Monday, July 19, 2010

Vilankulos

Midway between Beira & Maputo is a beautiful & pristine archipelago 10 km offshore from the town of Vilankulos. I arrived a week back late in the afternoon after enduring one of many Mozambiquen style (before the crack of dawn departures ranging 2am -5am) departures leaving Beira. I have been accompanied the last week by a young French kid named Samuel who befriended me in the Beira city-center market.
After a been-soup & cold Manica beer to decompress, we asked our server at the Vilankulos bs terminal where to head for budget accommodation? Apparently she she didn't receive that question to often, whereas she walked us down down to the beachfront (10 mins)& to a cement block (Bar Tropical) perched right on top of teh most beautiful sea view in town.
The owners of the bar offered us a traditional straw hut house inside of a well groomed sand courtyard, shaded by a massive manzanika tree for about $7.50 a night, "We´ll take it!"
I had a good feeling upon arrival, however we were presently surprised to find it the most paradisaical lazy stay in Mozambique by far! The entire town is built on sand, whereas waking up every morning to a coffee, later to be on the sea (literally in a boat, or knee deep crab fishing for our first lunch. I´ve never eaten endless amounts of fresh seafood for pennies on the dollar.
The first morning we were inquiring about snorkeling prices w/ the few tourist agencies, walking back on the beach Samuel found a stick & we were taken by the amount of fishermen/ women knee deep in Crystalline clear water 500 meters offshore. We became immediately inspired.
"Look I have one one! Im going to keel him!"
Samuel´s 1st kill was a baby crab that he punctured in half. Still we proudly scooped what was left of him & brought it to the gorgeous Bar tropical Maitre´d ee Samira. Samira is a 20 something bombshell whom is the epitome of a voluptuous tropical fantasy girl. "She´s perfect!" Samuel would continuously repeat during our stay. It couldn't sound more cliche, however Samira is one of the most beautiful woemn most men ever lay eyes on.
Surely if Samuel could snap a baby crab in inch deep water, the waters were destined to be plentiful. "Esta cheio!" gestured a lazy man seashore pinching his fingers together to demonstrate the Portuguese signal for full & plentiful. In-suing, we dashed into the water not properly equipped, me w- the Bar Tropical plastic dish holder & a soccer jersey which ended up to be crucial in holding our eventual catch.
As we approached the bulk of the fisher-women, most elderly dawning bright colorful head cloths "Capulanas" I tried to give Samuel some pointers on the proper techniques. Within a span of 15 minutes & from about 10 meters away we watched in awe as a 60 year old woman would take about 2 steps through the seaweed, methodically adjust her stance, loosen her foot & then plunge her iron rod a foot deep into the sand to pull out a neon-colored crab.
"oahh! Look at dat! Sheez incredibal!" The women to our amazement pulled up about 10 crabs in 15 minutes, decades of experience she had a 6th sense for hunting crabs. After realizing our stick was not sharp enough we relegated ourselves to an inferior & primitive job of digging our hands around in the sand for clams.
"Ahh fuck come on! Gibe me dee stick! Samuel had caught his first crab by luck after he had been bitten digging for clams. As the clouds began to darken overhead, a young man covered in squid ink approached us & warned it was time to go to shore, "Vem conmigo!"
Fighting the tide I spotted what was my last chance to puncture a nearly translucent looking fish. After the 2nd try I was sure I had lost him. Afelo however whose catch of the day up till then numbered 4 crabs & a similar number of squid stuck with the moving translucent creature. Powering- Sprinting in knee deep waterfor at least 200 meters, constantly watching his pace so as not to frighten the fish. AFter a 5 min further standoff Afelo leaped & plunged his iron rod one time, up he pulled a plump & black bleeding squid. I felt it was his catch, still he rewarded me with the #Lula# & showed me how to clean it!
After 3 hours on the water our 1st days catch included a crab, squid, & about 2-3 kilos of clams. Gleefully we returned to Bar tropical where within 20 minutes Samira had cooked up one of many incredible seafood meals. The following day Samuel was inquiring about Oysters "Ostras" the following morning the Bar Tropical owner had an 8 kilo bag filled w- hundreds of small live oysters waiting for a whopping $3 dollars! 100 metecais!
With such abundant seafood, we felt we were in heaven, every morning walking through the seafood market after our Petite Dejune routine of Coffee & bread. The same kids everyday holding massive tiger prawns in their hands & spiced w one liners, "Look my friend this is a tiger!"
"My friend, you looking for the tiger yes?" "Look it´s a big one!." or "My friend, this is a tiger!"
This beame the brunt of much of our inside joking over the next 5 days, when going back in the evening to haggle for prawns.
"My friend look at dees fish, you take it!"
Samuel; "Ahh, I´m looking for dee big one!"
Vendor "Vai levar o peixe?"
Samuel; "No! I want the Tiger, I want the big one!"

There are too many highlights yo pinpoint half of what was was so phenomenal about Vilankulos. We did a day trip to one of the islands, & yes the snorkeling & waters were splendid, yet my favorite moment was upon sailing back to shore drinking a coffee, having our captain teach me phrases in Matua (much to the Entertainment of the other 2 crew members.), one of 24 dialects in Mozambique.
The town & it´s inhabitants has a separate identity when comparing w- Beira & Maputo which imparticular have a distinct Muslim identity. Muslims are practically non-existent in Vilankulos, not sure why that would be?

I´m cutting it short due to time constraints, Maputo is the only place where internet functions at a respectable pace.

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful experience, history
    I felt I was back watching what tells

    congratulations

    ReplyDelete