Out of Moz

Just about to leave Mozambique. I was here for holiday, longer than I expected as I couldn’t get a visa to South Africa. I had fun in Tofo buuuuuutttt no waves and it was pretty ‘cold’ (relatively speaking). It was ok, read a lot.

Tofo pics…the Inhumbane airport was pretty slick. The flights are also a little like bus tours…stopping off a few times on the way to let people off and pick up some new passengers.

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Then I returned to the capital – Maputo a little early cause I got sick and the non-surf was tormenting me. So… crazy as it sounds, when I travel I love checking out local supermarkets. They always tell you something about what’s going on.  I took the following photos of a local supermarket that is all Chinese, next to my hotel… reflecting the heavy Chinese investment happening in East South/East Africa.

It feels like the kind of advance supermarket you would establish if you were taking over a country and you wanted to make sure you had everything ready for when you shipped in the invading capitalists…everything you need from aisles and aisles of noodles and soy sauce, to industrial cookers, spare no parking signs, football trophies, life jackets, a million different kinds of power adapters, industrial cookers, and, of course, tea to improve your sex life and cure hemorrhoids. No joke.

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Anyho…back to reality.

Hanging in Moz

I was on my way to South Africa and it seems they changed the visa requirements for NZers. I have been to South Africa plenty of times before and always got a visa at the airport. For some reason, this time, I check ‘just in case’ – and find I have to apply at an Embassy for a personal interview and the visa processing would take a minimun of  7 working days and the outcome is not guaranteed.

So, I miss out on the Decolonising the Internet conference my buddy Anasuya is putting, on also the Shuttleworth panel we were going to be on at Wikimania. Sucks. But, its one of the few times I have had visa hassles as NZers are seen as ‘mostly harmless’ – so I can’t really complain. Except I really wanted to be there… ah well…so, last moment reschedule lands me in Mozambique for a 2 week holiday. Now I certainly can’t complain about that and I’m not even going to try…

Rented a small apartment on the beach and a surfboard… if you want to find me I might not be so easy to find for the next wee while…

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