Art pieces at Catembe Gallery Hotel

I was intrigued by the art pieces below, which I found at the Catembe Gallery Hotel. I didn't ask for explanations or who made them,but I just took notice. 

These pictures were at Maputo Hotel. Simple, yet quite nice. I'm inspired to frame pictures that only I took to decorate my home.

A taste of Maputo Waters and its Bluebottle Jellyfish

A view of the port while we were on a ferry taking us to Catembe

Ferries are a very popular mode of transport in Maputo. All these people were either getting of or trying to get on one

I took this picture at the Catembe Gallery Hotel

Unfortunately I could not get a better picture of  that yellow ferry because my baby was clingy

I had a nightmarish experience after being stung by a Portuguese man 'o war otherwise known as the bluebottle jellyfish. I would have wept if my children had not been around. I don't remember ever being in so much agony before. It felt like I had been seared by a hot wire. I thought i had been bitten by a snake. All I could think to say when I left that place was, "You heartless beach!" 

The bluebottle jellyfish. How so dead and harmless it looks, yet so unbelievably evil L

That stringy thing is like a thin thread and when it got onto my skin it felt like it wanted to penetrate the skin. I think if you left it on it would penetrate, but you won't because the pain is so  incredibly intense.

I was left with what looked like burn marks on my arms. And there was an intense burning sensation. 

Two days after the marks turned red

The legacy of the jellyfish a month later. Looks like I will have scars to show when, in 20 years time, I tell my grandchildren about the day I got stung by the bluebottle jellyfish 

The water in Maputo is quite murky. In other places I heard it was clear.

Random pictures from Mozambique

This Easter holiday I had the pleasure of visiting Maputo, Mozambique. It is about 3 hours’ drive from Manzini, so the journeys to and from were quite bearable. Maputo is not the prettiest of cleanest place, but it has its own kind of beauty. The ugliest thing in the country is their traffic police. Enjoy the pictures from Maputo! Do look out for more pictures and stories from Maputo, which I will post between today and tomorrow. 

The giant statue of the first Prime Minister of Mozambique, Samora Moises Machel.

This church is along Ho Chi Minh Street. It appears to be Catholic. We attended part of the service on Good  Friday but it was in Portuguese, so we left.

The little boy in the picture was leading a blind woman to cars begging for alms. It broke my heart because it doesn't look like he enjoys life like boys his age

During the Christmas holidays we drove across Mozambique from the Swazi border to Machipanda, the border linking Mozambique to Zimbabwe. The Universal Church was the most common church we saw. A lot of bizarre and unfavourable things are said about this church. Heaven knows if they are true or false.

There is a lot of congestion in Maputo, very little space to manoeuvre. Most of the buildings look rundown because of clothes always hanging from the balconies, and seem to be in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint. Maybe the sea water corrodes the paint.

Despite the lack of space, there are many disused buildings around, such as this one.  The little car in the picture is called a tuk-tuk and is very popular in Maputo. We also had the pleasure of boarding one. Very ideal for a country with very little parking space. 

This dilapidated building must have looked good in its time. Now vagrants inhabit it  but some sections of  it are being used by daring shop owners.

I took this picture while my husband was being harassed by the traffic police for allegedly flouting a road regulation. They eventually asked for a bribe. It's not easy not to be corrupt in the face of rogue cops.

We enjoyed a good meal at this restaurant by the sea side. Their portions were quite generous I even took a doggy pack.

I took this picture very early in the morning from the 8th Floor of Hotel Maputo. Most apartments don't have parking space so cars park on the street for the night, total chaos if you are not used to driving in that city.

South Africa has them. So does Swaziland. Zimbabwe used to have them but they were destroyed during Operation Murambatsvina. I don't know if they're back, but they could be. Maputo's slums. A real eyesore.