Day 113: Goodbye South Africa — Hello Mozambique

We dropped two duffles of souvenirs and various send-back items plus one rolled up piece of art at the front desk, hoping they would get into DHL’s hands and eventually make their way to DC. (Update: we got a tracking number so looks like they are on the way.)

After one more breakfast at The Peech in Jo’burg we headed for the airport en route to Mozambique. It was a short flight — less than two hours.

We were short on cash and I stupidly bypassed an ATM in the Jo’burg airport. I didn’t think to re-read our travel agent’s notes about passport control requirements at the Mozambique airport but it turns out it’s $50 cash per person.

We had $100.

Which got us two passports back, but they were holding on to the two others until we produced another $100.

Fuck.

This is on me. I’m in charge of logistics and $ and completely dropped the ball.

Ok, so there must be an ATM in the airport, right? Nope.

We tracked down the guy who was coming to pick us up from the hotel and he told us the closest ATM was about 15 minutes away. Jesus. Ok, so the plan was for me to go with him to the ATM while Margaret and the kids stayed at the airport cafe. Note that we were allowed to walk through the passport control process, just couldn’t take two of the passports with us.

As soon as I got in the car with the hotel guy he asked how much I needed. Turns out he had $100 on him — probably tips from a recent guest. So we agreed I’d pay him back. I took the money, went back to the Immigration desk, got the passports and we were on our way.

Speaking of cash: the ATMs here allow you to take out only 5,000 Mozambican Metical in one transaction which is about $75.

The anxiety was relieved when we walked into our villa at Santorini in Vilanculos. They upgraded us to a bigger place and it’s ridiculously nice.

We had a late lunch and I choose to further relieve the anxiety by ordering an R&R with lunch (rum and raspberry, supposedly a local favorite). We just chilled around the pool for the afternoon. Before dinner we played 30-Seconds, a game where one person has the answer and needs to get their teammate to guess what it is by giving clues. It was Willa and I vs Margaret and James. Pretty hilarious.

The villa here is designed so that it could be occupied by two separate couples who aren’t traveling together. There is one living space and bar / kitchen area but there are two large bedroom suites that are completely separate — one upstairs and one downstairs on the other side of the house. So the kids are sleeping pretty far away from us — definitely the furthest they’ve been all year. We were a little nervous at first, and James was tentative before falling asleep, but we feel really safe here and know it will be fine.