Tale of Two Cities

 More on Life in Maputo

We needed fruit so I asked Alvaro , our driver, to take me to a fruit market instead of Spar grocery store thinking I could find really fresh fruit direct from the countryside.  We stopped at a fruit stand across from a small Portuguese grocery store in a different part of the city and bought a few things but they didn't have all I wanted.  I suggested we go to where the locals shop for fruit.  So, we drove just to the edge of the city.  Hmmm, did I have an awakening and see first hand the two realities that exist here.  

Take a look for yourself:  It's A Tale of Two Cities


Masks are Mandatory & there are fines 
















I think this is the "real Mozambique", where many of the people who are the helpers for the wealthy shop and folks who live in the country bring their produce to sell and also to shop.  

We walked the street looking at the women selling fruit and then Avaro took me to the Fruit Black Market.  Behind the stores facing the street we walked into a dirt alley,  muddy with what I don't know, where there was this extensive warren of stalls of people selling everything one could imagine - from women selling fish and flies to men sitting at treadle sewing machines ready to fix anything.  Nobody was wearing a mask here!!! I got about half way in thought COVID!!! I gotta get out of here.  Couldn't turn around (too many people) so on we went, though a one way walkway with people staring at me and me wishing I could take a photo to capture this memory, back to the street.  Not surprisingly,  I did not buy anything and couldn't wait to  wash my feet and hands thoroughly as soon as I got home.  It was an eye opener and 180 degrees from the concrete and steel city of Maputo that I have seen thus far.

And then , there is this reality:


this is one of the malls where the Expats, middle and upper class in Mozambique shop

and where and how urban dwellers live

Everybody who has anything has a gate and a guard




 The photo to the left are condos on the road down to where Sierra's house is .  They face the ocean as does her house.

Basically, this country is going through an economic revolution. Dare I say, pre-industrialization to the 21st century.  And, it's all just happened since the revolution ended in the 1980's so change has been fast, driven by foreign companies extracting resources and providing infrastructure.   If the "elected" officials weren't so consumed with self interest and lining their pockets, the country could really prosper.  

I continue to be amazed by the people here  who are remarkably kind and pleasant.



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