Back in Maputo

It is quite strange that my last post was from Maputo and here I am back again! Of course in the 5 months (!) since my last blog blogspot have revamped the templates so now I have to figure it all out again. That will teach me for staying away for so long :-)

Today has been really long for me. I woke up with a start at 3:30am thinking I had over slept my 4:00am alarm! I could not get back to sleep so just enjoyed the last half hour in my own bed. But the alarm soon went off and it was time to get up and get ready to go to the airport.

Because there are no direct flights from Durban to Maputo on Sundays, I had to fly via Johannesburg. It really is quite annoying as the direct flight only takes about 45 minutes but flying through OR Tambo takes 4 hours! Anyway there was no choice in the matter so off I went. The first flight was in a brand new Airbus A320-200 that according to the captain had only flown 30 hours and only started in SAA's service this week. It was a nice change to sit in a plane that smelt new instead of smelling like thousands of passengers. I was concerned at the start of the journey because we left late - never great when there is a connecting flight following - but in the end we landed in Jo'burg 5 minutes early.

I trotted across to international departures and got through security and immigration really quickly but then had a longish wait as the boarding for the Maputo flight started late. The plane was a well used Boeing 373-800 that was so much more uncomfortable than the Airbus. It felt like the guy in front of me was sitting on my lap. It is only a 45 minute flight and I was very happy when it was done.

I was very impressed that the hotel had actually sent someone to collect me this time so I did not have to haggle with any taxi drivers and soon enough I was at the Monte Carlo - my 7th stay at this hotel. They have done up the restaurant area and it looks really nice but the rooms are still stuck in the dark age. My room is clean but just really dated.
The Monte Carlo Hotel

After lunch I decided to have a little nap to catch up from the early morning but I'm not really a day time napper and today was no different. There was no way I could fall asleep! So I went for a very long walk instead. It was hot 31 degrees but there was a bit of a breeze so it was overall very pleasant. Below are some photos that I took while out walking.

 An interesting archway in the public garden

 Maputo Bay

A container vessel leaving Maputo harbour

That is all from me today. It is good to be back here and it will be nice to meet up with everyone again. I'm going to settle down and watch a movie tonight. Tomorrow the work starts!

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