It’s Thursday morning in Maputo,¹ which means that we are starting our fourth day in Africa. I know I’ve only updated social media in that time period to the tune of zOMG SOOO TIRED, so I’m going to do my best to cram the last few days into this post.  (Spoiler: We do a lot of sleeping.²)

On Monday, we arrived in Maputo. After much-needed naps and showers, we plodded about the house slowly, trying to gather our thoughts, until our friend Tiffany and her friend Jeff arrived home. They took us out to dinner at a restaurant (the name of which is lost in a jetlagged blur), where we drank Mozambican beer (Laurentina Preta) and ate the best fried calamari I’ve ever had and grilled prawns.

On Tuesday, we slept in and didn’t leave the house until lunchtime. We walked to the nearby Feira de Artesanato, Flores e Gastronomica, where we ate chicken curry at an outdoor table and then wandered around, looking at the handicrafts. We weren’t in the market for anything (we have to carry everything we buy on our backs and this is only the first stop on our trip), but the items were a sight to behold: there were ostrich eggs painted with pictures of Africa, huge fish made out of the pull-tabs from soda cans, brightly colored cloth, row after row of animal figurines in all shapes and sizes.

We meandered on downtown, pausing in front of the Natural History Museum long enough to determine that it was closed.  We were hot and tired, not yet adjusted from the extreme cold of the Midwest or our largely sedentary lifestyle in New York, and so we sat down at the outdoor tables at Cafe Acacia, poking through our guidebook while enjoying the view and the excellent iced Americanos.  Tiffany met us there after she got off work, and, after the sun set, she took us for a drink at a small, nameless-to-us bar on the water that was popular with locals and expats alike.  We enjoyed our drinks (more Laurentina Preta, Tiffany had a passionfruit camparini) under the palm trees and the stars, staring out at the dark water.

On Wednesday, we slept in again, once again only leaving the house when it was time to procure lunch.  (Do you sense a theme?)  We first engaged in a long, dusty trek in search of an ATM, and then a second long, dusty trek in search of lunch.   We eventually grabbed a late lunch at Cafe Continental (so late that they were out of the meals of the day), and then marched ourselves about to see some sights.  We saw the Praça da Independência, Cathedral of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, City Hall, Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano (where we saw an interesting photography exhibit), the Iron House (designed by Eiffel as the governor’s residence, but the iron sides were deemed to hot for the climate), the Fort, and the Train Station.

The Train Station was amazing, this ornate, early twentieth-century, mint green building rising over the bustle of downtown Maputo.  We visited during rush hour, and the people-watching was incredible. People rushed to make their trains, kids skipped around, women carried hulking objects on their heads as easily as hats.

The sky had been threatening rain all day, and droplets started to fall as it got dark.  Marc did a commendable job negotiating the price for a taxi home in a patchwork of Portugese, Spanish, and English.  After we had showered off our hot, dusty day, Tiffany took us to dinner at a restaurant named Kalu’s.  We picked our own dinner (chicken and chorizo to be grilled, and a salad of carrots, beets, cucumber, tomatos, and peppers) and sat in the semi-outdoors while a storm rolled in.  Just as we were finishing dinner, the sky let loose and stormed all night.

¹ Did you notice that I changed blog’s time settings? We’re no longer posting on Chicago time.
² Marc wants it noted for the record that we are not just being lazy, but are in fact recovering from the 8-hour time difference.