In Maputo

So we made it. Now sitting on my bed in Maputo after my first day spent here I feel good. And warm and sweating. Temperature in the shade at lunch was about 30 degrees and the sun has been trying to melt us slowly. The journey here was not eventful at all. It included various kinds of sandwiches on the planes, Kajsa's massive food supply in the form om boiled eggs, cakes, more sandwiches and some fruit and some attempts at to learn more Portuguese.

We started off at Maputo International Airport by paying too much for the taxi (as usual) but at least the Mozambicans don't seem too hard to convince once they understand that we know the reasonable price. The usual "I'm not interested if it costs more than I am willing to pay" followed by an attempt to walk away should lead to someone else offering the deal at this price. My bargaining skills from India are not completely forgotten even though I wished I had Åsa here with me sometimes.

We spent today taking the fact that we are here on official business seriously and went to the Swedish Embassy (where they all spoke Portuguese of course) and registered and then we went to Notorius Publicus to get some stamps on our passport photocopies, since we've heard that the police likes stamps.

For me doing business with "officials" outside Europe is always an interesting story (Sorry, I take that one back, in Europe too! Who doesn't remember the registration procedure in Grenoble?) Anyways, the trip to Notorius Publicus started with us finding the place and long line of Mozambicans waiting to enter a small house that looked important. We looked at the line and thought that it was the right line. But we were not sure. And the heat didn't make us want to stay if it wasn't. So Kajsa tried out here best Portuguese to explain "to get a stamp", mostly using her hands, to a lady that told us to knock on the door on the backside of the small house. So we did and they told us to stand in the line. Ok, good. We were at the right place. Then, another lady comes up and asks us, in English, if she can help us and all of a sudden all is taken care of in about 15 minutes. Documents are stamped and signed! We like to think that this was because the rest of the line was waiting to get other official documents done which took longer time, like getting authorised photos and stuff, and not because we we're not from the country. But who knows... For the next time we know the word for stamp in Portuguese - carimbar.

Tonight we're going to meet up with a French couple that we hope to rent a room from for three weeks.

My favourite place so far in the room we are staying at is a cupboard. Not what you expected no?  Perfect place to sit for contemplation after a long day in an African capital :)