Boxed in

‘Request for authorisation of residence for foreigners’. This was the title of the form being flapped around at the Migração office, where I spent a few hours in the morning. I successfully submitted my passport which will hopefully be returned in around a week with residency paperwork. This will be a satisfying moment.

As my job has caused so much disruption to my status in recent years, I feel less than guilty that because of restrictions on opening hours, I have to go shopping during work time. Lundula planned to cook up a ‘seafood boil’ for a friend’s birthday, so we went to get ingredients and to visit a supermarket for provisions. Here in the Bairro dos Pescadores (Fishermen’s District), along the coast from Maputo city, a cool wind was howling and the vendors hunkered down. Those in the know buy their seafood here, rather than at the more touristy Mercado do Peixe (Fish Market - which is currently closed anyway) closer to town. I hadn’t encountered these canivetes (razor clams) but I can confirm they taste good when they open up after boiling.

The evening presented a dilemma, as there is a 9pm-4am curfew in place. The police here are persistent at the best of times so no one wants to be found contravening the curfew out on the streets. As the seafood boil took a while to serve, just before 9 the guests assembled at Lundula’s had to decide whether we’d bolt just after eating, or stay at his until past 4am. It was inevitable that we all chose the latter, so a fun night was had that ended with everyone napping on the sofa until first light.