Mozambique

before coming to Malawi i was delighted to find out there was a womans football club here that we could join! so twice a week since arrival we have been training, well kicking a ball and having a laugh. leon is our dedicated coach, and puts up with our banter! During the summer a mozambiquan team had come to play us and whipped us 6-0, and so a grudge match was organised.

We hired a minibus, got some shirts made, rounded up some good supporters and head off to the portugese speaking country! The journey was going to take us 7 hours, and we would be there by friday evening and have the whole of saturday to play and swim in the Lake, before coming back Sunday morning. However in true african style, the journey took us over a day and we arrived half an hour before sunset on saturday! This was due to the border closing before our arrival, and hence another night spent in Malawi, a 4 hour border crossing the next day due to confusions with our visa ( we did get it free thanks to some good connections), and ignoring the usual rule of doubling any estimated time travelling on african roads.

Once in Mozambique we drove on a dirt road for 4 hours, passing through small african villages - just like you would imagine with mud huts and thatched roofs, lots of children, chickens and goats running around, water wells and woman carrying gallons on their heads and men sitting chatting under tree's. the towns we passed through had a distinct mediterranean feel to them, different to malawi, and it was strange hearing these africans talking in beautiful portugese!

By lunchtime-ish on saturday we were in Lichinga, the provincial capital of nyassa. The organiser of the game - Sarah a big round bubbly mozambiquan met us here and took us to her restaurant where we were treated to a feast of rice, fish, chicken, salad, fresh fruit and the biggest creamiest looking cake i have seen since in Africa. We think it was maybe a ploy to fill us to the extent where we cannot run! After 24 hours on a bus we definetely appreciated it though! After a lot of hanging around, it is africa, we eventually headed to the lake - lake malawi but mozambique side, and drove in convoy behind sarah.

As we reached the town of Metungula - we drove down the steepest roads with hairpin bends and the views of the lake were awesome, sarah started to honk her horn, and this carried on all the way to the park - where we were greeted with hundreds of people, a tv crew, singing and live music! it was quite overwhelming and as we were hurried off to change into our gear, the nerves started building - i thought this was going to be a fun friendly! By this time the sun was nearly down and there was clearly not going to be enough light after dark so we barely had a chance to warm up and off we went. I was in goals, and there was a crowd behind me - all speaking in portugese and commenting whenever i moved which was off putting to say the least! Whenever someone made a small mistake or slipped on the ground the whole crowd erupted into laughter! There was commentary, which was in portugese - probably to our advantage! the first half went well and somehow i managed to keep the ball out of my net (wooden posts actually). the air was a lot more humid than back home, and although a cool day - normally they reach 40 C, we all found it quite tough, so at half time when they just swapped sides it was clear we were going to have to keep going without a break! I took defence second half and battled with fit girls, aged about 16 who were by this time running circles around us. A few minutes later and they put in their first goal, and the disappointment surprised me! However after realising that the girls were all doing kartwheels/back flips and the crowd had erupted, it seemed not so bad! they managed to get another one in, and the match ended with the crowd running onto the pitch all singing, we were all hugging and the atmosphere was awesome! the score was improved from last time and we had just travelled for two days on a bus - not bad!

the evening, started with a ceremony where we thanked them for having us and their mayor thanks us for coming...with each one of us not understanding the other! we then presented all the girls with one of our shirts and once again the place erupted into song, it was beautiful. At this stage it struck us that these people were so much more livlier and joyful than malawians - maybe relative to the economic status, or i think more likely - their portugese influence. They dressed in more stlysih ways, the children had more adventurous hair cuts and everything was more colourful. It certainly gave me a taste for going back to see more of the country and people one day!

In my comparing Mozambique-to-Malawi , I ask myself just what is it about these former British colonies like Malawi that bring a seeming absence of decent street food?Why does Mozambique, a Portuguese colony until the 1970s, seem to have plenty of backyard bakeries that actually make decent bread while just a few miles away across the border there is none? The bakery we visited on our way back had beautiful pastries, amazing fresh bread that could be eaten alone, proper coffee and chocolate biscuits and cakes!

All in all, it was an awesome weekend, we struggled with the language, althogh luckily some of us had some spanish which went a long way. the journey back was completed in one day and the border crossing went smoothly with the officers only asking us what the score of the match was and why we didnt have music on the bus - why so concerned on the way/?!?!

Next on list of many african countries to visit - Mozambique here i come!

becky