Mozambique

We're on to Mozambique, the last African country in a string of them. Calib asked me the other day if we could do somewhere other than Africa. There was quite the outburst: "They're all pretty much the same. They were colonized by some European country. There's some weird animals, a hard to pronounce ethnic group, some dancing that's possibly accompanied by a weird instrument, and chicken served with rice." 

Well, he's not wrong. So let's just get through those. 

Mozambique was colonized by the Portuguese, so it's no surprise Portuguese is the official language of Mozambique. The whole country is a fusion of Portuguese, African, Indian and Arabic cultures. They gained their independence in the 70's, like most Africa countries (1975 to be exact). 

In fast our landmark, Fort Sao Sebastiao, was built by the Portuguese in 1558. The fort took about 50 years to complete and it is the oldest complete fort still standing in Sub-Saharan Africa. (Those Portuguese must know how to build!) Beyond the fort is a chapel that was recently restored. Built in 1552, it is considered the oldest European building in the southern hemisphere. 

The 'weird' animal here isn't so weird, it's the African Lion. There are only about 35,000 of them left in the wild. Mozambique has been having success with conservation efforts all around, and is working hard to increase the population of the lion. (Did anyone else know lions have stinky pee they use to mark their territories? I didn't!) 

The hard to pronounce ethnic group here is the Makonde people. And yes, they have a mapiko dance where the men cover themselves in cloth and wear over sized carved wooden masks. The Makonde are ruled by mothers, so the dance came from attempts of the men to challenge their women leaders. 

In other "Calib-didn't-call-it-exactly" facts, we talked about the Musiro face mask. In northern Mozambique, the women walk around wearing a white face mask to keep their skin young, protect them from the sun, and display their social status. The mask is made from the branches of the  ximbuti tree that are ground into a paste. 

The Mozambique flag is a little interesting, in that it is the only country flag in the world that features a modern weapon (an AK-47).  The country itself had a breif stint as a safe country to visit. Their civil war ended in 1992.  In 2014, a peace deal was signed between the government and the former rebel group, Renamo. It was a big deal in 2015 when the country was declared free of landmines. But, since last August, tensions with Renamo has once again been rising. While there is no official travel warning from the US Department of State, it is advised to use extreme caution if you plan to visit. 

The boys made their Mozambique postcards. 

Calib's featured Peri-Peri chicken. The Portuguese brought chili peppers with them in the 16th century. The people of Mozambique called them peri-peri which translated to pepper-pepper and it became part of the cuisine of Mozambique. 

Peyton's featured the fisherman, who use boats called dhow's to transport their catch of the day from the coast inland, using the mangrove swamps. 

Hayden noted the lions (and the stinky pee). 

Now Calib wasn't spot on with the chicken and rice. Prawns are big in Mozambique (both in consumption and size). The Lourenco Marques prawns swim off the coast, and are famous for their size. Another food popular in Mozambique is cray fish. But, since we can't get cray fish or Mozambique sized prawns for a decent price around here, we did settle on chicken. BUT, we did have 'chips' instead of rice! 

For  dinner we had Mozambique Peri Peri Grill Chicken, Mozambique Avocado Salad, mangoes and french fries (or, as they call them 'chips). 

This one got five-ish spoons up (although we wished we had Asa make the fries instead of having bagged frozen ones- they just aren't even close to the same quality!) 

We went to Nando's Peri Peri way back for South Africa day, and since Peri Peri Chicken is widely eaten in Mozambique, we figured we'd try our hand at this recipe. We all agreed this one was good, and people had several helpings of the chicken, but it wasn't at all like Nandos. It lacked the same spice (which was just fine for some us!). 

Most of us agreed the salad was good, despite the avocado (some of us are not fans), and the fruit (which some of us don't like in salads)- but it all worked well together.

Mozambique is just a boat ride away from Madagascar on the Southeast coast of Africa. It has the fourth largest coastline in all of Africa (after Madagascar, Somalia, and South Africa). We colored it in a bright purple color.

114 down, 79 to go!

Next Up: Dominica