First Impressions

We arrived in Mozambique yesterday afternoon after a relatively uneventful flight (South African Airways is the most service-minded airline we have ever used, almost to a fault: they served us 5 meals in the 19 hours we were with them!). Quite simply, we made it. And so did our baggage.

So what are our first impressions so far? We are having a great time, and have appreciated the warm welcome that we have received. Despite having been here before, some things are still surprising:

• Our hosts warned us that the water pressure in the shower was low. I had the first shower and, upon finishing, warned Laura to cut her already-low expectations in half. She was still surprised at the trickle that came out.

• Another interesting water fact: the city treats the water to some potable level at the plant, but because the pipes are so old and leaky, we can’t drink it from the tap. Apparently, some pipes in the city are still made of hollowed logs. To stop leakage, the city only supplies water in the mornings (so some people keep a reservoir on top of their house).

• We learned that there is no garbage collection. Instead, there are dumpsters out on the streets, which get emptied on occasion, but are often overflowing with trash (the garbage dumpster featured in the photo will be ours to use). Despite garbage being everywhere, our hosts know someone who was recently sent to jail for putting garbage in the dumpster outside of the appointed hours. We’ll have to be sure to find out what those hours are.

• There’s no mail delivery, either (there is a post office box – but we have been warned that anything of value should be shipped to an address in South Africa for us to pick up).

• In Canada, we had an alarm system on our house. In Mozambique, labour is so inexpensive that people have guards that stand out front instead. (Similarly, hiring a maid to clean your house would cost around $4 per day.)

• The exchange rate is very low. Until recently, we could exchange one Canadian dollar for 25,000 meticais. They just removed three decimals from their currency, so it is now 25 meticais to the dollar, but they are still using all of the old currency for now, so our wallets are full of 100,000 Mts bills. (Earlier this evening, I gave 1,500 Mts as offering to a local church… and only later realized that I had given about 6 cents.)

We’ll be staying with a family of four in their home for the next week or two (a lovely, comfortable home – but more about that later), then moving in with another couple before getting our own apartment on September 1. We’re glad to have such gracious hosts helping us navigate this new culture. Tomorrow morning’s adventure will be going to the government offices to apply for a resident visa so that we can stay longer than 30 days – and, perhaps more importantly, so that we can leave without risk of not being let back in the country. It’s all made more challenging since we can’t speak the language.