Mapoto, Mozambique

Although flying to Maputo would have only taken an hour from Zimbabwe (flying east), Southern Africa is not often dictated by convenience, and I flew instead south to Johannesburg, sat in the airport for five hours, and then flew back north to Maputo. The five hours were spent checking my email in the smokers' lounge (although it was smoky, the internet was free, while in other parts of the airport it was a expensive as one would expect it to be in an airport). I also disovered a sinful hummus veg wrap (in sweet plum sauce - yum!) in the airport restaurant, and sat and watched the airplanes take off and land.

When I arrived in Maputo, there was a driver and a local staff member at the airport, and they drove me to my hotel. Now, Maputo might be a poor city in a very poor country, but it is ON THE SEA. I love the sea! Everything is so free and so open and everything is cheerier. The sea in this case was the Indian Ocean, and unlike South Africa, which had been a colony of Britain, Mozambique had been initialy conquered by the Portuguese, and the main language was, even now, Portuguese.

I was to stay at the hotel Polana, Maputo's most luxurious hotel (which costs about as much as a mid-range Holiday Inn in Canada). This hotel was in post Portuguese style, with fruity drinks and hot towels presented to me when I checked in. My room was darling, with stone floors and local art, and had a balcony and a sea view.

What a hotel!:

"The Polana’s perfect location gives guests a panoramic view of the Bay of Maputo from virtually anywhere in the lush, landscaped gardens, the ideal place for a gentle stroll or a game of chess under the deep shade of the great rubber tree. The magnificent swimming-pool is inviting after a game of tennis or a tour down-town, a shimmering expanse of cool blue water dreaming in the sun. The Polana has everything to pamper and perk up the weary traveler in the Polana Gym, with its steam room, gymnasium and aerobics classes on site. Some of the Hotel’s “millennium musts” include a superb gym, stylish international and piquant local cuisine, a state of the art conference centre and banqueting suite, a full range of sporting activities, a vibrant entertainment schedule, a lavish casino, an art gallery, a colourful selection of bars, exquisite rose gardens, lush tropical grounds and what must be one of the most panoramically luxuriant swimming pools in Africa."

The swimming pool WAS 'panoramically luxuriant!' Guests could swim there at any time, and after my concert the next day I had a cool moonlight swim...

On the afternoon that I arrived I had a rehearsal with Geoff, my accompanist. The rehearsal was fine, but his tales of near-death Malerial experiences were not. Mosquitos love me! They do! The second I arrived back at the hotel I decided to get some Malaria pills.

(ironically enough, earlier in the day I had wandered through the drugstore in the Johannesburg airport, and wondered if I should purchase some Malaria pills. I asked the pharmacist, who said that I would need a perscription to get them. A man waiting at the cashier's desk announced that he was a doctor, and started writing me a script for the pills. I still wasn't sure I wanted to spend 17$ on pills I would not need and would need to take for over a month. After all, I was only in Maputo for 2 days! I politely declined the doctor's offer)

The hotel staff advised me to visit a near-by all-night dispensary (it was night, and not the safest area), so I ventured out in to the hotel courtyard to consider my transportation options.. There were official taxis, and little open 'banana-taxies'. I hired a cute yellow banana-taxi, and we putt-putted to the pharmacy. Getting the medicine was a good thing. I received two bites on my legs, one bite on my arm, which has swelled and is burning, while I type, three bites on my cheeks (disfigured for the pictures), and one on my left eyelid. I HOPE the quinine does its job...

There were a few very interesting things about Maputo:

I can function with a few words in Portuguese and with a mix of French, Spanish and Italian I can understand what is being said. (well, that is maybe just an interesting thing about *me*... still, I am impressed)

The local crafts consist of jewellery and boxes made of 'ebon wood', sandelwood, malachite, and ivory (I bought some necklaces, braceletes, and tribal masks - the first happy tribal masks I had seen). Things cost more than Zim. Although, as I woalked back from the market to the hotel, I was followed by hawkers. When I screeched at them to leave me be the prices went down. When I went into a grocery store and hid behind the sceurity guard for awhile, they waited outside for me, and the prices went down. After I spent all of my Medicais (prenounced Medi-cash), they still followed me. It took the pitching of a good-sized fit to rid myself of the last one. By that time the hotel was in sight, anyway...

There is really only one nice hotel in Maputo, and it was wierd to see a goold amount of my airplane companions sitting on the verandah at the hotel. It is a very small city in that way...

The morning of the concert, the embassy driver took me to a craft hut, with handmade everything. I found the neatest brown necklace, with a funky pendant and dangling fish and banabas. They swore to the drive that it was made out of clay. I suspected plastic, but the light was dim and I did not want to be the ignorant foreigner. In the light it was obvious that I had been cheated, and the necklace was badly-painted plastic beads. Still, it is very glam and I adore it (and if anyone asks me I will swear that it is clay!)

The concert itself was a great success (again!) There was a local summit, with a visiting Canadian senator and a bunch of visiting MPs, and they were all guests at the concert. Also there were ambassadors and high comissioners from the different high comissions, and they all throughly enjoyed the music. (I enjoyed the concert, and also the adorable mousie who ran accross the stage right before the concert started)

Yesterday morning at 5:30 I caught the hotel shuttle, and arrived at the airport for a helish trip back to Lusaka (via Jo'Burg)