TOFINHO
We realized after several days that it was time to see other parts of Mozambique. Maputo is fairly depressing!!! We found reasonable air tickets to the northern beach area of the country, the town of Inhambane. The town of Tofo Beach is a well known surfing beach area. About a mile south of Tofu is Tofinho, a collection of houses with no real sense of a town. Our Airbnb house was a spectacular place with great views. It was an easy half hour walk along a sand/dirt road to Tofo Beach where we were able to get basics. It was another thing to get to an ATM or a store.
We walked to the gas station/ATM out of town, arriving very hot and sweaty after the hour’s walk. The ATM was out of order!!! So many disappointed people. We sat a bit, drank juice and water from the little market, and then got instructions on taking a bus!!! We caught a bus for 42mtn each, and it had seats. We headed further towards the Yum Yum Supermercado, and had to make lots of noise as the driver passed it. We had a 3-4 min walk back but got there with no problem and got mostly provisioned for the week.
When we make our daily walk into Tofo, we’ll get fresh caught fish and fruits and veg as we need it.
We took a long (nearly an hour) walk to the gas station/ATM. It was HOT. Of course the ATM was out of order and there were many disappointed people as we sat on a bench and drank juice and water to recover from the walk. We couldn’t do the additional 3-4 miles to the YumYum supermercado, so we took the bus. That was a first and not that bad. Of course as we zoomed by the YumYum we had to do a lot of yelling and waving to get the driver to stop; we were only about a 3 minute walk past the store. We got a good supply of stuff, nearly everything on the list!, and then called Victor, our young and funny taxi driver to fetch us. He was a bit confused and first drove to the house as he couldn’t understand how we got to the YumYum. When he finally arrived and we explained we took the bus, he almost fell on the floor laughing. He drove us back, we rested a bit, and then walked to the south to the nearby “quiet” beach. It is incredible. We’ll have to try the swimming beach in the village, which is north of here, as the waves are pretty dynamic out here. We’re finally settled into our house, I’m glad we booked a week.
Jan 9
So nice to have a quiet day at this beautiful house – sitting on the porch listening to the crashing surf. We were a bit house bound – waiting for Jorge to fetch a working modem and Isabelle came to clean. She was very disappointed to see I’d made the bed. Tomorrow I’ll let her do it, she does a great job of cleaning and mopping the sand away. Our host is supporting the local labor market and we have to adjust!! We are supposed to have wifi here and I’ m burning data on my MOZ movitel phone card so we’re requested a replacement modem for the one that was sent to Maputo for repairs. Jorge showed up with something but decided he needed to get a Vodacom one and not a Movitel one in order to get good signal. So off he went saying he’d return in an hour or so. Well 3 hrs later we contacted the host and learned it’s not happening today, maybe tomorrow. TIA. (this is Africa) So we walked into town for some fruits and veg. Found a nice bottle of wine from SA for $5.30!!! and a big fresh fish, maybe snapper, that was cleaned and fileted for us. And the lemons we got are amazing!!! As well as the carrots. So good…! Very fragrant and sour lemons make for a perfect G&T!!! Took a few photos during our walk into town, trying to get the views of the beautiful beaches here. The walk back was a bit sprinkly/rainy so no photos, except for the goats being shepherded on a leash with the babies tagging along behind!
Jan 10
Another walk into town- found a market with 5l jugs of water and some other good stuff. More veg and peanuts at the veg market. Little George Banana talked me into buying a straw hat, but i got him down to 150mtc from 250mtc. Didn’t really want it but for 2.50 when it breaks or blows away no real loss. Now for some lunch. Overcast and not so hot so maybe not a swimming day. Still waiting for Jorge the modem man!
Jan 14
Another quiet day – probably walk into town in a bit. Enjoying the cool breezes out on the porch, as it’s warmed up somewhat. Have to start planning our departure tomorrow. Sad, but excited, as after one more night on the outskirts of Maputo we depart for Bangkok on Ethiopian Airlines. Still waiting to hear about my bid for business class upgrade!!! if we get it, we’ll have the 9hr leg from ADD to BKK, departing at 12:30AM, with the full ticket price for the whole trip at roughly $1100. Normal bis class on this flight is $3500!!! fingers crossed… And….. the power has been out for over 12 hours now. Batteries are running low on almost everything….. seems I can charge my battery pack off the laptop so I can keep the phone charged up. But the laptop is now at 40%, so not much longer. Hoping the power is on by dinner time; only one candle here!!! maybe buy 2 more, like insurance!!! surely it will come on while we are out! photos taken at the main Tofo beach yesterday. Not an easy place to swim, but we tried. Surfing in Tofo- Kathleen Myer
Jan 15
Another beautiful day in Tofinho/Tofo Moz, wind is very slight, so it’s getting very warm. With the waves way down, it would be a good day for a swim and the beach in the town, but we leave today. Packing things up after 8 nights here. Got great news when booting up this AM – My bid for bis class came through. I lowered it after checking on seat occupancy (expertflyer.com) so know we have a 5+hr flight from Maputo to Addis, then the 8.75hr flight to Bangkok is in BUSINESS!!! total ticket price for each is $1040. Now will it be the better of the 2 787-8 planes that ET flies? fingers crossed again. http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/…/ethiopian-airline…/