Well I did get to Mozambique a few days ago, the bus journey was uneventful until we got to the border. I was travelling with a Welsh girl and a Finish guy, we tried to get our visas in Swaziland the day before as was recommended, but were told to get it at the border by the embassy and it would cost 40 rand. When we got there we were told that it actually cost 560 rand. Well neither me or Sian had that much on us and the woman at the border was very unhelpful and just told us we had to find it. Well that's easier said than done at a border post, so we faced the prospect of either going back in to Swaziland and trying to hitch hike back into the capital, or find some money from someone. We went outside to ask the Finish guy if he had any he could lend us, when we saw that the bus, along with our bags, had already crossed the border! We had to persuade the border guard to let us cross if we left our passports with them to find money. As you can probably guess we did manage to borrow money off the Finish guy and got to Maputo uneventfully after that.
I spent a few days in Maputo and I must say it was quite a weird place, we managed to go out with locals for the first couple of evenings which helped a lot. But Maputo is not laid out like any other city I've been to before, there is no city centre everything is just spread out all over the place. You will wander around the city and you'll just be passing lots of run down buildings and just come across a nice shop or a bar, but after that you are back to run done buildings again. It did make it very hard to do anything in Maputo without a lot of walking. I did manage to go to an open air music festival while I was there, outside the town hall. There was some good music on, but I haven't been to a festival quite like it before. Every artist came on for one song and then you would have to wait for 10 minutes while the next band set up. The was one band that played two songs in a row, well actually they played the same song twice, but no one actually seemed to notice!
We I'm now in Tofo where there are beautiful sandy beaches and turquoise coloured water. I got here yesterday after an 8 and a half hours bus journey where I couldn't move as I was squashed onto a seat with a local woman that really wasn't big enough for two. She also kept on falling asleep on my shoulder, well I was very sore after that ride and still am today. But looking at the sea and the beach makes it all worth it, just!
Well I'm booked on the advanced dive course tomorrow, which will last for a few days. I thought as I want to dive I might as well take the next course so I allows me to dive in more areas around the world. I'm looking forward to seeing what all the hype about diving here is all about, I'm sure it is going to be amazing.
Well I'm not sure yet where I will head after here, either down the coast in an even longer bus journey to Pont a' Dora to do some more diving or head straight back to South Africa. Well in any case I have some more unpleasant bus rides ahead of me, well in any case it may get me use to them before I head to South America!
Blimey, that border crossing sounds rather hairy! More photos please! xxx
ReplyDeleteGetting across the boarder sounds nearly as difficult as getting into the garage at Lincoln!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWill the dive school teach you what to do with big sharks?
Been off-air because Samsung notebook lost drivers again - bought a ne HP plus pay as you go and back on line
Dad
this is dad setting up mld and testing
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ReplyDeleteBen I spent a week last nite writing to u only to find it was blown out into space with only a fancy msg suggesting who to contct and giving me a ref no! No help there but others seemed to hav had the same problem - ugh!!
ReplyDeleteI am totally envious as my extensive work travels were mostly airport hotel factory airport but once I bagged a weekend in Kruger Park which was great. I will leave the snakes to u I hate them and u must keep up the diving and come to the Purbecks dive and bring back lobsters & crabs to cook for us to offset our v high tariff. I reckon come 12months on the road u will just keep travelling as the thought of routine must b horrendous aftrer that amount of freedom
We went from Durban up to the foothills of the Drakensburg to a high weekend outpost on the way back the hired car slid on the mud and we ditched luckily pushing out with quite a bit of damage as a souvenir. It was quite high as one of our party had a dizzy spell.
Your folk r in the UK now and called & will b coming tomorrow for a few nites but I think u know who will want to b away bfor E V NZ as we Welsh expect them to b eaten bfor bfast
DHD is delighted u r far away so cant influence me on cameras or cars!! I still haven't been over to Brian and the price has now dropped to £219 in our local elec store but most r still £239. Mine still works ok and has a viewfinder but the lens cover sorted my your father is still jammed open!
I will leave u to the sun & the birds - enjoy!!M & D