Day 33
Mozambique
If you were to ask someone, “what country’s flag has an AK-47 rifle on it?” they probably wouldn’t know… and they’d probably offer up the USA as a joke answer. But no, it’s Mozambique and the gun, hoe, and book represent defence, production, and education. It’s still pretty creepy. I had no preconceived notions about what to expect from this country, other than we’d been warned that it’s not safe to walk around on your own, looking like a tourist.
Pulling up at the dock, the capital city of Maputo was bigger than I expected.
I suppose I should’ve expected a substantial city when the sunrise revealed a line of cargo ships waiting to go into port.
The walk from the ship to the bus for the tour was long - about a kilometre- and I think several people didn’t allow nearly enough time for that, so our bus got off 30 minutes late. Because it had to be back in time to pick up the next tour group, that meant that our time at the stops on the tour would be cut short. As it turns out, that ended up making the tour better, as we had just enough time to see things without having to wait for the bus to leave afterward.
First stop was the train station, and Ercílio (our guide) was proud to tell us that Time magazine had ranked it the third most beautiful train station in the world.
The station is still used for passenger trains today, but it also houses a small railroad museum inside.
People are like lemmings, just following each other all the time. See the photo above, everyone is crowded on that little strip of pavement, trying to get photos of the lovely wooden passenger cars. Most of them only got shots with a dozen other people in the way. But if they’d thought outside the box, they’d have seen that there were passageways on both sides of the train… and thus, a nice, clean picture of the nicely restored cars.
Next stop was the big square… err, roundabout with the centres of power and their respective buildings. These were the Catholic Church,
the government (the statue is Samora Moisés Machel, the first president of Mozambique),
and the law (this is the Central Courts building).
Afterwards, we went to see the centre of culture and tourism. The building is odd and it’s full of people hawking their wares, just like anywhere else that we went. The difference is that this building was designed by Gustave Eiffel…. yes, THAT Eiffel, of tower fame. It was shipped here in containers and assembled for use as a house. But it didn’t last long as a house, because the metal clad structure meant that the summers were like an oven inside and the winters were like a freezer.
From there, we walked across the street to a huge botanical gardens which looked really nice, but our shortened time meant that we literally walked into the entrance, the guide said, “this is the botanical gardens. Everyone let’s go back to the bus now.” I would’ve like to spend much more time here, but it wasn’t meant to be.
We stopped at a farmer’s market, primarily because of the architecture of the building.
Most of the market was produce, although it’s a good thing I didn’t have cash on me, otherwise I might’ve gotten back on the ship with several new hot sauces from local ingredients with no labels whatsoever, which just makes it more fun.
Don’t need any hot sauce or produce? You can get a weave or a wig, or step into a salon and get your hair did. (People not from the southern US are probably cringing at “get your hair did” but that’s a thing, trust me.)
Speaking of markets, we also made a stop at the FEIMA market, which looks like an acronym for something, but our guide didn’t explain it. Whatever it stands for, it’s an open-air market filled with artisans showing off their crafts. It was much nicer than the farmer’s market.
The last stop on the tour was a fort. Again, not a lot of information being given by the guide, although he did tell us that the king was forced to sit under this tree to show that the indigenous population had been conquered by the Portuguese (the official language is still Portuguese). He was then shipped off to the Azures, where he died.
The fort sits right in the middle of town, providing a nice juxtaposition of old and new.
Inside the fortress, there was a very well-done statue of Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque, a Portuguese cavalry officer, who (in spite of what two people on our tour from Albuquerque told the tour guide) has nothing whatsoever to do with Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is where Bugs Bunny should’ve taken that left turn. If you know, you know.
Back to the ship. Spent an hour trying to upload all these pictures. Naps happened. Went to Chef’s Table for the “Sweet and Salty” menu with new friends Tom and Jim from California, near Palm Springs.
We’ve been to Chef’s Table multiple times on this cruise and on previous cruises, but Rob and I both agreed that this was our favourite menu so far. It began with perfectly seared scallops with beets and a tangy mustard that was just barely there, with a passionfruit sauce along the sides that I figured would be too overpowering for scallops. And I figured wrong. It was perfect.
The main was a veal tenderloin, cooked to perfection, with sweet potato puree underneath.
Dessert was called “strawberry and basil delight”. I didn’t taste either of those things very much, but the vanilla custard topped with an absolutely delicious whirlwind of shredded wheat make me not care that it didn’t live up to its name.
I’ve mentioned Trivia and Choir Practice many times on this trip already. Both are led by assistant cruise director Patricia, an absolutely gorgeous and personable young woman from the Philippines. She was the featured entertainment tonight, in a show called “Rock the Boat”.
And she did.
It was a great show to top off a great evening, which ended a great day.
And to top it all off, there was a really nice sunset to see from our cabin balcony.
…but as fun as today was, things are about to get really interesting over the next three days. The camera battery is charging up as I type this, getting ready.