunrise in Tofo

Sunset in Vilanculos

Sunset view from Sunset Lodge

(I did warn you, there are many...)

-Always share your food, never eat alone and never say no to food. These are the very basic principles of good manners and as long as you remember to follow these rules you will most likely get along well with the Mozambicans.

Probably the best seafood meal I have ever had

-Power cuts can be really nice if all you have to do is have dinner or beers with friends by candle light. If on the other hand you need to work or do anything else productive, they can be sort of annoying. Especially if you are like me and keep forgetting to buy a proper torch or a headlamp, it can get really dark.  

Breakfast by the beach

-Mozambique is an absolutely amazing kitesurf destination. I already wrote before about the great kiting in Maputo and Maragra lagoon. In Tofo you can get some good wave kiting and it definitely doesn't get crowded, a lot of the times I have been in the water by myself. You also have the chance to kite with whale sharks here, like one of the guys did a few weeks ago. I went in to the water a little bit after him and spent over 2 hours going up and down with my kite, searching for that whale shark, but apparently it had had enough and disappeared. Kiting with a whale shark is thus still on my To do -list. I also spent an amazing weekend kiting a bit further up north, in the perfect turquoise flat waters of Vilanculos. Seriously it's one of the best freestyle spots I have ever seen, the only problem is that it can apparently be too uncrowded. On Sunday the conditions were perfect and most of the times I was in the water alone, some company and peer pressure to try harder would have been nice!

Vilanculos on low tide, further out you have a perfect flat pool between the sandbanks

-South Africans can probably host some of the best dinner parties ever. Just make sure the dinner table is strong enough to take the weight of 9 people dancing on it.

Unfortunately you can normally find quite a lot of trash on the beaches here, hopefully this will change

-Perfect Sundays are the ones you spent surfing nice waves in the warm water with super friendly people while watching humpback whales jumping around. And realizing that at the same time you can't wait to get to work on Monday.

Adventures in Mozambique

Honeymoon

Despite travelling quite a lot in the recent years, this is my very first time in the African continent. I'm still in the city of Maputo since I need to wait for some paper work to be done before I can actually start working. Unable to work I have been pretty much on a holiday after my 2-day training. And so far it has been wonderful! I feel like I'm on my honeymoon with this country - that time when everything is new and exciting, and even the little difficulties just feel like part of an adventure.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Fatima in Maputo

One of the skyscrapers in the making

Not usually a city person, my plan was not to stay in Maputo for more than few days. But it surely doesn't get boring here even after 1,5 weeks, so many things to see and do. Central Maputo is growing really fast with new skyscrapers being built everywhere you look. It's not actually a cheap city to live in, for a room in a shared apartment you will easily pay over 500 euros, which is even more than in Helsinki. The nightlife is great with lots of live music, cozy outdoor clubs and places to have a relaxed beers with friends. Yesterday I participated in a salsa dance class and afterwards listened to a live-band karaoke on the terrace of one of the clubs. Last week I tried swing dancing and even went to see a class of traditional Mozambican dance, but decided that my stiff Finnish body would never survive that one.

Craft Market

National Art Museum

Breakfast view

After my luggage finally arrived last Wednesday, I have also been able to go kitesurfing! By googling "Kitesurf in Maputo" I found the website of Mozambique Kitesurfing and contacted Daniele, who kindly gave me instructions on how to get to the kite beach. The next morning I got a text message saying the wind was good, so I found a tuc tuc, packed my gear inside and arrived to the beach after about 5-10 minutes drive from the center. The spot in Maputo is great and especially at lower tides the water is nicely flat for freestyle. The windy season in the south of the country actually only starts around September, but this week has been quite good anyway. For a fee of few euros the guys at the kite beach set up and pack your gear for you, help with the launching and landing and keep an eye on your car or belongings at the beach.

Maragra lagoon

I was also invited to an awesome kitesurf road trip on Sunday. Altogether I think we were about 7 or 8 cars and we drove for few hours through the bushes and a massive sugar plantation to get to a beautiful lagoon in the middle of nowhere. On the way some of the guys stopped a few times to ask from the nearby villages if there could be crocodiles in the lagoon (as it was fresh water after all). But since everyone said no and there were no crocodile sightings from the previous trips to the lagoon, in we went. The wind was a bit strong for my 12m2 kite, but I had a super funny oldschool session, all the way until one of the lines in my kite snapped. I was able to borrow a kite for another session that afternoon and as Daniele also runs a kite repair, the next day my lines were all fixed and ready to go for another session in Maputo. Driving back from the lagoon and watching the bright red sun set over the land, listening to African-style tunes from the radio and hearing about all the wonderful places to go kiting, surfing, diving and exploring in Mozambique gave me that amazing sense of adventure. Can't wait to explore other parts of this country too!

On the (off)road

Greetings from Mozambique!

I arrived to Maputo on Saturday only half conscious after 3 flights and 2 sleepless nights. So far during these 4 days here I have wandered around the city, searched after my lost luggage, danced to a live reggae band in a cozy outdoor club and had 2 interesting days of orientation at the Country Office of Plan Mozambique.

The trip here actually went really smoothly. I had prepared to answer some tough questions about my visa and the purpose of my trip at the immigration desk, but instead the lady just stamped my passport without barely saying a word. A shared a taxi to the city with an Australian guys I met at the lost luggage office, and only after 10 short minutes I arrived to my lovely hostel in the center of the city. 

On Sunday it became clear that my luggage would not arrive very soon, as it had not even been located yet. Thus I was in desperate need of some essentials, like clean clothes, some soap, a towel etc. Most of the shops were closed, so I headed to the buzzing street market and managed to find a tiny towel, some clean socks and underwear and a clean shirt to wear to the orientation the next day. Afterwards I went to get some hygiene products from a a tiny, candlelit grocery store. For almost the entire Sunday Maputo was suffering from a power cut (except of course the hotels and other buildings with their own generators). 

On my way to the Supermarket

On Sunday nights there is a lovely club in Maputo playing live music. This time the band was playing reggae and we danced until the very end, so much fun! Practically having just one outfit has made life very easy, apparently you can wear the same clothes to work, party and anywhere in between. Obviously I could buy more clothes, but for some reason I keep believing the people at the lost luggage office who keep telling me that my bag will arrive to Maputo 'tomorrow'. So far that tomorrow has not arrived yet. Maybe tomorrow! Anyway, at least I have realized that you really don't need many things.

My actual work will be done at the Program Unit of Plan Mozambique in another province, about 500 kilometres north of Maputo. So far it's a bit unclear when I will travel there, depends on the paper work etc, maybe next week. But until then I'll be enjoying the beautiful and exciting city of Maputo, endless amount of things still to see and do here!

I will write more about my work and Plan Mozambique soon, as well as try to share more pictures from here. So far the only picture I took is the one above, from the way to the supermarket on my first night. Anyways, just a quick post to say that I am alive and well, loving this country so far and excited about everything ahead!