last days in Maputo

One day as we walked out from Tyler and Lilly's place, we went by to drop the trash at the area dumpster. From the neighborhood dumpster runs the guys in the hole nearby extract recyclables to turn into cash. It's an efficient and local system.

In my solitary walks, I had seen men playing checkers on cardboard game boards, using different colored bottle caps for pieces. Lilly has been patiently interpreting, instructing and answering questions all week, and so when I asked her if she thought it would be rude to take a photo when we passed one, she not only asked permission on my behalf, she ended up playing.

Yesterday we took a taxi to the fish market for lunch. Here Lilly negotiated, Tyler assessed the goods and made choices, and I tagged along. Once the shrimp (bigger than my hand) and the fish were selected, and a price negotiated, we carried them back to the restaurant area and there Lilly negotiated with a woman for the cost to cook the fish and shrimp, plus batatas (potatoes) and salad.

We sat under a giant tree for our little feast. First a pitcher of water and a bucket were brought. The water is poured over your hands as you wash, and the water caught in the bucket below. Throughout the meal, vendors hawking their wares circulated in the crowd, selling paintings, shirts, jewelry, and various other things. Perhaps the oddest was a sort of bobble headed miniature chicken. The trick was to look without being caught, because anything more than a bare glance brought them to your side, from whence it was a challenge to get rid of them.

I managed to twist my ankle going in to the market, which cut short our walk along the beach afterward. We did manage to put our toes in the Indian Ocean though, just to be able to say so.