The first vacation in our uttermost warm neighboring country Mozambique, what a magnificent time we had. On Sunday afternoon we drove off with a hired VW Golf 1. The plan was to get to the beautiful capital city of Mozambique in the evening. But before we could reach Maputo we were confronted with some interesting problems at the border, the beginning of our agitating adventure. After trying to find the right counter (Counter three, 2nd floor, permit 46 B, the red one) a young friendly guy offered us his help. To our satisfaction all papers were filled in fast and accurate and we could leave South Africa in no time. As we arrived in Mozambique our friend was already awaiting us. He led us to the right places, provided us with a third party insurance and did everything for us at all times. After we got our Visas and our entry permit nothing was left in our way. Or was there? There he was again our helpful friend who got us through all this mess.
After we offered him R20 (≈$2) for his help he rejected and instead insisted on getting R200 (≈$20). Adding to this he said “Hey ma friend, if you don’t have R200 it’s OK”. Noteworthy was only that he repeated that same sentence, roughly estimated, about twenty times. And just after some time we were surrounded by black man who apparently wanted to help us. Hereafter we drove to the last control without giving any donations and without taking any help whatsoever. Now our “friend” was running past us and right up to the police officer. He told him something in Portuguese and suddenly
the police man wanted to search our car. To be exact: our boot. A full backed boot with clothes and bags was the only thing he found and so he wished us a save journey and off we were. „Obrigado senhor polícia e cião!“. On the last 100 Km we only saw an enormous bushfire far in the distance. Finally in Maputo the only thing left to do was driving down the Avenue 24th of July, onto Vladimir Lenin Ave and into Mao Tsé Tung street, where we had to find our backpacker Fatima’s Place. Yet before, we had to encounter the public authorities once more and we made a short visit at a hotel with magenta colored neon lights
where you paid every hour, every two hours or every three hours. On the next day, finally, we explored Maputo with nearly no stress at all and at night we went to the fish market, the best insider tip we could have got. On the way there the only difficulty was that our internationally mixed group had to squeeze into a bus. The countries Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, England and Germany were represented. Funny thing was St. Gallen was also represented, by two girls from Switzerland. By the way my seat in the bus was really easy to get to. You just had to get into the bus via the drivers’ door,
crawl over the steering wheel and there you are sitting right over the glove box. What a blast. The next day we drove 400 Km to our last destination. Tofo, truly it must be paradise on earth. Azure blue Ocean, the Indian, white sand beach, did squeak a little, and a palm tree hut with a bar where they served ice-cold 2M’s, one of the three most known Mozambican sorts of beer. Now, enough writing, my Mozambican adventure has come to an end for you right here. But before it ends you get one more delicacy, the cherry on whipped cream if you like.
“A tourist does not know where he was. A backpacker does not know where he is going.”
The first vacation in our uttermost warm neighboring country Mozambique, what a magnificent time we had. On Sunday afternoon we drove off with a hired VW Golf 1. The plan was to get to the beautiful capital city of Mozambique in the evening. But before we could reach Maputo we were confronted with some interesting problems at the border, the beginning of our agitating adventure. After trying to find the right counter (Counter three, 2nd floor, permit 46 B, the red one) a young friendly guy offered us his help. To our satisfaction all papers were filled in fast and accurate and we could leave South Africa in no time. As we arrived in Mozambique our friend was already awaiting us. He led us to the right places, provided us with a third party insurance and did everything for us at all times. After we got our Visas and our entry permit nothing was left in our way. Or was there? There he was again our helpful friend who got us through all this mess. 
After we offered him R20 (≈$2) for his help he rejected and instead insisted on getting R200 (≈$20). Adding to this he said “Hey ma friend, if you don’t have R200 it’s OK”. Noteworthy was only that he repeated that same sentence, roughly estimated, about twenty times. And just after some time we were surrounded by black man who apparently wanted to help us. Hereafter we drove to the last control without giving any donations and without taking any help whatsoever. Now our “friend” was running past us and right up to the police officer. He told him something in Portuguese and suddenly 
the police man wanted to search our car. To be exact: our boot. A full backed boot with clothes and bags was the only thing he found and so he wished us a save journey and off we were. „Obrigado senhor polícia e cião!“. On the last 100 Km we only saw an enormous bushfire far in the distance. Finally in Maputo the only thing left to do was driving down the Avenue 24th of July, onto Vladimir Lenin Ave and into Mao Tsé Tung street, where we had to find our backpacker Fatima’s Place. Yet before, we had to encounter the public authorities once more and we made a short visit at a hotel with magenta colored neon lights 
where you paid every hour, every two hours or every three hours. On the next day, finally, we explored Maputo with nearly no stress at all and at night we went to the fish market, the best insider tip we could have got. On the way there the only difficulty was that our internationally mixed group had to squeeze into a bus. The countries Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, England and Germany were represented. Funny thing was St. Gallen was also represented, by two girls from Switzerland. By the way my seat in the bus was really easy to get to. You just had to get into the bus via the drivers’ door, 
crawl over the steering wheel and there you are sitting right over the glove box. What a blast. The next day we drove 400 Km to our last destination. Tofo, truly it must be paradise on earth. Azure blue Ocean, the Indian, white sand beach, did squeak a little, and a palm tree hut with a bar where they served ice-cold 2M’s, one of the three most known Mozambican sorts of beer. Now, enough writing, my Mozambican adventure has come to an end for you right here. But before it ends you get one more delicacy, the cherry on whipped cream if you like.
