Frango na praia

I met up with the country lead of another wildlife conservation NGO and had a great few hours on the beach, drinking beer and eating chicken barbecued over these coals, served with coleslaw and maize meal. The deep sand made the tables wonky and the peanut sellers were incessant, but it was a glorious Sunday afternoon. Fantastic for understanding more about Mozambique.

The sunglasses and wallet hawkers are as persistent in Mozambique as elsewhere. You can tell by looking at this one that he enjoyed waving wallets under our nose as we were trying to eat chicken.

I meandered back from the beach through town, which is especially quiet on a Sunday. It's a laid back capital city, with pockets of randomness such as a huge new Chinese-financed hotel complex behind the litter-strewn beach. Occupancy rates must be very low, except when large delegations arrive from overseas and strike deals with the Mozambican government over resource extraction.

In the evening, a Lebanese restaurant recommended by an American friend, followed by a visit to a gelato parlour, which felt quite incongruous. Good conversations about the changes in Maputo in recent years and the strange bubble economy of the capital, much out of sync with the experience of most Mozambicans, whose monthly earnings are paltry. Maputo is located about as far south in the country as it could be, and it'll be interesting to learn what binds it to the rest of the country. This is particularly important for understanding our project which is located in two northern provinces at the border with Tanzania.