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