DAY 71
We Leave the house today to spend our last night in Tofo. We talk the minibus back to Maputo at 4am tomorrow so we need to be closer. After a good week of everything being great and everyone being friendly we have a shitty experience with the taxi driver taking us back to Tofo. It seems there's a higher percentage of assholes working in the transport (bus, minibus, taxi) industry.
DAY 72
Leaving at 4am is not fun but it means we'll arrive on the early side in Maputo. For whatever reason they play Celine Dion again in the chapa.... Why??? What have we done to be tortured that way! The rest is the day is uneventful. We stumble upon a Portuguese restaurant in a lovely park and come back at night to have a delicious dinner, our last in Mozambique.
DAY 73
The flight to Dar is not direct. We have stops in Nampula and Pemba. Our hope that we'll be able to stay in the plane while they load/unload (Burma style) is dashed in Nampula. They make us go out with our carrying luggage to let us back in half an hour later... Annoying. The descent toward Dar is beautiful. The water is turquoise and there are a few islands that still look untouched in front of the city. We get our visa (scandalously you can only pay cash and in USD) and look for a taxi. We were unhappy with the faranji (foreigner) prices in Ethiopia. Here they have a board that officially state the price of the taxi rides to the different destination. It has 3 columns. The first is the destination. The second is the price in Tanzanian shilling for residents. The third is the price in USD for everyone else. As it happens, the price in USD is twice as much as the price in shillings... No shame. For the 10km ride downtown they ask for $35... Ludicrous! On a bright note, you haggle much better when you're angry and outraged ;) we'll finally get it for $20. Our hotel is on the edge of the souk (Arabic market) and it takes forever to get there because the little streets are forcefully invaded by cars, trucks and buses even though the whole thing should be a pedestrian only area. Welcome to Tanzania!