Ilha de Mozambique

Ilha de Mozambique is a small island, 20 x 5 blocks, off the Mozambican coast. It is linked to the mainland through a 3km one way bridge. It used to be the main Portuguese settlement when those guys were in Mozambique trading slaves. The Portuguese built a fort, churches, and several buildings that remain until today, some in better shape than others. In fact, some have crumbled and remain fallen. Similar to what we found in Zanzibar the city is divided in a stone town, where the Europeans lived, and a makuti town (the name is given by the reeds used to make the roofs), where the locals lived. In a way it is like Zanzibar, but with more of a Portuguese influence, instead of Arab, and 1/10 of the tourism development. There's only one ATM, one computer linked to the internet, one road to get there, one cinema (with a roof but not enclosed, so by the sounds we could make that it must have been an action movie playing) a handful of restaurants, very few touts, oh, but several barbers. Simon got a wonderful haircut for just US$ 1.50 in a little hut that had a goat tied to the side eating the grass around it. You should have seen Simon pointing at the pictures of black models on the wall to explain what type of cut he wanted. :)

It took only a few hours to walk around the island. It was hot. Very hot. Unfortunately, there is a very small patch of beach that is clean and looks mildly appealing for a swim. The good news was that our beautiful hotel O Escondidinho had a pool. Refreshing.

After being there for half a day we realized that everybody knows and trusts most everybody. In a matter of a few hours we were engaged in several credit transactions. The hotel owed us some change, we owed some money to a guide and to a pharmacy, and we had a repo arrangement with a shop at the market: he sold us a used roll of tape, we were going to take what we needed and sell it back to him for an already agreed price. The following day we settled all transactions, except for the one with the hotel that was cancelled by paying less to the taxi driver that was getting us out of Ilha. We hope the taxi driver was paid by the hotel eventually. I'm sure he was.

In summary, the negatives are the dirt on the beaches and the difficulty to get there. The positives are the few touts, the tranquility, and the friendliness of its people. And last but not least, the grilled fish, prawns, and calamari. Awesome.

On Thursday we took a taxi at 4:30am, which took us to an intersection 1 hour away where we caught a bus going to Pemba. We have been in Pemba since yesterday, staying at the Reggio Emilia hotel.

Sorry for the picture of Ilha, is not a good one, but it is the only one available for upload now.

Mercedes