One day in the capital
Trip Start
Apr 19, 2009
1
10
35
Trip End
Dec 20, 2009
Maputo, Mozambique
Friday, May 8, 2009
As is so often on these trips, you plan to reach a certain destination in seven hours and due to very potholed road conditions, random meetings and dealing for fresh produce at the side of the road, bonnet deep mudholes and some major cow dodging, you only make half the distance...and experience double as much. Marvin and I left Malangane in good spirits at about 7am and were in Maputo round 2pm, a trip of about 100km! We were totally buggered after the exhausting drive and decided, that seeing we were on a yet indefinite holiday, there was really no point in rushing. So we parked the Landy in the tiny yard at Fatmimas, a backpacker in the central part of Maputo, and went out in search for some food. The Zambezi Bar/Restaurant across the Mao Tse Tung Road welcomed us with the widely served Frango Braza (Grilled Chicken) and our first 2M-beer (doschem)! Being newly rejuvenated we ventured through the bustling streets to find some good coffee and were again not disappointed with one of the best cappuccinos at the side of the road.
We truly enjoyed the life, pride and joi de vivre that flows through the streets here. Sure, some of the buildings are run down and the scars of 25 years of civil war cannot go unseen. But there is a certain pulse in Maputo that picks you up and pulls you along. You end up leaving the capital with eyes full of the colour and laughter of people, leaving the ruins and crumbling pavements to fade into the background.
