The road to Pemba

We walked leisurely through the streets of Ilha towards the bridge that would take us back to the mainland.  The streets were full of people as the trash truck was whistling as it announced its arrival around the island.  A few chapas offered to take us to “continente,” but we continued our walk to enjoy the morning.  Once we reached the bridge, we hopped in the back of a truck and paid our fare across the water.

 

Once on the mainland, we arranged for a ride to Namialo.  It was the turnoff to head North towards Pemba and where we’d catch the big bus.  We found a chapa that was going in the right direction and waited for it to fill.  As we traveled, we did the normal picking up and dropping off of people.  Suddenly, people were looking behind us and it turned out that someone had missed the chapa.  He hired a motorcycle to catch up with us and managed to catch the driver’s attention to pull over.

 

We reached Namialo around lunch time and asked around to find out when the bus would pass.  Most people said it would be another hour so we found a place to eat lunch near the road.  We ordered food and watched as the vendors across the road sold their products.  They took their time cooking and just as our plates came out, the bus turned the corner.  A mass of vendors ran behind it and the ticket salesman was waving us down.  We asked for to-go containers and Tico ran across the street to get the bus.  I paid our bill and followed behind him.

 

We boarded the bus and found 2 empty seats across the aisle from each other.  Not long after, a woman with her infant strapped to her back got on the bus and there were no more seats.  Tico offered up his seat and stood for the next hour until we reached her destination.  Shortly after, the woman next to me got up and we sat together.  There were action movies being played on the screens and even when it wasn’t in English, we remained entertained.  Parts of the road were rough and it took longer to navigate than we had hoped.

Once we’d turned East towards the ocean, the road improved again.  The driver picked up speed and we were making up time.  Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes as a car was stopped in the road and there was an oncoming car so he couldn’t pass.  Everyone lunged forward in their seats, but no one thought much about it.  We kept on and went back to watching the third action film of the ride.

At the next stop, the lights came on and within seconds panic ensued.  It started in the middle of the bus and our initial thought was a fight had broken out.  Then, everyone frantically grabbed their bags and began pushing towards the door.  Without knowing what was happening, we followed.  Everyone was bent over as they moved so we began to think that we were being attacked from outside.  We grabbed our belongings and were one of the last ones to be pushing our way out.  As we were almost to the stairs, the only two men behind us jumped out the window.  The entire time I’m asking over and over what happened, in Spanish, and no one is responding.

Once on the asphalt, we saw smoke coming from the middle of the bus where the tires are.  After speaking with other passengers, we found out what happened.  With the driver’s speed and the recent slamming of the brakes, we apparently burnt the brake pads.  After countless bottles of water being sprayed under the bus and on the brakes, the smoking subsided.  Many people got onto different transport as a chapa had stopped to take them the last 25 kms to Pemba.  After 10 minutes, we were told we could board the bus again.  With doubts and hesitation, we got back on the bus.  We continued to sit there for some time while they made sure everything was ready before making our way down the road.  The first time we felt the brakes working, we took that as a good sign.

 

Less than an hour later, we were at the Pemba airport, which was our stop.  Estacio, our host from Couchsurfing, was in class so we were asked to get to Peter’s Place and wait for him there.  There were taxis galore as we exited the bus and we took the first one that gave us a price we thought was good.  While we waited, we grabbed dinner and a drink before we met Estacio and walked back to his house.

Pemba

Now that we had made it almost as far North as we would go in Mozambique, we could take our time to explore.  A German girl, Hanna, was also staying with Estacio and had been here a week so she helped us find our way.  The house was outside of town and not far from Wimbe beach.

 

The first day we all headed into town together to see what it was like.  We went to the market and wandered around.  We needed food for dinner as well as a few other things.  As our bags got heavier, we realized we should leave them behind as we wanted to walk down to the beach.  So we asked one of the sellers to hold our veggies while we grabbed lunch overlooking the water.  The server brought out 4 fish and asked us to choose which one we wanted.  After a good amount of indecisiveness, we opted for the biggest and split it between the 3 of us.

 

 

We went back to the market to finish buying supplies for dinner and decided to see what else we could find.  I wanted to get a skirt tailored from local fabric so we were on a mission to find some.  We went from stall to stall to find the perfect fabric and then found the tailor.  I wasn’t prepared with an example of what I wanted so they started pulling out posters.  We went through and looked at several before I found what I was looking for.  I sat down with John, the tailor, and he drew the design.  We discussed the details of pockets and zippers and negotiated a price.  I’d go back in 2 days to see the finished product.

 

 

That night we went to Fernando’s for dinner and drinks.  He was a Portuguese expat that had a guest house nearby.  Even though we’d eaten dinner before we left, we couldn’t pass up his shrimp and what seemed like endless beers.  The conversations covered almost every possible topic and when we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer, we walked back to Estacio’s.

The following day we went to Wimbe Beach.  It was Saturday so as the sun dropped down and it cooled off the beach filled up.  The majority were locals or people from nearby towns that were enjoying a weekend away.  Most of the time was spent beneath a palm tree people watching although we got wet now and again.  The water had a bug that felt like you were getting stung, which didn’t make it very inviting.  They were preparing a venue on the beach for a concert that night so we walked over to learn more.  It turned out it was more expensive than we thought so we bought a few beers and headed home to make dinner.

 

 

 

We kept hearing about the beach at Chuiba so we decided to get motorbikes to check it out the following day.  Estacio called the bikes for us, but after almost an hour of waiting we wanted to leave.  We started walking towards the beach to get our own transport when we heard the bikes behind us.  After flagging them down, we each got our own driver and headed down the dirt road to Chuiba.

 

They dropped us off meters from the beach and we walked down the hill to the water.  The beach was empty, but there was algae covering bits of the shore.  We cleared off a section and made ourselves at home.  Tico and I played cards in the sand while Hanna took a nap.  We had high aspirations for the beach, but were not as impressed as everyone else had been when they told us about it.

 

On our last day, we headed back to the market to check on my skirt.  John was sick the previous day and hadn’t started working on it yet.  I explained that we were leaving the next day and he said he would have it ready in a few hours.  We took the time to walk down to the port and observe the fishermen bringing in their daily catch.  Some were working on boats while others were cleaning the fish to sell them.  We spoke with different people before making our way back into town to grab a bite to eat.

 

 

The only place we could find at that hour was a local stall along the main road.  We asked if we could see the menu and were told they had beef and xima.  Less than 2 minutes later, our food was in front of us.  We were each given a large plate of the maize porridge/dough and a bowl of beef pieces that were mostly bones.  No silverware or napkins were provided, but we did get to rinse our hands with water before starting.  The meal turned out to be quite good and settled well.

We stopped by John’s earlier than he had asked, but we were ready to head home.  They were putting on the finishing touches of my skirt when we arrived.  After 10 more minutes, I was handed the finished product to try on.  It turns out that John was a great choice for a tailor and did a great job for what converted to less than $10 dollars.

 

It was our last night in Pemba so we made dinner at Estacio’s before packing up our belongings.  We would have a taxi coming before 4 am to get us to the chapa that would take us to our last destination.  Pemba provided us with more time on the mainland to get more of a feel of the Mozambique culture.  The city itself is nothing to write home about, but if nothing else, it was good break between our island hopping.

Helpful tips:

• It’s hot.  We visited in May, which is early winter, and still found the heat to be like a normal summer day.  If traveling in summer, be prepared.
• Prices in Pemba are higher than the central region as much is brought in from other areas.
• Pemba will get you close to the Quirimbas archipelago, but there is still a 4 hour drive to reach the sailing point.