Bom dias!
After staying in Mozambique for 3 days, it is clear that not a lot of people speak English. Almost everything is in Portuguese.
This morning we left early in Maputo. After a good breakfast in our nice guesthouse we loaded the car and left the busy centre of Maputo. We took the EN1 highway to Xai-Xai. When we drove out of Maputo we noticed little shacks and townships and we saw the very poor side of Maputo. We were quite surprised about the small amount of potholes on the EN1. Also the speed limits are very strict. The people in general drive very slow. A taxi is only allowed to drive 70 and a bakkie 80. Every 50 km there is a police roadblock. Luckily they never pulled us over yet. On the way to Xai-Xai we took the exit to Praia do Bilene, a huge lake where we took a small break and were astonished by the beauty of the white sand and the crystal clear water.
Arriving in Xai-Xai we dropped our valuables off at the Honeypot, a place where we stay overnight in a wooden chalet. As there is absolutely nobody, they gave us an en-suite room. Then we went to have a look at the beach in Xai-Xai. It’s absolutely deserted, as there are no, but really no tourists around. It’s probably the quietest period of the year here. After out visit to the sea we wanted to do some groceries. At the local Shoprite they don’t have meat and bread, so we went to a local bakery, just like we are used to in Europe. Well the meat was a big problem. Nowhere you can find meat at a supermarket, only frozen weird looking meat. So after a search we ended up at a “fresh meat market”. Well yeah, it was fresh at least, as they were bringing in bleeding cow heads and a bakkie in front of the shop was loaded with dead stinky cow bodies. So after our shoes had stains of blood, we just turned back and decided not to braai tonight. Instead Hanne made us a nice pasta outside on the gas stove. Tonight was just relaxing next to a big campfire together with some Dois M (2M), one of the nice beers Mozambique has to offer!
