Global Poverty Monitor

Our guide for today was a lady named Fillemina, who works at World Vision in the child sponsorship area of the Maputo office. She was very nice and really helpful, and was happy to answer questions from us all through the day. Our driver was named Cardozo, and he did not speak English so only spoke to Fillemina throughout the day.

Our first stop was a small shopping center where we could exchange our money. We got there at 8:30 but found it did not open until 9am, so we went to a coffee shop across the road. This was my first real experience of life in Maputo city. Our waiter did not speak English, so without Fillemina there we would have had a lot of trouble communicating. Also, the menu was not as Western as we have been used to on the trip so far. Half of us had ‘cheese toast’, which turned out to be a toasted cheese sandwich, and the rest of us, myself included, had ‘butter toast’, which was just that – buttered toast. We got a large bottle of water each, and I couldn’t help but feel very suspicious of it. I made myself get over it though – if I don’t at least trust the bottled water then I wont have anything to drink for the next 10 days! After our snack/breakfast we went back across the roads to exchange our money. It was a bit scary – we were only allowed in the office one at a time, and I had to trust that I was not going to be ripped off, as I don’t fully understand the exchange rate yet, especially since I was converting from South African Rand to Meticais.

We got back on the bus then, and headed off towards the markets. On the way we stopped at a place called the Fortress, which was a very historical place with statutes, signs and artifacts. Fillemina narrated as we looked around the Fortress, but I still found it all a little confusing. One of the statues was of the man who was the first Governor of Maputo, back when Maputo had its original name.