week 21 mozambique

Long drive to get to the beach…but that’s normal. Full day and when I first saw the ocean it as flat as a lake…there were more waves in the lake last week. But the colors were beautiful. My first sight of the Indian ocean. Drove further down the coast to arrive at Nascer Do Sol and an amazing resort area…very isolated with great chalets, beautiful views and the ocean acting like the real ocean—salt, waves, current and sand…I felt that I had made it and really there was no need to leave…Reinette and I jumped in without a second thought. Well, still fully dressed there was a second thought but it didn’t stop us. We fought the current and the waves and had huge smiles on our faces the entire time…and the wind was blowing which just made us not want to get out as then we would be cold…we stayed two nights with many walks on the beach and dips in the ocean though we did warn the kids about not going in without an adult because the rip current was serious but the kids were fine with that with the waves being much bigger than they were. Walking along during low tide we found sea anemones and men o’war (little blue bubbles with tails that sting) brought back memories of walking the beach in Hawaii and stepping on the bubbles to pop them…so I passed that along and then promptly got stung…my foot was beautiful—greeny blue from the sprain and red from the sting…
When we left we continued south to Maputo the capital…that was where we were splitting ways—they would continue to South Africa and I would head back north and return to Malawi. Having lunch with some people they knew there my wellbeing was being taken into consideration—mostly in Afrikaans so I didn’t get most of it but was aware that they were worried about my safety and traveling on my own and while I tried to tell them that I would be fine…I also had no concrete plan that would put their (and my) minds at ease…I was left in the care of dirk as they continued on and his plan was to get me to the bus station to buy a ticket back to Malawi then leave me with a friend who would get me to the station the next day…that didn’t sit too well with me as that would mean I would see nothing more of Mozambique except a really long ride back to Malawi immediately…so I convinced him to take me back to Xiaxia where I stayed with a pastor’s family he knows—Pastor Antonio—they were so nice and welcoming, his wife, two kids (Gladness was 1 and not scared of azungu at all), and two nieces who had very good English. My portugese still isn’t too great but we could communicate. They took me to the minibus the next morning and wished me well. I sat down and we took off—the guy behind me offered me a sweetie—turned out to be a halls throat lozenge, a bit later the guy next to me offered me some cassava that they eat raw as a filler…not too tasty but a very nice gesture and when we got off in Maxixe he made sure I knew where I was going (not an easy thing as I didn’t really know where I wanted to go)…to the dock to take a ferry across the bay to Inhambane. My guide book mentioned an out of the way hostel that was just gorgeous but of course I could no longer figure out how to get there as it involved another dhow or water taxi and I just got blank looks when I asked about it. So I settled in at a hostel I did find and wandered around town—didn’t take long and since I wasn’t where I figured I wanted to be I came to the conclusion that I didn’t like it and would leave the next day…