To Tofo Beach

Sunday 14th February 2016 – Valentine’s Day. After a good nights rest at the Pink Papaya we breakfasted at Jumbos, a small restaurant nearby. On the way Alysa saw a dog with an injured paw but there was nothing we could do to help it. We walked into Chimoio and browsed some shops without finding anything much we wanted although we did pick up a Mozambican SIM card at the Mcell store which meant we could finally use our phones without wifi to get Whatsapp messages. When we reached the supermarket on the edge of town we found they had decided to close an hour and a half early so that put pay to any wining and dining back at the hostel. On our way back to the hostel we booked a 4am bus journey to the coastal town of Inhambane. For Valentines night we pushed the boat out with a meal at Jumbos. After studying the menu we plumped for a meal of vegetarian salad and spaghetti with garlic and cheese. Who said romance is dead? As we were waiting for dinner a ball of mosquitoes started to form just a couple of feet from our table. When the locals at the next table saw it they quickly moved inside so we did the same. Malaria is a real problem here and Mandy at the Pink Papaya was telling us that most weeks someone staying at the hostel gets malaria. Back at the hostel a second Ben (this one from England) had arrived and so we sat on the veranda with Dutch Ben and English Ben recounting travellers’ horror stories of encountering the police in Mozambique, just the sort of thing one might expect from a country depicting a semi-automatic weapon on its flag.

Monday 15th February 2016 – We grumpily rise at the ridiculously early hour of 2:30am and take a taxi into town with Dutch Ben who is also getting an early bus. We board the unlit coach and discern from the shadowy figures aboard that it is already half full. Navigating by the light of our phones we locate our seats only to find a young lady already ensconced and unwilling to move so we select two unoccupied places and refuse to relinquish them until our allotted chairs are vacated. For an hour we sit in the near darkness while malarial mosquitoes gorge themselves on sleepy passengers until, just after 5am the bus engine coughs to life and we are underway. We disembark at Maxixe around 1pm and book our passage across the narrow strait to Imhambane for 10 meticals each (about 14 pence). At Inhambane we see our first tuk-tuk of the trip and after brief negotiation with the driver we are on our way to Tofo Beach, holding onto our bags as we bump along sand swept roads. Tofo, a collection of ramshackle buildings spread along a sweeping white beach was exactly what we were yearning for. An unassuming yellow building called the Pariango Beach Motel provided quiet beachside lodgings and we could finally relax. We sat drinks in hand, watching fishermen pulling their boats from the sparkling blue water onto the beach. In the evening we ordered a tuna hot rock; literally a large piece of fresh tuna marinaded in a garlic sauce that you cook on a hot rock along with onions, tomatoes and bread. It was delicious.

Tuesday 16th February 2016 – After becoming increasingly dishevelled over the last few weeks the limit of my ambitions for the day were to have a haircut and a shave. 2 packs of razors and half an hour of gurning in front of a makeshift mirror saw the latter accomplished. Enquiring about getting a haircut at the local market I was led to a local beauty salon where, upon handing over about $2 a rather nervous looking employee proceeded to cut my hair albeit I noticed mainly at the top and front. Demonstrating my new look back at the hostel Alysa said I looked like the village idiot and spent the next hour repairing the damage as best she could with a pair of sewing scissors. Later on we met a couple of fishermen who showed us their catch, an impressive collection of red snapper, langoustines, lobsters, lemon fish and red fish with blue spots whose name we can’t remember. We bought a lemon fish and a red snapper. As the heat of the day subsided we walked along the beach looking for places we might like to stay for a few days before dropping into the upmarket Tofo Mar hotel to enjoy a sundowner overlooking the beach. That evening the ladies at the market cooked our fish for us. Sitting at a wooden bench in the market eating fresh fish and rice – paradise.