Capulanas for sale

One of the most striking things about living in Mozambique is the fact that it's so colorful.  This was initially a shock to me as I had been used to the conservative darker and neutral colors of the omnipresent formal clothes in Japan. In Mozambique, the more color and loud prints, the better and it's rare to see patterns twice. The most iconic and famous examples of the color in Mozambique are the famous textiles and fabrics that are made into capulanas.

A visit to an NGO that teaches sewing - you can see some capulanas worn here

A capulana is a rectangle of material that is worn everyday by the women in Mozambique. It's like a sarong, but in heavier and thicker fabric and is worn as a long skirt, as a baby carrier or made into shirts, dresses and skirts that are even worn by professionals in the workplace. The quality of a capulana is determined by its texture, thickness and waxiness and this determines its price. Capulanas are also worn in neighboring countries like Tanzania and Malawi and Mozambican and it's currently very trendy to be seen wearing fabric from international trade rather than the local market.

Making hammocks out of capulana - that's the ambassador trying one out

One of the best places to buy capulanas in Maputo is called "Casa Elefant" though it's a bit overwhelming to step into the shop whose walls are literally covered in hundreds of brightly-covered fabric. I've had fun choosing some capulanas to take home as gifts and also to make into some different clothes for myself. Last week I had the chance to visit a local NGO that makes bags out of the colorful fabric in the hopes of selling them to interested expats - it worked for me!

One of my tour guides wearing a shirt made from a capulana

One of the places I knew that I wanted to visit this summer was Ilha de Mocambique/Mozambique Island because it was the original capital of the country before 1898 and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the farthest north that I'm planning on traveling in the country and as you can see from the map, it was quite a trek to get there. After a two hour flight from Maputo, I arrived in Nampula for about a three hour drive to the island. The drive was an interesting experience in itself because it gave me a chance to view northern Mozambique. I'm sure my driver was annoyed with my constant stream of questions throughout the voyage as I wanted to understand everything. During the three hours we were stopped by the police four times and asked for bribes, people stood on the edge of the road and shook pans of cashew nuts at us enticingly and others ran toward our car shaking dead chickens hoping for an impromptu sale.

Banana trees growing in my hostel

Some of the colorful buildings in Stone Town

Afternoon swimming at a lagoon off the beach

The color of the water was incredible #nofilter

Fort Saint Sebastian

Lunch on the beach

Shell collecting

Getting ready to sail

Baobab trees on the island

If you know me, you know that I am most definitely a planner. Planning for trips and thinking about where and how to spend time is just as much fun as the experience itself and I find that I learn and remember more if I prepare a lot beforehand. One of the funny incidents that has frequently occurred in Brazil and now a few times in Mozambique is when local teachers and employees see my calendar or agenda. It's just a standard, black monthly planner from Staples that I keep notes and reminders in written down in pencil. I pulled it out in the consular office the other day to write down a phone number and the two locally employed staff members immediately walked over and wanted to know what it was and where I got it. They said they had never seen anything like it and wanted to look through every page. Later that week, when our boss asked if they wanted anything from the States from a visiting colleague, they both quickly replied that they wanted a calendar like mine. Similarly, in Brazil, an agenda was the most requested item for me to bring back from home.

Sunset at Dhow cafe this Friday night

Some welcome changes have come my way and I'm enjoying my time in Maputo more than ever. The first big change was moving from FMO (financial management office) to CONS (consular office). I've spent the last three weeks learning a lot about how consular officers decide who gets a visa to visit the U.S. and who doesn't. Through this process I've had to learn all about the different kinds of visas that are issued and how to process them. The other half of the job consists of helping Americans who have any sort of problem while in Mozambique and also with routine needs like new passports, notary services and births or deaths abroad.

The consular office in Maputo is one of the smallest in the world because there is only one consular officer. The other two employees are local staff from Maputo. Although the office is super tiny with cramped workspaces, I like it because it's easy to know what's going on with everyone all the time (I'm probably the only one who thinks this, however). Since there is only one consular officer he has to do it all himself which means that I get to see how everything is done since I'm never more than about three feet away from any person in the office at any given time. He does all of the actual visa interviews and official signatures on documents and I've been taught to do all of the paperwork and data entry that goes into every service preceding his official decision.

The other recent change has been another move. I've spent the first four weeks of my stay in Maputo in the intern house which has been fine, but not really my scene. When a nice young couple from the embassy asked if I wanted to live with them for the rest of my time here, I jumped at the chance. Now, I'm overwhelmingly grateful for daily access to internet, hot showers, air conditioning, a clean kitchen and constant quiet. It's pure bliss.

With this new access to internet I'm hoping to be able to write a bit more in my last four weeks here. Thanks for reading and stay tuned.