Sandy Bottoms

December 16, 2006

We flew out of Mozambique yesterday. It was easier leaving than entering.

We had a really good time. We made friends with a few of the folks staying there. One oke even let us ride his Sea-Doo; it was a blast. You can really get some good air off the ocean waves! By the time we took our last swim yesterday morning, however, I realized I was ready to go. I am sunburned and itchy and still cleaning sand out of places it shouldn’t be.

Our restaurant bill was the equivalent of one night’s stay. When the owner of the resort took us to the airport, Carrie listed off a litany of complaints and then informed him that we would not be paying that bill; he would comp us for those things. He was pissed!

Our last two mornings there we were awakened before 6:00 by the outboard motor on the resorts boat. They fired it up to work on it, but it sits right next to our bedroom. There were several other mornings as well where we were jarred awake by noises generated by the resort itself. Furthermore, our self catering lodge did not provide sugar, salt, pepper, soap, or dish towels and they still charged us $130 a night! The staff was great and so was the beach, but the “resort” pretty much sucked.

Now we are back in Jo’burg. We are staying at a lovely little guest house near the airport. This morning I will journey back to the airport to pick up our rental car so that we can begin the next phase of our adventure. Tonight we should be in Gaborone, Botswana. It will be very cool.

I must say one of the things I appreciate more is the idea of traveling state to state as opposed to country to country. Mozambique is only a one hour flight from Jo’burg, but there are visas to be bought, airport taxes to be paid, passports to check, immigration stamps to get, and customs officials to talk to. This makes the trip that much longer and that much more of a hassle. It almost makes me miss JFK and O’Hare.
MJR