The dock to the little ferry boats...
Looking back at Maputo...
Shuen, Jason and myself...
Clearly, we were mistaken. Upon arrival, we found a sign pointing towards the restaurant we wanted to eat at. So we started walking. And we kept walking. And kept walking. It turns out that Catembe hasn't really been developed with tourists in mind, and there isn't actually much there.
Catembe's main road...
Eventually, after no signs of tourist-targeted establishments, we stopped to ask some local fisherman if they knew where this place was. They told us we should have gone the other direction when the road split (we had elected to walk along the beach....aren't all tourist things along the beach if at all possible?). So we started backtracking...and decided to ask for a second opinion. Our next candidate informed us that we had originally been going the wrong way but were now headed in the right direction...the restaurant we wanted was actually right next to the ferry dock. How about a third opinion? This time we were told that the restaurant was back in our original direction...where we thought it was.
At this point I thought it wise to use a lifeline and call my roommate - who had stayed home and would therefore have access to the guidebook (which I had neglected to bring with me). She informed us that the restaurant was where we had originally thought....but it was just a little farther than expected (4 km from the ferry, to be exact). Now, it was hot. We were tired. And we had been walking up and down the same road for about an hour. But we were determined to get our pizza....so we turned back around and headed for make-your-own pizza land.
Several hot kilometers later, we arrived at our destination. It was a nice little hotel, complete with a small art gallery, a classy looking dining room, and a deck with tables and chairs. We opted for a table outside and, since we were parched and no one seemed to be coming to us, I got up to ask the waiter for a menu and a big bottle of water. "I'm sorry," he says, " we are out of water". Need I describe my surprise at this statement? He then went on to inform me that all they had to eat was shrimp or portuguese style beef (I'm not quite sure what that even is). Apparently they had just hosted a month long workshop, the kitchen was all cleaned out, and the big boss hadn't gotten back from his shopping trip to Maputo yet.
I don't think I can accurately describe the emotions we were feeling at this point....so I'll just say that we opted to catch a chapa (i.e. minibus) back to the ferry where we were told there was another fancy restaurant. Now, our chapa was an open pick-up truck, which was relatively full and we had to stand in the back of. About half way back to the dock it broke down, and all the guys had to get out and push (sometimes it's nice being the non-dominant sex). When that didn't work, we enlisted the help of another chapa to tow our chapa back to the dock.
We opted to walk back at this point (we had been walking all afternoon....so why not?), and headed back down to the beach to stick our feet in the ocean.
We eventually made it to the other restaurant, which we decided was not that great. So we just got back on the ferry, went back to Maputo, and ate at a restaurant there. Very anti-climactic. But we did get to see a lot of Catembe...which was actually pretty nice. Next time, however, I will be better prepared!
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