On the road again!

Well we have made it to the other side of the continent since the beginning of our journey, yet things here in Northern Mozambique are really not that different from elsewhere in Africa! We are back to finding mystery food down back alleys, eating some form of maize meal over a fire, the showers are once again cold, with buckets in case you don't use toilet paper. Darl enjoyed a minibus ride the other day with three chickens pecking at his ankles!

We started our beach time here in Tofo- where we lived in a grass hut and did a marine safari and swam with dolphins, who unfortunately got freaked out when all of us jumped in after them and ate darl's other big toe. Then they swam away. But we still consider that a quality experience!!

We then made it to Vilinculos, which was awesome because the guesthouse called Vilinculos Backpackers was abnormally cheap and the meals were also cheap. But then we discovered the owner abusing his staff verbally and physically and decided it wasn't such a nice place after all! So next we had to get to Beira for a flight to Pemba (so we are on time meeting with my parents) but we showed up at 4am, waited for our driver to wake up for the next three hours, just to be told the bus would not be leaving that day. So... plan B. Find a new way 400km north. So we made friends with some others going the same way and made it to a town where transport often goes by. We met some amazing locals there who insisted on feeding us a bunch of random local dishes including this weird sour maize meal drink, mystery beans, xima with casava leaves and really good nescafe.

While our new friend Frida and I ate away and attempted to communicate in portugese, the guys found us a semi-truck that would drive us to a town closer to our destination. So, 9 of us packed into the cab of the truck and cuddled up for the long drive. We arrived in Inchope around 5pm, at this point we were happy to escape, since our driver stopped several times along the way for beer runs! We were then rushed into a Chapa to Beira. This was only 100km down the road but, as African transport tends to be painfully slow, we arrived 3.5 hours later. Darl survived the pecking from several chickens under his seat and we made friends with these loud drunk guys who were happy to be alive!

Thank god for our hotel, we found a little gem in Beira called Pensao Moderna and got treated like gold! We made our flight the next day and are now enjoying the most beautiful beaches and friendliest people yet in Pemba! Next stop: Mozamboia da Prai, border town with Tanzania!! Yay!!!