Tuesday, December 18, 2012

MSC Sinfonia - Maputo, Mozambique

I would recommend this trip to anyone and everyone. In fact at least 10 of my friends have also taken this very same trip in the same year, unfortunately our planning skills sucked and we weren't able to enjoy it together but still a worthwhile holiday.

View of the deck where you spend most of the day
First stop was Maputo, Mozambique and what strikes you is that despite its setting in one of the most beautifully tropical almost island climates, the buildings are derelict and the people are incredibly poor. the locals rely solely on tourism and fishing as a means to support themselves financially and everyone is trying to get you to buy something.

Vendors selling everything from booze to "fresh"vegetables
The city centre that we walked through has many high rise buildings in various stages of decay, but were still inhabited by people. One building looked as if it had been ravaged by fire.


Many streets in the CBD look like this one. Helen Zille would be disgusted.
Despite the disappointing greeting described above, Mozambiquan people are warm and friendly and only want to take you all over the City. Hence why our tuktuk driver took us somewhere completely off the beaten track and we ended up lost for a good hour.



We managed to find someone who spoke fluent English at a hotel I still have no clue where we were and ended up at the port at a quaint little seafood restaurant. Sometimes you have to give these places a chance.

Even though the pool had seen better days, we definitely enjoyed the lunch as did many other MSC Sinfonia boat trippers whom we met at the restaurant.






More later...

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