Days 111 thru 115

(Dan’s comments are italicized)

As dusk draws in, I’m sitting in our living area gazing out at the ocean and listening to the calming waves below…for the last time (this year)! Tomorrow we return to Maputo for a couple of nights before flying back to Johannesburg 🤞

The last few days have followed the pattern of the previous two weeks. We had a lovely surprise the day after we extended our accommodation for another four days; we arrived back after our morning walk to find this…

People have been so kind here, and so many have become friends. I love taking authentic photos of people so…

Selling sunglasses on the beach is a ‘thing’ here. It made me laugh inwardly every day to see these vendors, as I remembered a time…44 years ago. My brother came on honeymoon with my (ex) husband and I (in all fairness, brother and hubby were best friends BUT, looking back, I realize that it didn’t bode well for the marriage 🤷‍♀️…but wait, there’s more. We’d rented a five bedroom house and tried to persuade other friends to come too; in my naivety or stupidity, I couldn’t understand why they didn’t come 🤭). But I digress. We were short on cash, but ever the entrepreneur, I bought a load of cheap sunglasses and arranged them on a shelf pulled out of the refrigerator. Then the three of us played cards and the loser of a hand would have the tray of sunglasses strapped around their neck with a couple of belts; they then walked up and down the beach and wouldn’t return until they’d sold a pair of sunglasses 😎. I wonder if this is where I got my competitive spirit from??

I think I’ve channeled a 99 year old lady since being here as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed sitting at ‘home’ watching people on the beach! Its remarkable what you see when you take a time-out rather than being in the throes of the throngs (I think I’m channeling Dylan Thomas too!) For example, after church on Saturday much of the congregation spent time on the beach…

I try hard not to judge people or force my beliefs on them. But, after working in Kuwait many years ago (after my short stint as a beach vendor of sunglasses), I find some religious rules difficult to accept…

On a happier note, I spent hours during our morning walks taking photos of tiny things on the beach. It’s fascinating what’s around!

Some days, I just took photos of sand art.

Other days, I had fun with small pieces of washed-up seaweed.

One of my favorite times with seaweed was when I came across this …

It was surrounded by lots of broken pieces of seaweed so I quickly took a photo and kept adding one more piece of seaweed to the picture until…

I’ll miss this place. I’ll miss the people, the beauty, and the sunrises.

I know I’ve said this before but… we’ll be back! We were really starting to discover a little bit of the rhythm here. Not just with the hourly tides or the weekly crowds, but the the daily pulse of the citizens. The next time we visit here, we can hit the ground running … I mean, relaxing.