Mozambeach

Vilanculos was a nice small town with a stretch of sand that has the longest tide I have ever seen, early in the morning the waterlevel was right up near the walls of the lodge I was staying at, but in a few hours time it had dissapeared and I could see sand all the way out at the horizon, before the water returned again in the late evening. I stayed relaxing here a few days and then boarded a chapa to the town of Maxixe where I could get on a small ferry across to the peninsula of Inhambane where another chapa took me the final couple of miles to Tofo. Tofo was yet another picture perfect (allthough I have no pictures of it, as my camera is still not functioning) beach with picture perfect white sand and picture perfect azure waters. I spent my days here doing nothing as usual, occasionally going for a short jog or playing a game of beach volleyball so needless to say life was tough. I also bumped into the Israeli girls again here and we celebrated Maayan's birthday before heading off one early morning on a shuttle destined for Maputo. It was nice to be back in the city which was my first encounter with Africa four years ago, allthough much had changed, a lot of development has been made, it feels bigger and surprisingly a little bit cleaner now. I also got to know more about corruption almost instantly as on our first night we were walking around town looking for a sushi-restaurant when the police stopped us and asked for our passports. The Israeli girls and I weren't carrying them and our photocopies weren't good enough, so we would have to go to the policestation with them, we called their bluff though and managed to convince them to let an Argentinian girl named Andrea and an Indian guy go back to the hostel to fetch our documents. The officers took me aside and blatantly said "Just give us $20 each, and we have no problem" but we insisted to wait or go to the station, after nearly an hour they tired and before our passports had been seen they let us walk. Apart from that incident the reaquaintance has been pleasant, strolling around the mix of archichtecture which I think may be the nicest I've seen in Africa so far, visiting my parents old appartment and savouring the Maputo nightlife once again. Naama left for Ethiopia after one night, but I stayed in Maputo with Maayan and Andrea for a few more nights. After this I had to decide how to get back up to Zimbabwe, either going into South Africa and heading north or backtracking on myself and joining the girls up to Vilanculos again, the only logical way of deciding was using my trusty coin and flipping for it... The result of the cointoss will be announced in the next installment!

In footwear related news:
It was a sad day on Thursday when despite the vailient efforts of two Malawian cobblers my flipflops finally gave in. They were a gift given me by Clara on my first day in Brazilian hospital and held a special place in my heart, they have served me well since then staying with me through thick and thin and protecting my soles for the majority of this trip after getting through Europe. A new pair were purchased in Maputo and even if they won't compare to my previous ones I hope they will enjoy many happy memories on the road with me. R.I.P!