Weekend Happenings

Friday night after work, Dan and some team members had a happy hour at Mundo’s (the sports bar). Dan invited me to tag along for which I was quite grateful. I met them at the restaurant and was introduced to most of the team with the exception of Driaan and Ana whom I had met previously. We had some beers and pizzas and watched some cricket on the TVs. It was nice to go out with some people.

Saturday morning, we slept in and had a lazy morning. We finally worked out and got moving around lunchtime. I had been interested in a place called Dhow, but the location seemed to be really inconvenient to the part of town where we are staying. Come to find out, I was mistaken. The place is on Rua da Marracuene but what I didn’t realize is that there are two Rua da Marracuene’s in Mozambique. The other one is actually not far at all. So we took a taxi over there around 1pm, deciding to risk table availability during prime weekend lunch hours.

There is no signage outside for the place so I could see how people miss it all the time. Luckily, there was a guy sitting outside who confirmed that was the place. The restaurant has a shop with some really cool furniture, light fixtures and trinkets. I figured I should go through to the restaurant part in case we were going to have to wait for a table. Luckily, we were sat right away which was excellent considering I didn’t eat breakfast and was quickly approaching a level of hunger that made my left arm look mighty appetizing.

We got some chicken samussas to start, and then ordered some lunch. Dan ordered a sandwich called the Leonardo “sim queijo” (without cheese). It was carne asada, which is pork here rather than beef, lettuce, tomato and mustard on really fresh bread that he thought they might even make on site. I got the chicken souvlaki, which was roasted chicken, onions, tzaiziki, and grilled tomatoes on what might be the most delicious pita bread I’ve ever had in my life. We hung out for a while and enjoyed the scenery. I now understand why everyone loves the place.

We browsed the products for a bit. The light fixtures were really nice and there were some pieces in the shop that we liked but everything was quite expensive. It was very clear that the “targeted audience” is tourists and expats. There was a wood statue that I really liked but it was 3500MT. The guy was really trying to sell it to me and I said it was too expensive. He said it’s only 3500 mets! I said yeah that’s like 100 dollars. He said yes but Americans are rich. I said “not this one”. I took note that the item I liked is actually from Cameroon. Good thing we know two Cameroonians in Ghana!

All in all, the food was great, the view was great, and the company was great (insert obligatory sappy “awwww” here). After lunch, we returned to the hotel to relax and watch some soccer.