Chillin at the beach....Mozambican style

Saying that the weather has been sporadic would be a dramatic understatement....Mother Nature cannot seem to make the transition once and for all from winter to summer. And although I am not complaining about having cool weather, it makes me a little crazy when cold days alternate with blazing heat. Sunday was one of these blazing hot days. So what did I do? I went to the beach :)

One of my mozambican friends called me up on Sunday and asked me if I wanted to head to the beach. I happily accepted his offer, threw on my one and only sundress (I think I had worn jeans and a long sleeved shirt the day before), and waited for him to come pick me up.

Now, I have to admit that when mozambicans invite me to do something with them (especially if it’s the first time we have hung out), I still never really know what to expect (other than that they will, of course, be late). For instance, when my friend Gil said he would come pick me up, I assumed he would somehow make his way to my apartment and then we’d hop on a chapa to our destination. Not so much. When I went downstairs to meet him, he was standing outside a fairly nice car, with its door ajar, music blaring, and random friend driving. And we weren’t actually going straight to the beach. First we were stopping by the barraca (a little outdoor bar on the street) around the corner to have a drink and pick up random friend’s brother.

From there we actually did head to the beach, with the music still blaring and now all three of the guys in the car singing along (thankfully they have good taste....they were playing some group from Gabon that was awesome). Once we got down to the beach area we drove along what must have been 3 or 4 miles of beautiful beach. I imagine the Portuguese were probably responsible for the beach-side road and wide sidewalk/boardwalk that ran alongside it....yet somehow I don’t think it’s being used quite as they intended.

After cruising the strip, we finally picked a place to stop and settle. We parked the car on the sidewalk/boardwalk (which in the states would have been occupied by people walking their dogs or running), opened the doors, opened the trunk, turned up the stereo, and were immediately bombarded by several women who wanted to sell us beer. Because not only is this 3 or 4 mile stretch of boardwalk turned into a parking lot during the summer, it is also turned into an outdoor bar.....with a woman selling beer out of a cooler (sidenote: if there is a word for “cooler” in Portuguese I have never heard it....here everyone refers to them as a “Coleman”) conveniently located next to the road (we actually had to wait for a woman to move her ‘coleman’ out of the way so we could pull into our ‘parking space’) every ten or fifteen feet. It was kind of like tailgating....only you don’t have to bring your own food and drinks (there are also guys walking up and down the boardwalk/parking lot selling chips, peanuts, and hard boiled eggs).

So that was my Sunday afternoon. Me, Gil, random friend, random friend’s brother, the car stereo, and a steady flow of beers :) It was pretty great.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures that day, but here are some photos of another stretch of beach that's similar. Note the boxes along the street with beers sitting on them and the car on the sidewalk.