We left Maputo at 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday...that's 3:00 A.M.!!!!
After loading some items from storage we were on the road on Mozambique N1, which is the main road connecting southern and northern Mozambique. Actually, it's the ONLY road connecting southern and northern Mozambique. I would like to tell you it is a highway connecting the south and north but even the word "road" would be generous for significant portions.
Anyway, we started our journey north and began interacting almost immediately with the Mozambique equivalent of the Highway Patrol. Well, Highway Patrol/local Cop and a soldier with an AK47, sometimes several cops & several soldiers. We traveled about 475 km the first day and we're stopped 9 times.
We also began a journey back into time. As we rolled along the Mozambique countryside, we continuously saw the small groupings of mud huts and saw the people walking along the highway going about their daily lives. Some were fortunate enough to have bicycles and it was fascinating to see how much stuff or how many people could be on one bike. It is amazing how you can leave a capital city like Maputo and in less than 15 minutes see people live like their ancestors did 1,000 years ago. Mud hut, no electricity, no running water and cooking with wood and/or charcoal.
We drove until 2 p.m. and then left the main highway to get our hotel room for the night. We had to leave the main road because their were not any decent accommodations on the main road. We travel about 60 km on a road that led to a couple of towns on the seaside. I will post those photos.
We were snapped back into the 21st century when we arrived at the hotel and had a very restful night.
The area we stayed in was beautiful! I finally got to see the beach area that every one raves about in Mozambique. And to think it only took us 9 hours of driving time! Whew!
And then we started day 2.......
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