Frisbee Outcasts

The first weekend of May marked my first outing to Mozambique. It is hard to believe I had been here 8 months without making the trip across the border. About 15 ex-pats from Swaziland headed over to Maputo for an ultimate frisbee tournament. However, Stephanie, Tini, Maura (steph's friend from residency doing an elective at the clinic) and myself went not so much for frisbee as beach, dancing, seafood and cocktails....and we enjoyed all through the weekend. We stayed with a wonderful couple who Tini had met during the training for her program. They have a great apartment on the tenth floor of a building in downtown Maputo. From one balcony they overlook the city and from the other the bay.

The first afternoon, Nick and Sigrun took us to the fish market. The fish market is exactly as it sounds, but right next to it is a courtyard full of restaurants that will cook the fresh seafood you just purchased. Most people know I am not a huge fan of seafood, but I ate up the clams, calamari and prawns. Some of the yummiest stuff I have ever had.

Over lunch we learned that Nick and Sigrun knew the Mozambique frisbee crew. They had initially started playing, but it had become a little too intense for them. Fate had brought the Swaziland frisbee outcast together with the Mozambiquen frisbee outcasts.

That night we met up with the others for a drink. The night was wrapping up a little early though so Tini and I decided to see a bit more of the Maputo nightlife. So with reassurances from Sigrun that it was safe as well as her cell phone we headed off to Makaneta, a local dance club. This was definately a local dance club. Tini, myself and a table of Asian men seemed to be the only non-locals there. The locals were amazing dancers. There was a lot of couple dancing that seemed to be similar to the merengue. Tini and I both attempted a few times and each time was fairly disasterous. It was fun just to watch from the side until a fast song that we could dance to came on.

The next day, Nick and Sigrun took us to the closest beach to Maputo, which was also called Makaneta. To get to the beach it is about a thirty minute drive from the city, then a ferry ride then another 30 minute drive to the beach. While we were waiting for the ferry, an entire wedding party came singing and dancing up to the water. The bride and groom went with whom I assume was the minister to the water, while the wedding party stayed back and continued to sign and dance.

Meanwhile on the other side of the dock were two boys playing checkers on a board painted on the parking lot.

All the activity, made the wait for the ferry pass quickly. Finally the ferry arrived and somehow six cars were manuevered onto the ferry along with all the foot passengers.

The road, however, after the ferry is not a good road and we had brought our corolla. At the ferry, Nick asked locals if they thought our corolla would make it and the answer was resounding NO. In fact, the answer was so strong that Nick decided not to take his SUV either. He arranged for us all to get a ride in the back of a pick up truck after we got across on the ferry. This was quite an experience because it was not only the eight of us, but probably ten mozambiquens as well in the back of the truck. We made it safely to the beach and it was well worth the trip. The beach was beautiful and there were only a handful of other people there. We hung out for hours, listening to music, reading and napping. At one point while we were eating lunch, there was a group of dolphins that swam by just off the coast.

As usually happens with beach time, the afternoon flew by and before we knew it it was time for Zulu, our ride, to come back to get us. We waited at the bar of the resort for a while without any sign of Zulu. The owner finally said he would go get him because there were other people wanting a ride. Finally Zulu arrived...with a castle beer in his hand. Unfortunately we did not have much of a choice because we needed to get back before the ferry stopped so we hopped back into the back of the pick up truck. We figured at least there would not be others driving on the road as well. We were wrong though. Halfway back to the ferry we met another truck also full to the brim with people. This is when an interesting experience turned surreal. The driver of the opposite truck was obviously an acquaintence of Zulu. Both drivers got out of their trucks and mock fought. They threw a couple light punches then the other driver chased Zulu around our truck. He finally got back in the truck, but then held onto Zulu's arm as he drove off so Zulu was running alongside his truck. He finally let go and Zulu came trotting back to our car with a huge grin, jumped in the cab and off we went again like nothing had just happened. Needless to say, we made it safely back to the ferry and Maputo. That night was marked by a wonderful Thai dinner and a little bit more dancing. Unfortunatley the next day after one last meal of seafood, we had to drive back to Swaziland. Because there is always a bit of a hitch in any activity here in Africa, this is what we encountered as we approached the Swaziland border.
We later found out that the truck's brakes went out and it had driven straight through the border before rolling. Luckily the driver had made it out. Not really knowing what to do, we drove as far off the road around the truck as we could holding our breath that we would not explode...we made it.