Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Footprints in the sand...in Mozambique

Well, first of all I feel like I should begin by stating that the title of this post was fully stolen from Melissa's facebook photo album of our trip. Now that that's out of the way I want to tell you all about it!
Melissa and I just got back from our Moz (that's what the cool kid's are callin' it) vacation the other day. It was spectacular! We took the bus from Bloemfontein, which is about an hour from Lesotho. We decided to kill time waiting for the bus (11:10 pm)at the mall...so to paint you a mental picture there was me and Melissa with huge backpacks, a tent, and various bags, essentially hiking through the mall. We looked ridiculous, but it was just as funny to us as the people who stared at us lol. Our first bus was 2 hours late, but eventually we made it all the way to Maputo in Moz. We only stayed for one night though before taking the 5:30 am shuttle to Tofo.
Tofo was so much fun! One of the coolest things about Tofo was the fact that the whole Tofo area was built on sand! The roads are sand, backyards, markets, everything! We stayed right of the beach and pitched our tent in the sand too. On our first full day we went snorkelling and were up close and personal with WHALE SHARKS! It was pretty much the coolest thing ever! We were so close to them! We also saw dolphins :) While in Tofo, we also watched the final matches of World Cup, shopped in the market, and met really cool travelers.
Next we headed further north up to Vilankulo. To get there we had to take a few taxis and even a ferry boat! It was funny because on the ferry we'd hit shallows and teh man in front would have to use a big stick and push us through. We had a super amazing time in Vilankulo. Our backpackers was really laid back and the people staying there were really fun. On our first day we decided to go snorkelling again, but this time we took a dhow boat (sort of like a sail boat but different) to the Bazaruto Islands to 2 Mile Reef. Melissa and I had the whole Island to ourselves pretty much. We walked the beach and then went in the warm water to see some fish. Before we left the backpackers, and before we went in the water we had been repeatedly warned that "the reef is sharp." But aparently that didn't quite sink in with us...until we hit the reef and left the water bleeding lol. The reef surrounded the island, and to get in and out you had to step on the reef. Melissa cut her feet and I cut up my hand. But I saw an octapus, a neon blue lobster, and tons of fish. Then our guides made us a lunch of fresh crabs and salads...delicious. That night we went to this local place called Mohammed's and had the best calamari and crabs ever, which were fresh from the market that day. The next day we found out that just about everone from our backpackers was going out to the islands so we managed to squeeze our way into that trip too. This time we went to a different island that had incredible sand dunes and all kinds of cool fish. It was really fun to bond with the other travellers. Unfortunately I got sick that night, but luckily it didn't last long. Our last day in Vilankulo was a lazy day which was nice.
Next we took public transport back to Tofo for a night en route back to Maputo and Lesotho. Our shuttle left Tofo at 4 am so instead of going to bed we just stayed up and went dancing all night :)
Our last day in Maputo was pretty nice. We went to the market and got lots of crafts and ate good food and basically had a good time. We really didn't want to leave though! But sadly all good things must come to an end and we had to return to our Lesotho lives...and the freezing weather....