A Perfect Sunday Afternoon

The Fish Market is one of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday afternoon in Maputo. The market is right on the water, next to a big open area full of tables and surrounded by little restaurants. You simply choose from the seafood that has been brought in by the fishermen that day, choose a restaurant, and have them cook your meal while you sit outside enjoying drinks and (usually) live music. I made plans to go with some colleagues, plus a group of Peace Corps people on my first Sunday afternoon back in Maputo.

(The fish market)

On the way to the fish market, the group decided that we should go check out one of Maputo’s newest attractions – a brand new driving range just outside the city. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than to hit some golf balls, drink some beers, and then have some fresh seafood....right? With the luxury of Andrew as our chauffeur, and some vague directions to the driving range, we set off down a dirt road. We drove, and drove, and drove. And drove. Eventually we came to something that, after some debate, we decided must be the driving range. At first glance it seemed just to be a continuation of the flood plane that we were driving past. But after more careful observation, we spotted some flags and banners with what appeared to be distance measurements, plus two small huts. We drove along some tire tracks through the grass until we reached the huts – one of which turned out to be a bathroom (with proper toilets and running water – imagine that!). The other contained a few tables and chairs, plus several buckets of golf balls and some rakes (but no clubs). The only person around was the guard, who informed us that the “boss” would be back in “20 minutes”.

(The driving range, and the view opposite the driving range)
i.e. I took a picture of the driving range and then did a 180 and took another....hoping it would become clear why it was difficult to find

We waited for about 40 minutes, then decided that perhaps Sunday was not a day for golfing after all, and headed to the fish market for fresh seafood.