Saturday - March 31, 2018

Saturday – March 31, 2018

We arrived in Maputo Mozambique on schedule. That was the good part. The Immigration officials came aboard and took a very long time to clear the ship. This was distressing because many passengers are leaving here for overland safaris. Flights had to be rescheduled for them. For us it just meant a delay in starting our tour of the city.

Our first stop was the train station. This turned out to be within easy walking distance of the pier. This would prove to be helpful later. The station has been beautifully restored. On the square in front of it was an interesting statue of Snake Lady. There is a folk story associated with her presence here. The square was very littered with trash.

Our next stop was Steel House, a building designed by the architect Eifel. While it is nice, it is impractical because of the heat it stores. It is situated next to the botanical gardens. We noted several tree species that were impressive, but we became distracted. Several bridal parties were arriving here for wedding pictures. This included families and congregants with lively local music. There are many scenic settings here, so the many parties were able to spread out and still have super photo opportunities. Our guide, who spoke excellent English explained that this was a regular occurrence. This garnered more interest than the Steel House.

Moving on, we arrived at the natural history museum. The government has restored this and maintains it. It is rather modest, but it is still impressive in this developing country. The highlight here is a series of preserved elephant fetuses. They also have a large exhibit of jungle animals in various states of activity.

No tour is complete without a shopping opportunity. Our next stop was at a large park area with many vendors offering their wares. These ranged from fabrics to carvings and paintings. The selection was diverse. Again, we found the quality to be variable. We enjoyed the looking, but did no buying.

As we returned to the bus we learned that our next stop would be for lunch. When the bus stopped in front of a five star hotel, our jaws dropped. This was beautifully elegant. After our very good meal we were given time to wander through the hotel and grounds. Passing through the lobby and bar took us to a balcony overlooking the Infinity Pool with the ocean in the background. This is clearly a place for the rich and famous. The guide confirmed that this is where politicians and industries leaders stay.

On our way back to the ship the guide talked about the economy, politics and poverty. We were keenly aware that apart from the dirty square where our trip began we had been taken through the best parts of the city. As we drove down a lovely boulevard we learned that jus two blocks away were the slums. We did not go there. The guide also explained that there was considerable corruption in the government with significant funds being misappropriated. As an example, There is a large fleet of rusty tuna ships docked near Amsterdam. They were purchased with $800,000 borrowed from the International Monetary Fund. They have never gone to sea and the loan is in default. The government is working hard to resolve problems of this nature.

When the tour ended, Alice and I walked into the train station. This is currently a commuter station and a museum. Many restored vintage rail cars are on tracks. Two very old steam engines have places of honor inside the entrance. We are glad we took the time to go inside. There was not another passenger from the ship visiting here, and we only saw six locals. In front of the station throngs of locals waited to board buses to varying local destinations.

Sleep came quickly tonight.