Saturday, January 30, 2016.

Rock and roll ! That's the motion of the ocean . The sea has been rocking all last night and today. The captain announced this afternoon that, because of the rough currents of the sea, we would not make our next port, tomorrow, on time. We are now expected to arrive in Maputo, Mozambique five hours late. What does that mean? Our excursion will be in the afternoon instead of the morning and cut in half. Meanwhile, we continue to rock. Also since we left Port Victoria, where it started to rain, it is still cloudy. On and off we get rained on. We say: "Rain, rain go away and come back another day.”

Sunday, January 31, 2016. Maputo, Mozambique-Africa

We woke up to a sunny day. However no land in sight on either side of the ship. But finally we did make port in Maputo, not as advertised, but later than the Capitan initially predicted. We were six and a half hours late getting into Maputo. Best of all, the rocking had come to a standstill after three days at sea! Also we were to set foot on solid land!

Maputo is at the extreme south end of Mozambique in Africa . Entering its port, we noticed right away that Maputo was, indeed, a very busy place. Maputo is the capital and nerve center of the largest city in Mozambique with a population of 22 million. The language spoken here is Portuguese and it is almost twice the size of California.

We signed up for a city tour of Maputo. After the ship was safely tied at the pier, we started our excursion at two in the afternoon. What was to be a four hour tour, ended up a 1 and a half hour excursion. That was enough to give a flavor of our first south African city.

        Around the city we went, taking pictures of anything that moved. While riding along the streets, it was quite evident that the architecture had an English and Portuguese influence. It was Sunday and the hustle and bustle downtown was missing. Nevertheless, as is usually customary on a tour, our last stop was at the local market souvenir place. The city has set aside one convenient place where all merchants can sell their wares . The distinctive African souvenir art was evident right away. With its bright and colorful displays, we went from stall to stall. We were met with very enthusiastic sellers as soon as we stepped off the bus. It reminded me of Jamaican vendors, who literally grab you and lead you to their stalls. Here in Maputo, the vendors walk with you trying to sell their product. One vendor hung on to me, offering a "Rolex” gold watch for $50, American. I kept saying no and kept walking. He still kept after me, lowering his price as we walked. Finally, he gave up after saying he would make a special deal for me: $20 US. Again I said no and he went in search of another, more gullible tourist.

As we entered the market place, we noticed vendor stalls almost as far as the eye can see. And how they stay open for business is beyond me. All the stalls seemed to have the same souvenirs. I was looking for hats and T-shirts. Good enough, I found a T-shirt. I asked the lady “how much?”  Her first price was $10 US . When I tried to walk off, she lowered her price to $8 US. Then finally said: “How much you give?”  I said: “$5”. To my surprise, she said “Ok!”  Nelly saw me hesitate, because I was thinking, maybe I should have said $3. Finally, Nelly insisted, “just buy it for $5. So I did! Now I am the proud owner of a Mozambique T-shirt!

We returned back to the ship, all in one piece. I think our tour guide was anxious to get us back as soon as possible because there were more tours going out after ours. And indeed that is what happened, He quickly loaded another group after our bus was empty.

Because there were so many late tours, we left Maputo with a two hour delay.

As you see still no pictures yet…again. But we haven’t given up just yet. There were places in Maputo where our guide advised us pictures were not permitted. One of the buildings was Mandela’s house. We think that in 4 days when we arrive in Cape Town and stay there for 3 days will be your lucky day to get a slew of photos. We know you can hardly wait!

Our next port of call is Richards Bay, South Africa. This time we will sail there overnight and arrive February 1, 2016.