Exciting Trip to the Kingdom of Swaziland!

Houses and garbage on the outskirts of Maputo. I find it hard to get used to the garbage everywhere.

In order to get our residency visas (DIRE) to work and stay in Mozambique, we had to travel to the capital of Swaziland, Mbabane (pop. 60,000), and visit the Mozambican Chancery with our duly notarized papers. We had a wonderful visit to this small, beautiful, clean, cool, friendly, mountainous country – embedded between Moz. and South Africa.

Left: The bus station in Mbabane with small mini-buses, called chapas in Moz and combi in Swaziland. Right: Swazi Plaza shopping centre - an example of how clean we found Swaziland. Garbage cans were everywhere, garbage men worked on Sundays (!) and swept the streets and sidewalks as well. People seemed to take great pride in their country.

The population of Swazi is 1.1 million people – roughly the population of Maputo or Ottawa. Swazi gained its independence in 1968 and King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch, has ruled the country since 1986. Democratic reformers would like to have a constitutional, rather than an absolute, monarchy. Sadly, Swazi has “the highest HIV infection rate in the world (almost 39% for adults between 15 and 49 years of age) and life expectance has fallen from 58 to 33 years”. (Lonely Planet’s Southern Africa, 4th ed., 2007 p.601)

We took a chapa (mini-bus holding 16-18 tightly packed passengers clutching their knapsacks and bags on their laps) from Maputo to the frontier at Goba (75 km), were all processed through each country’s border, this took about 1 hour total, and then drove onto Manzini (72 km). There we caught another chapa to Mbabane (31 km). The entire trip takes about 4 hours depending on border and passport complications of all the passengers.

In Mbabane, we stayed at the Thokoza Church Stay/Conference Centre which was very clean, safe and reasonably priced – since VSO was covering our visa travel costs. A small room with 2 single beds, desk and chair, and clothes cupboards costs 240 Rand (approx. $29 US) per night and included breakfast for 2!

The Moz. Chancery accepts passports and papers early in the morning and processes them for 2 pm the same day so, in between visits, the taxi took us to Swazi Plaza, a shopping centre. It is cheaper to shop in Swazi for clothes, shoes, electrical products than in Moz – so I bought a 9 band radio so we can listen to the news in English and Portuguese back in Maputo (100 R or $12 US).

Once we picked up our passports, we paid for a little holiday to Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary in the Malkerns Valley (45 mins. from Mbabane).

Read my next blog entry to see wildlife pics... We were all very excited by this little holiday!!!

Love Karen

Architecture and murals around Maputo

I am still waiting for the downpour to end so I have uploaded my most recent photos from Maputo and have chosen a selection of, what I consider interesting, photos of the lovely architecture (colonial and modern) and murals around Maputo. I hope you enjoy them!

Heat wave in Maputo!

A few weeks ago we had a wonderful visit to the fish market outside of Maputo. Here are some photos from the market. You choose your fish and seafood and then the restaurant cooks it for you! The prawns were fabulous and - no - we couldn't eat them all!

Apparently this week we had a heat wave in Maputo! It seemed a bit hotter to me but not that much different from other weeks. I continued to do daytime errands and shopping but okay - maybe I did get the tops of my toes burned from the sun! Even sunscreen #50 didn't save them.

I still find it sad, every time I venture out, to see the garbage on the streets, in the gutters, on the sidewalks and just blowing around. Okay, my mother would hate that about Maputo. The country seems to be on the road to recovery after the "civil war" which ended in 1992, and has many other serious priorities, but tourism continues to be a large source of economic growth. I can't imagine what tourists think! Notario, one of the local newspapers, has many ads requesting bids for infrastructure projects throughout the country. Sidewalks are in very dangerous condition and are extremely treachourous at night, if the street is not well lit.

If anyone in Ottawa (or elsewhere) feels like phoning me - I think this is the sequence 011 258 8232 92237 (my cell phone). I am 7 hours ahead of Ottawa - so the best time to phone is between 10 am to 2 pm Ottawa time (5 pm to 9 pm my time). I go to an internet cafe on Saturdays to skype my mother around 3 pm but reception at her end has been iffy, plus I know she is not wearing her hearing aids!! Thanks to all my friends in Ottawa for helping her out. Sorry to hear about horrible snow storms and freezing cold weather you are having. Canada is a very tough country to live in - weather-wise!!! However, it makes us a tough bunch as well.

We have no tv or radio at our apt. but are pretty exhausted after a day of Portuguese lessons, so bedtime and reading tends to be around 9 pm - believe it or not. Mind you, I am awake a good part of the night with the incredibly loud music and other noises where we live - so getting a bit of sleep before midnight is not a bad idea!! It could be a lot worse!

We have to write an "interesting" article about ourselves in Portuguese, complete with photos, for next week. I have no problem with the photos but the article will be a challenge. I am grateful, however, for the opportunity to study Portuguese (100 hours with Leonor!). My French has been both a help and a hindrance: I can guess at some verbs and words due to knowing French but then pronounce them incorrectly. There are sounds in Portuguese we just do not have in English! There is a language grant, for an additional 50 hours of lessons, I can apply for from VSO and I am seriously thinking about it - once I am settled in my placement at the University - beginning of February.

The street vendors also continue to be a great source of interest to me. They walk up and down the streets carrying and selling mops, buckets, extension cords, bras, pants, dresses, shoes, nail polish, skin cream, cell phone credit (you have to buy cards and top up your cell phone here - no monthly plans), etc. I currently need an extension cord badly, so that I can have both my computer charging and the fan on (for white noise mostly) at the same time, but the men are never on the street when I need them... We just saw our first female MCEL (Mozambican cell phone provider) worker this week near Polana, the posh area of Maputo. Other than selling fruits and vegetables, it is extremely unusual to see women selling anything else.

It looks like a big rainstorm heading my way, so I had better sign off and get home before my computer bag gets soaked through. When it rains, in this rainy season, it can be torrential - not just a tiny drizzle. Too late, I am here until the downpour ends... ah, time for another lovely cafe com leite or galou.

Also, the best months to visit Maputo are April, May and September, October. June to August is their winter and it is cooler ie. too cold to swim? with temperatures around 10-12 C or low 50s F.

Beijo, Karen

Feliz Ano Novo!

Happy New Year to everyone!

We had pasta with pesto (hard to come by), salad and a Ferrero Rocher chocolate each - plus sparkling SA wine at midnight singing Auld Lang Syne with our 3 guests. The music in our complex got going at midnight and ended sometime around 4 am. The competing nightly noises are the squeaking of rats downstairs (we only hear them), the many dogs barking, the muezzin calling for prayers, the rooster who crows at all hours and the two elderly men who are mixing cement and fixing a patio at the house behind us - starting at 6 am. We all need earplugs but can't find any to buy yet!

The vehicles in Maputo all seem in amazing shape ie. not rust-buckets (except the chapas)! There is a real culture of car washing, virtually every day, that I don't recall in Canada. They take real pride in their cars etc. but they do start washing early in the morning. Can you tell I am still not back to being a morning person!!!

Yesterday, we took a ferry from Maputo to Catembe, walked the beach and had a wonderful prawn lunch with rice and tomatoes (100M = $4.00 US). It was delicious and cooked by local women in a make-shift oven. See the pics above - dhows in Catembe and Dolly, Simone and I waiting for our prawn lunch!

Portuguese lessons start again on Monday for two weeks so I have to buckle down more than I have. I've been taking photos, walking and reading books - what else! I have had some success skyping my mother and some friends but the reception is great at my end and poor at their end. Ho hum! At least my mother knows I am fine. Friends are keeping her up-to-date with my emails etc.

I have discovered a cafe with free internet (for how long?) and great coffee and omelettes - what could be better! It is a short walk from where we currently live.

Simone and I are to move into a different apt. this month for the duration of our stays but we visited it last week and discovered the ceilings leaking over the beds and in the living room. In spite of the wonderful view - this is not good!!! We like the apt. so we hope repairs can be done.

Hope everyone has a peaceful and happy 2009! Love Karen