Maputo: 24.10.2000
We reached this picturesque place yesterday afternoon, around 3.00 pm. It was a long trip from Cairo which we left by the 10.00 pm flight. From Cairo to Nairobi and then to Johannesburg from where we hopped to Maputo. For Ravi, both the airports of Nairobi and Jo'burg were new and Jo'burg especially is a very jazzy airport, full of duty-free shops, stocking the best quality material, be it knick-knacks, designer clothing, music or diamonds. We went around quickly and identified things to be picked up at leisure on the way back, when we'd have a 4-hr break at Jo'burg.
Yesterday afternoon we were too tired to hit the market and comb for customers. However, the sight of the place was quite rejuvinating. It was a Portugese city at one time, a tourist resort by profession, and the settlers had obviously left an inheritence of smiling indolence and a laid-back attitude towards life in general. One could see the shadow of Goa in every nook and cranny. Our Hotel Cardoso was located by the side of a bay and the view from the open-air restaurant in the backyard of the hotel was quite spectacular. So while Ravi took a nap, I sat there and washed the sun down with a couple of beers.........
We reached this picturesque place yesterday afternoon, around 3.00 pm. It was a long trip from Cairo which we left by the 10.00 pm flight. From Cairo to Nairobi and then to Johannesburg from where we hopped to Maputo. For Ravi, both the airports of Nairobi and Jo'burg were new and Jo'burg especially is a very jazzy airport, full of duty-free shops, stocking the best quality material, be it knick-knacks, designer clothing, music or diamonds. We went around quickly and identified things to be picked up at leisure on the way back, when we'd have a 4-hr break at Jo'burg.
Yesterday afternoon we were too tired to hit the market and comb for customers. However, the sight of the place was quite rejuvinating. It was a Portugese city at one time, a tourist resort by profession, and the settlers had obviously left an inheritence of smiling indolence and a laid-back attitude towards life in general. One could see the shadow of Goa in every nook and cranny. Our Hotel Cardoso was located by the side of a bay and the view from the open-air restaurant in the backyard of the hotel was quite spectacular. So while Ravi took a nap, I sat there and washed the sun down with a couple of beers.........
We took a walk around in the evening, although the hotel people said that it was not very safe after dark, and negotiated with a taxi for the driving around tomorrow. Then we took off for a ride on the same cab. Like most tourist places, this place also shuts down early and at six-thirty most of the shops were closed. We saw a few open restaurants but decided to have dinner at the hotel. So we picked up some provisions (like a few beers) and came back. By eight we were through with our recreation and were ready for dinner. There could not be a more extreme contrast after the night-life at Cairo! But we did not mind, as it had been quite strenuous.
Today we took off at 8.30 am and by around 4.00 pm we were through with meeting customers. The city seemed fairly big (after all Mozambique is a biggish country) but most of the big consumer shops were in a single locality. In the course of our wanderings, we managed to take in a few sights like a beautiful cathedral, a house made of steel and the Municipal building. But the best of the lot was lunch at a small cafe, where we had fried red-fish and rice, accompanied by a couple of shots of Amrula. It is a cream liquior and quite nice. The cafe was decorated with a number of woodwork carvings and paintings typical of Maputo. There was a huge pinning-board where clients seemed to have stuck small sketches which they had drawn while waiting for their order to be served! Ravi, a music fan, picked up a couple of cassettes of traditional Mozambique music from the music vendors squatting outside, with the help of one of the ladies in the cafe.........
We had asked the driver Isaac to take us to someplace where we could buy some cheap artifacts. He took us to the artists' display house, which was a small cottage located right by the sea -- it was a beautiful spot. We bought some small stuff (because by now we were worried about the spending, especially with Jo'burg still to go) and came back to the hotel.
Apart from us, all the guests at the hotel seemd to be goras, either on business or for pleasure (mostly). They were really enjoying themselves and were quite loud and boisterous at the dinner-tables. For the second night in succession, we went for dinner by 9.00 pm. One of the customers we had tried to meet landed up just then. He turned out to be a Bengali working for a company there for the last two years -- fairly young, maybe around 26. In Maputo there are 10-12 Bengali families and they do have get-togethers at puja-times, although it is on a very small scale. I wrote a 'Best Diwali wishes' for the association on a paper and gave him.
Maputo: 25.10.2000
We left Maputo by the 6.30 am flight to Jo'burg. As expected of a laid-back place, although we (as well as other passengers) had all arrived by 5.00 am, there was no sign of the staff till about 5.20 am!
We spent a lot of time (and a lot of money) at Jo'burg and finished off all our purchases there itself, including Amrula, leaving nothing (hopefully) for Nairobi airport. Ravi had his eye on a four-foot high wooden giraffe, which he finally decided was too unweildly and went for an ostrich egg instead. This, of course, leaving aside the sundry other purchases. I picked up an unusual picture of African figures made out of a collage of butterfly wings!
......
.Nairobi was a short transit and I boarded the Muscat flight while Ravi went off to Dubai. On 24th itself I had learnt that 26th was a holiday instead of 25th as was announced earlier, so I was getting a well-deserved rest for 2 days. There's a Diwali party at home tonight, so life's full of action.
Reached home finally at 1.30 am.
.Reached home finally at 1.30 am.
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