One of our first stops on the continent of Africa was Maputo in the county of Mozambique. I have never been to this part of the world and was not sure what to expect. Lou was not feeling well on this day so I headed out with a group on a “highlights” tour of the city of Maputo. We visited some of the popular sites and did the touristy things, which I am not always a fan of. My favorite part of seeing a new city is to just walk around and feel it out. But sometimes the safest way is to go with a guide who knows where to take you. After our tour of the city with a guide I got back to the ship and gave Lou a call to see how he was feeling and he wanted to get out and see a few things. We headed out on foot and just walked with no real destination. Not to far from the ship we came across a school rally of some sort and observed for a while before the kids saw we had cameras and started posing for us. Everyone really hammed it up for the camera which is always fun. After the rally let out our journey continued and we stumbled a little outdoor art market. I usually walk right through these pretty quickly but this time we were talked into buying a piece each by a man named Samuel. On our way back we made a wrong turn and were told to head back to the main street so we didn’t get our cameras stolen…and quickly walked the other way. Seeing a local market is always on my list of places to check out and the Municipal Market of Maputo was on our way back. It is always interesting to see what kind of food is available, from the fish laying out on a warm table, to the different fruits and vegetables. A man that seemed like he had quite a few drinks stopped me for an impromptu photo shoot in the market and had me take photos of him doing different poses, strange but funny. Our time walking around the city was coming to an end so we headed back to our floating home. I am glad that Lou got a chance to get out and take a walk around the city, it made for a much different experience then being shuttle around with a group of tourists.
