We docked at Maputo at noon yesterday for a five hour visit to Mozambique. It was a good five hours. It was also hotter than Southern Africa. Well, as hot as Southern Africa--now that I think of it.
Mozambique was French, then Portuguese, then Communist, now democratic but kind of corrupt; the northern part is Muslim and the south is Catholic, the first democratically elected president was murdered in South Africa, and now his widow is married to Nelson Mandela. She is the only person to have been married to two presidents of two different countries, said our knowledgeable guide for our five hour tour of the capital city. The same statue of the first president in somewhat Fidel garb appears all over town and largest in the main square. Despite some expensive luxurious hotels, Maputo is not a touristic destination. So our tour visited a couple of these hotels and the obligatory market stop as well as a remarkably nice local handicraft fair (where two locals were playing checkers with bottle caps). Most notable are two architectural wonders by Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel). A curious iron clad building which although most stylish for the late 19th Century was essentially too hot to be occupied, and a fantastic gem of a railway station. The working train station alone is actually worth a visit to Maputo.
We returned hot and tired from our madcap tour of the city of two million people and relaxed on our veranda (ship talk for deck). After figuring out how to page her, our butler Myrna delivered traditional Mozambiquian evening snacks of guacamole and corn chips to enjoy with the Stella Atois beers in our fridge. We watched the sailing from this interesting port as the upside down full moon rose over a mass market MSC Cruise Line ship. Except for my back still aching, it was a glorious day in my 134th country visited, but who's counting.
We sailed at a breakneck 19.6 knots with the Indian Ocean southerly current and watched the Pilot for the port of Richards Bay be lowered from a helicopter. He didn't look thrilled. We will be here for two days. This afternoon we visit the St. Lucia Nature Reserve to take a boat ride in a lagoon full of birds and hippos, and tomorrow we will spend all day "on safari" in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve. I will report in a couple of days on these excursions and also the proper pronunciation and meaning of Hluhluwe-Umfolozi. But I believe it means "very expensive."
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