Maputo

oh, Maputo. I have such a love/hate relationship with you. Since living in South Africa I have spent a handful of weekends away in Maputo. Some nights were just spent stopping over (like on our bike trip), others were planned weekends away with Roger, but mostly we are just passing through on the way to Bilene.
What can I say, Maputo is a mindfuck. Admire the beautifully run down architectural buildings, experience the intense traffic and traffic jams, taste delicious pastries and amazing seafood, drink hot coffee and cold 2M's, encounter aggressively corrupt police officers, walk on broken sidewalks between piles of garbage, watch the rich and poor Mozambicans interact, drive between expensive cars and old asian jalopies, go to the markets markets and more markets, drink cocktails at the bar in one of the many expensive hotels, dance the night away to jazz music, visit interesting museums (see the natural history museum full of stuffed animals), buy buckets of fish, take a scary ride in a tuk tuk, find amazing street-art, etc. Everytime I am there I notice something more.

clockwise: praca dos trabalhadores statue | street art | railway station | tuk tuk | outside clube naval | the promenade | inside costa do sol | sunset

I am obviously no Maputo expert but here are just a few of the things we have done and enjoyed:

• Seafood dinner at the Maputo Waterfront restaurant. Such a fun vibe, always live music playing at night and the seafood is delicious. Its not cheap, but Maputo isn't cheap.
• Drinks & lunch by the pool at Clube Naval de Maputo. I like to pretend I am über rich when I am here, sipping a 2M by the pool at my private beach club of choice. 
• Sun-downers at the Hotel Cardoso. Really cool panoramic views of Maputo and the beach - perfect place to watch the sun go down. ( another great place to pretend you are rich)
• Prawns at the legendary Costa do Sol. The food isn't THAT good, and it is a little pricey, but you just have to go to Costa do Sol. We have also stayed here a couple times, in the hotel and in the park homes out back. Again, the accommodation isn't that great either - but it is a really beautiful old building. Have some prawns washed down with plenty 2M's and if you stay there into the night you get to watch (or join) all the locals across the street having a fat party.
• The Maputo Central Market - have only done this once, but it was an experience. There is another street market that happens right outside the fort on Saturdays, not sure what it is called, but they sell better goods than the market if you are looking to buy gifts.
• The Railway Station. You have to see it - it is magnificent. See it by day to take it all in, but come again on Saturday night to check out the Jazz club. Roger and I did this one weekend and we were pretty blown away. Could have just been a good night? who knows - but we loved it.
• Make sure to stop at a local coffee shop/ pastelaria. I don't remember any of the names - but there are so many downtown. Go to one that has a lot of locals, it is sure to be good.

There are of course, plenty of other "must-do" places in Maputo ( The Iron House, the old fort, art galleries, etc). Our times in Maputo have always been an experience. I love finding more.

Easter - Motorbike Trip

This Easter weekend, Roger & I headed off on a motorbike trip with our fabulous friends Tanya & Rob (my poor mother, motorbikes?!?! in Africa!?!?). With no real plan, just Kosi Bay as our destination.

Rog and I did the first leg of the trip on our own since Rob & Tans were coming from Joburg. We headed over the Barberton pass deciding to enter Swaziland at the Bulembu border. We fell in love with this drive, and even made sure to take Chelsea when we went back to Swaziland last month.

Bulembu looked really interesting, so I made sure to do some research when we returned from our trip. You can find more information about the town on their website.

We left Bulembu and drove one of the worst dirt roads to Piggs Peak, definitely not recommended by car, but was fun on the bike! Had to stop for some refreshments at a very old hotel just outside of Piggs Peak (For the life of me, I cannot find its flippin' name online - if I find it out, I will let you know!).

Rob & Tans joined us that night and we stayed at Lidwala backpackers in the Ezulwini Valley - we shared a room with a very smelly boy from Vancouver, which somehow transferred to me being called a smelly Canadian for the rest of our trip.

The next morning, we set out on our adventure. We drove through Manzini, had drinks in Big Bend at another old hotel, crossed the Lavumisa border back into South Africa (on the other side), had drinks at a ridiculously fancy hotel called the Tiger Lodge on the Jozini Dam and even took a splash in their fancy infinity pool.

We then carried on to our destination, Thobeka backpackers in Manguzi ( closest town to Kosi Bay), where we were greeted by the absolutely lovely owner who made us feel right at home in our little hippie backpacker shacks.

We spent the next day on the beach. We thought we would be able to ride down or walk down to the beach, but we were mistaken. We instead caught a ride with a game vehicle (thanks to the really nice couple that let us join on!), who also took us on a quick free tour of the fish traps in the lake. We then lay on the beach all day drinking beers, and got stupidly burnt because that is what we do. Silly bums.

Mozambique day of hell ( well it started out to be, and then ended up being the best day of our trip once we got our minds wrapped around it).

We woke up and decided to head through Mozambique, again with no real plan. We went through the Ponto Malongane border, and within 100metres into the trip Rob & Tans have already fallen off their bike. The sand roads are intense! Roger & Rob are sweating rainforest amounts of water to keep the front wheels straight.

It takes us HOURS to get to Ponto do Ouro, with Rob & Tans falling a few more times, and luckily us only falling once. Tanya & my spirits were WAY down. Tanya and I debated how to take a taxi home, we were beat - and when the surfshop owner told us that we have only finished a quarter of the sand road up to Catembe, we were broken. But we had lunch, changed our tune and decided "Fuck it, lets do this!" - and off we went.

We made it to Catembe at 7pm. Rob & Tans had hit a major pothole in the road, but we were still in relatively good spirits. We took the ferry across to Maputo, which is definitely a must-do experience. We relaxed and watched the Maputo city lights get closer and closer, along with a million other Mozambicans and their cars squashed onto the expertly packed ferry.

We had arrived in Maputo! We headed to my favourite old hotel, Costa do Sol, had HUGE seafood dinners to reward ourselves for our crazy day, had lots of laughs and slept like babies in our cozy hotel rooms with the air-con blazing.

Four friends, four days, three countries, two bikes & a bucket load of memories! We are already planning our next trip.