Hunger Games: Finding our favorite restaurants in Maputo

Since we both work during the weekdays, we try to go out to eat in the evenings when possible. Dan's office is just a short 5-7 minute walk from the hotel. I work either in the hotel room, in the cafe downstairs, or in the small business center just to change my scenery around when I can. All this means is that we try to go out to eat off the property when we can. We've tried a few restaurants around town so far, but there are still plenty to explore. Luckily, Dan's coworkers here are friendly and kind enough to offer up some recommendations.

Our first night in Maputo we went to Maputo Waterfront. Dan had a seafood rice dish that was a bit like a cioppino. I had some tasty red snapper with potatoes and veggies. The takeaway from the first night was: "oh thank goodness, the wine is better here." Suppose when you're a former Portuguese colony who sticks with the language and culture, the wine ought to be of Portuguese standard as well.

Sunday, we ran some errands... found the local supermarket and got some snacks to have in the room on days when I don't feel like going to the cafe or breakfast buffet. That night, we ate at the cafe downstairs and watched the Cowboys/Packers game on the computer via Slingbox. (And no, we shouldn't discuss Dez Bryant's probably-should-have-been-a-catch-to-likely-win-the-game-but-some-stupid-rule-says-it's-not.)

Monday, we tried a sushi joint that Tripadvisor had dubbed the best sushi in Maputo. Let's just say we hope it's not the best sushi in Maputo. If it is, we will be looking forward to our return to Accra where we have at least two sushi restaurants that are significantly better :)

Tuesday, was our most interesting find. A place called Wine Lovers (right up our alley, right?). A tapas style restaurant with a wide selection of bottles and an extensive menu. Biggest challenge? Servers only speak Portuguese and menu is in Portuguese. So we took a stab at it and ordered a few dishes and some wine and had a nice evening.

On Wednesday, we decided on a more casual vibe and went to Mundo's. It had come highly recommended by Dan's coworker, Driaan. Considering that he's "melanin-deficient" (aka white) and from South Africa, we trust his expat tastes. Upon pulling up in the taxi, we quickly learn that Mundo's is a HUGE, open-air Sports Bar. Way to go, Driaan! So we had some beer and wings and pizza and watched some soccer. I forgot to take pictures that night (whoops) so here's the logo for Mundo's:

Thursday was a quiet night at the hotel restaurant as I had some work that went into the evening and needed to stick close to home.

I'd say there's one major food takeaway so far: everything, and we mean everything, comes with french fries. While that was fun for about 3 days, we are totally sick of them on every level. Thus, one of the first Portuguese phrases we have perfected (along with thank you, good morning, and big bottle of water) is "sin batatas" or "without potatoes". We get some surprised looks for rejecting the fries but it's better for our health in the long run. Looking forward to seeing what else this city has in the gastronomy department. More foodie posts to come, I'm sure since this was only the first week's recap!

Ever seen a Mozambican Presidential Inauguration?

Yeah, neither had we. Actually, I've never physically been present for an American President's inauguration. The week that we arrived here in Maputo, we learned that the inauguration for President Nyusi was to be later that week. The inauguration took place at the Town Hall which is visible from the balcony of our hotel room.

Starting Monday morning, we were greeted with the sounds of crews constructing various stages and seating areas. A marching band practiced daily with a large contingent of the Mozambican military rehearsing their marching processional. Suffice to say after four days straight of one song on repeat, it still haunts my dreams. I catch myself randomly humming it subconsciously. It's going to take quite some time (and several catchy Taylor Swift songs) to override that tune.

Thursday was the big event. We found out Tuesday afternoon that the government had declared it a public holiday so Dan got the day off. Unfortunately, I work for a US/UK company who for some unknown reason didn't think that a new Mozambican President was a valid reason to give a day off. Thankfully, all events were very slow moving so Dan just knocked on the sliding glass door when I needed to come out and view something that had the possibility of being worth watching.

The morning festivities started around 8am with music over loud speakers. There was a red carpet rolled out and Nyusi arrived in a vehicle processional. He was seated in the center red tent on the right just in front of the Town Hall. There was a podium at the front of it to address the citizens.

After the soon-to-be President's arrival, the festivities began. There were small stages on either end that had dance performances on one side and a choir on the other. Eventually, the speeches began and we assume the President was sworn in. I say "we assume" because this was all done in Portuguese and over a series of loud speakers making it very difficult to decipher what was actually being said. Periodically, the crowd would cheer and stand in support. Once that was done, the party began.

Some local children walked through and stopped in front of their new President, sang a song, and released balloons the colors of the Mozambican flag into the sky.

After the kids walked on, the marching band led the beginning of the military processional into the area. That went on for quite awhile as several branches of military in different uniforms marched past and saluted the new President.

Upon the completion of the military processional, the seated guests rose and started to make their way out (around 1pm). Many of the public who came out for the event stayed behind. Music was played over speakers for another hour and a half or so. Finally, around 2:30pm, the booming bass stopped and people cleared out. 

It was certainly an interesting piece of history to witness firsthand!

Welcome to Maputo!

The adventures continue... Dan is officially on loan from the Ghana office to the Mozambique office in the capital city of Maputo. Now before you run to Google to figure out where in the world Mozambique is, let me save you the trouble.

There ya go... At the bottom of the country you'll see a little tip that goes south... That's where Maputo is. On the Indian Ocean, not far from Swaziland (the little circle bordering Mozambique) and South Africa (the much bigger, and appropriately named country covering the Southern portion of Africa).

We actually arrived almost two weeks ago and have been taking that time to adjust to the city and culture here. Here are some notable differences that we've encountered thus far:

• Maputo's infrastructure is significantly better than Accra. There are pretty decent roads that actually have lane divisions painted on them, parking spaces are marked and many streets have (gasp!) sidewalks.
• Maputo appears to be more European than Accra. More high-rise buildings, rather than the sprawling development of Accra. 
• Mozambique drives on the left (we assume because South Africa does and the countries border each other). Since we don't drive, this isn't a huge issue but is important when walking that you look the appropriate direction to check for oncoming traffic.
• Mozambique speaks Portuguese... womp womp. We can both read Spanish fairly well so that helps quite a bit with menus and written directions. However, spoken Portuguese sounds nothing like Spanish so we're having a hard time with that part. When in doubt, a little charades with a server or hotel staff goes a long way.
• Less taxis available here in Maputo. We kind of miss just walking outside and having our pick of taxi as they honk at you beckoning you to pick them in Accra.

We live in a hotel while we are here in Mozambique. We are currently not certain of the timetable for Dan's work here but assume we will figure it out as time goes on. Dan's business visa is good for 6 months, whereas my tourist visa is only good for 3 months. We will reassess the situation in April to determine if he is almost finished or if I should attempt to renew my visa.

I'll leave you with a couple of photos of the view from our balcony:

Education Lesson: What's Harmattan?

It's harmattan season in Ghana. What's harmattan you ask? It's a cold-dry dusty wind that travels from south from the Sahara Desert in Northern Africa to the Gulf of Guinea. The Gulf of Guinea is the body of water that is found in the "dent" of Africa.

Figure 1:

From December to March, this wind originates in the Sahara and picks up sand and dust on its way south. It drops the humidity significantly, resulting in must drier air than we normally experience in Ghana. The dust causes a hazy, fog-like scene during the season. We experienced it when we were here last January for our short visit to check out Ghana. All in all, it's not an issue in daily life, just a season that you learn to get acclimated to.

Here's a view of the harmattan from our plane ride in last week.
Figure 2:

As you can see there's blue skies, but a layer of dust/fog-like haze over the town below. While the dust is a bit annoying and requires more house sweeping than usual, it has made the temperatures much more mild. The evenings are a joy to go out for a walk without arriving at your destination all sweaty :)

And there you have it. Now you know what harmattan is.

Santa Dan and the Story of the Bed Sheets

Back in November, Dan introduced his coworkers to the joys of Amazon. Knowing how expensive some items are over here, he offered to let people order Christmas gifts online and ship them to our families. We would then pick them up while we were visiting, and bring them back. To explain the reasoning: electronics are very expensive over here. For example, an iPhone can cost three to four times the cost in the US. Similar for iPads, laptop computers and other electronics.

Many people kept asking Dan how much (insert random item here) would cost in the States. Finally, Dan showed them the Amazon website and set them loose. He met me for lunch that day and joked that he had "completely destroyed office productivity for the next couple of days" by sharing Amazon's glory with the team. People would request items and Dan would order them on his account, shipping the items to either my parents in Florida or his parents in North Carolina. The purchaser paid him on the spot for them and understood that the items wouldn't arrive until after the holiday. He also explained to them that their items may be without their packaging for space-saving reasons in our luggage.

You may be asking why they didn't just order these items themselves. The answer is twofold: 1. While Amazon does ship internationally, they do not ship to Ghana. 2. Credit cards are not common over here, meaning very few people have one. The reason is because there are no addresses for billing purposes, leaving no recourse for the card company if you skirt your bill. Thus, Dan had to use his card to make the purchase and the person paid us back in cash. At the end of the day, we got a significant amount of Hilton points just from all the purchases on his card, so not a terrible deal.

When all was said and done, here is the list of the items that we brought home with us:

• 3 computers
• 3 iPads
• 2 iPhones
• a projector screen (for work presentations)
• 3 kids tablets with cases
• Nintendo Wii games
• clothes from Baby Gap
• an electric shaver with the cleaning base
• 32 SETS of sheets/duvet covers
• and a partridge in a pear tree

Now to be fair, Dan has a huge heart for offering to do this. It was quite the good deed. That is not up for debate. But the poor guy had no mental picture for how large a set of sheets for a king size bed actually is. We unpacked many of the items and rolled the sheets to try to save space. We quickly realized that it wasn't the size as much as the weight of the sheets that was causing the problem. One roll of king sheets weighs about 3.5lbs. Granted, some of the sheets are twin sized so not all of them weighed that much. But balancing those with the duvet covers, let's call it about 3lbs an item. Multiply that by 32 sets and we had almost 100lbs of extra luggage, not including the electronics. Long story short, we came to the US with 3 checked bags, and a duffel as a carry on. We returned with 6 checked bags and a duffel as a carry on. That's a lot of stuff for our friends :)

In case you are a visual learner, here's a quick photo of the entire mound after all items had been removed from our luggage:

While it was a stressful couple days trying to get everything in suitcases, and a bit of a hit in baggage fees for the extra bags, it was worth it to do this for them. Everyone was very appreciative and seems to love their items. That said, I think Dan's new motto is "sheets are big and heavy" and he won't be accepting orders for those if we choose to do this again next year. You live and you learn!

We're Baaaaaaaaaack!

Safely back home in Ghana! We've actually been home for about a week but the mounds of laundry, jet lag, and a fight with a cold have kept me busy. So sorry for the delay in returning to posting!

We had a wonderful visit with family and friends back in the US over the last several weeks. We flew from Accra to JFK in New York and then parted ways. Dan went to San Francisco for a week and a half for work and visits. I flew down to Tampa to work, spend time with my family and friends while ensuring all the Etsy Teddy Bear orders got completed in time to guarantee delivery by Christmas.

Dan had a quick stop in Houston on his way from San Francisco to meet with some clients that he works with in Ghana (pretty cool, huh? Come home for the holidays but can meet your clients face to face even though the work you do for them is halfway around the world). He then met me in Tampa for Christmas week with my parents. Dan helped my Dad's argument that the living room required a bigger TV. My mom quickly realized that, with Dan's addition, the women no longer outnumbered Dad and she had no chance of talking them out of it. Though I have to say, it sure didn't take her long to fall in love with the larger screen. All in all, the visit to Florida was very nice and we were thankful that we were able to catch up and spend some quality time with many of our friends.

The day after Christmas we traveled up to North Carolina to see Dan's parents for a long weekend. It was wonderful to see them and Dan's aunt and cousin came for a night as well. We exchanged Christmas gifts and enjoyed good food, good conversation, lots of wine, and one late night game of Yahtzee. (Side note: Dan and I are still members of some wine clubs in Napa/Sonoma. The orders get sent to Oscar & Sarah's place, so when we arrived Dan had an extra Christmas morning scoping out our wine collection. Safe to say we owe them big time for lending us a storage closet for all of our libations.)

On the 29th, we flew to San Francisco together to spend new years in the city. Since I hadn't gone with Dan a few weeks before, this was my chance to catch up with friends. We had a great happy hour with people we love one night. We had a quick trip to Napa on New Years Eve to do some wine tasting (when in Rome, as they say) and rung in the New Year at a hotel party on the Embarcadero with great views of the fireworks. New Years Day brought lots of football bowl game watching with friends and a nice dinner date just the two of us for our last night in the States

Flight home was uneventful. Bags all arrived with no toiletry explosions or confiscated electronics. Customs was no issue at all despite the fact that we left with 4 bags and came home with 7. HAHA. That's a story for another post :)

We hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season and wish you the best in 2015! Thanks for listening to our crazy stories thus far. Here's to even more adventures in Africa!