- 1 hour ago
Despite it's sad history, Tony finds Mozambique is full of optimism.
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:00Our late model van roars down the two-lane highway in rural Mozambique.
00:17Two white guys in front, me, American, and Fernando, Portuguese.
00:24Carlos, our Mozambican guide, in the back.
00:26Fernando's got the car pushing in, blowing right by Reed and Mudhut villages.
00:34No power, no water, life largely unchanged for a hundred years,
00:39but for the children in their freshly washed uniforms returning from school in the baking heat.
00:48Every few hundred yards, a young man extends an arm, hoping to sell whatever he can.
00:53The car whips right by him.
00:56It seems, I'm uncomfortably aware, a perfect metaphor for much of Africa.
01:09I'm Anthony Bourdain.
01:11That's right.
01:11I write, I travel, I eat, and I'm hungry for more.
01:17Ooh!
01:18You got this!
01:22Yeah!
01:22No reservations, sir.
01:28In 1975, the newly independent Mozambique looked forward to a brighter future.
01:48But this was not to be.
01:50This is a young nation.
02:00This is a young nation, which has been stopped, so to speak.
02:04No roads, no railways.
02:08Yet rather than giving up after enduring a 16-year civil war, one of Africa's most brutal and senseless,
02:15the country picked itself up and began the enormous, daunting task of rebuilding, well, everything from the ground up.
02:23There are very few places left in this world like Mozambique.
02:27The climate is nice, the people are really nice, and the food is extraordinary.
02:33Yet today, Mozambique is barely a pit stop on the tourist trail.
02:37It was with all this in mind that I arrived on my first visit to this East African country of 23 million people.
03:07Buhale village, what you see when you move off the asphalt a few feet or a few miles.
03:33Traditional village life, there's no electricity, no plumbing.
03:37The cars and TVs of a few miles over are not likely to find their way here anytime soon.
03:47I know from previous experience in village life, you wake up early.
03:50Very early, about 3 o'clock in the morning.
03:54Abdul, who grew up here, and his friend Carlos are well familiar with how hard life can be in rural Mozambique.
04:00My father used to work with me very, very early to go and change the code.
04:04You work really hard in the morning, it starts to get really hot in the afternoon, you come back, you eat.
04:10Yes.
04:11The Makua people who live here make do the way many tribes do, scraping out a living under the scorching sun, trading what they can catch or grow.
04:21Today is a special day, however, a film crew is visiting, a birthday is being celebrated.
04:27Birthday girl.
04:28Birthday girl.
04:29Birthday girl.
04:30Birthday girl.
04:31Birthday girl.
04:32And we're ponying up for a goat.
04:38What promoters of vegetarianism maybe don't realize is that much of the world already is living a vegetarian lifestyle, and they ain't too happy about it.
04:48Like millions of others around the developing world, these guys live on a diet of mostly boiled cassava root.
04:55Animal protein, whether scrounged, hunted, or bushmeat, often a life-giving luxury.
05:02Major source of protein around here day to day?
05:06Rat.
05:09So, like I said, happy about the goat.
05:16Is there much work here?
05:18They don't use that much money here.
05:20Like the guy, they catch the rats, they sell them to another village.
05:24Right.
05:25So he gets sort of income.
05:27What other work is there?
05:28They grow cassava here and other people.
05:30So they grow cassava and they sell or they trade?
05:33Yes.
05:34The problem that affects this community is when it doesn't rain.
05:37That is a big problem because they don't get anything.
05:40They don't get water, they don't get fruits, they don't get veggies, which they live on the whole year.
05:46So rain, everybody eats?
05:48Yes.
05:50The women have been cooking for hours.
05:52Interesting is that even here at ground level in the villages, even the simplest food is really flavored well with Indian spices.
06:00Since the 1400s, this has been a very culturally mixed area.
06:05Yeah.
06:06We always had Indians coming over, Arabs coming down to trade, Portuguese invading.
06:11So, please, no one's eating.
06:14They should eat.
06:15They should eat.
06:16You want to try something?
06:19Yeah, sure.
06:20Everyone should eat.
06:21Eat.
06:22You want to try something?
06:23Yes, of course.
06:24Everybody's being way too polite, waiting for me to eat.
06:27People look hungry.
06:28They should be eating.
06:29Yeah.
06:30But they want to eat.
06:31They want to eat.
06:32They want to eat.
06:37So they killed a goat here this morning?
06:38Yes.
06:39Chop it up and stew it.
06:41Yeah.
06:42Chunks of meat simmered with onions, garlic, turmeric, prepared in a rich curry.
06:47What do you use to pick up?
06:48You just grab.
06:49Grab it.
06:50I'll watch how you do it and I'll do what you do.
06:54Mmm.
06:55Wow.
06:56It's good, eh?
06:57Good flavor.
06:58What is it?
06:59Maniocca or no?
07:00Cassava, maniocca.
07:01Boiled cassava, of course.
07:02That's the standard filler extender around here.
07:05There's always something.
07:06It's ground, then boiled and made similar to grits or fufa, called telecaca.
07:11That's very good too, eh?
07:12Yeah.
07:13That's great.
07:14Banana curry.
07:15Local ingredients stewed with coriander and Cuban.
07:18Spices brought here by Arab and Indian merchants hundreds of years ago.
07:22The first people came here, they came here, they came here, they came here.
07:27The second, the Portuguese, and then Swahili and then Hindu and Dutch.
07:35You mean, everything is mixed together.
07:38Right.
07:39Reality is, though, there's not enough food to go around.
07:44Clearly.
07:45These guys look hungry.
07:47Let's find something for them.
07:49Any more of this?
07:50I'm good.
07:51In villages like this one, kids on Tolator aren't named until the first one.
07:56aren't named until they're a year old why because so many of them die before
08:02they reach that age Mozambique it should be pointed out is a darling of
08:08the World Bank it's seen as an African success story and the fact is things are
08:13good very good here compared to how things have been in the past 500 years
08:20of truly appalling colonialism 18 years of enthusiastic but inept
08:26communism and a brutal and senseless 16 years civil war ending less than 20
08:32years ago left Mozambique with a devastated social fabric shattered
08:36economy and only the memory of an infrastructure
08:40during the war you were a little kid remember some I saw a lot of dead bodies
08:46people being killed you know including some of my family like one day I was
08:51coming back from my cousin's house and a bunch of dirty guys with AK-47 and I was
08:58very very scared because they would collect children strong guys to be there soldiers
09:05and women to rep them this was renama that was renama yes if it's possible for a
09:12group to be even worse than communists renama was it they embarked on a mindless
09:19nihilistic campaign of murder pillage rape burning fields trucks villages like
09:26this one destroying infrastructure often cutting off noses and ears of anyone in
09:32their path people you knew would love died but did you yourselves have any
09:37understanding what people were fighting over nobody would understand why nobody even my parents was
09:43shocking you know saying bad bodies so you don't want to talk about it really like really really bad
09:51and here we are today you don't and the war 16 years war and then suddenly everything's better right everything changed it doesn't happen that way you know it takes it takes so much time even now we're still rebuilding this country right
10:11shockingly people here throughout the country after being relentlessly screwed by history are just as relentlessly nice
10:18nice what I see here this is something that you don't see much in America and in Europe is you see little kids taking care of other little kids
10:28yeah I don't know how old this kid is here carrying them on their back looking after them it's a very different world
10:34after the meal we've been promised some merriment it starts off a little awkwardly
10:40a little awkward
10:47but as the afternoon progressed everyone relaxed and eventually it felt like they forgot the cameras were there
10:53go easy my friend
11:03first day on the ground and already I'm pretty taken by this country
11:07this is a place not quite like anywhere I've been before
11:11bye bye
11:23bye bye
11:24bye bye
11:25bye bye
11:31no reservation
11:33there are very few beautiful corners of the globe unmarked by the comfortably clad feet of tourists
11:48Ilia de Mozambique seems to be one of those places
11:55set out on the turquoise water of the Indian Ocean
11:57this island strip of sand and rock was the first European settlement in East Africa
12:03Mozambique's first capital city
12:06Vasco da Gama landed here in 1498 while sailing the trade winds in search of the spice route to India
12:17but before him there'd been Greeks, Persians, Chinese, Arabs and Indians
12:22come down from the Gulf or across the Indian Ocean
12:25it's the first curry I've had in this country
12:28and they're famous for the mirror
12:29you know you can float one of those dows over from India
12:31this island was the crossroads of East Africa and beyond
12:35an international hub of its time
12:37and its food still reflects that
12:44this is the best food I've had in Africa
12:45you know food like this
12:47but cheerfully like a mink for two days for
12:49you know this is worth some extra time in the thunder bucket
12:52look at this place
13:02not hard to imagine what it was like
13:05Brazilian spices
13:15Indian curries
13:17the best of Africa and Asia
13:20Arab traders
13:21a dizzying Afro-Portuguese
13:24Latin American Pan-Arab Asian mix
13:26and along much of the coast of Mozambique
13:34through good times and bad
13:36what they always had was an abundance of incredible seafood
13:43Zira is known as the best cook on the island
13:45every morning she heads down to the beach to see what's come in
13:48the cookies are really a mix because you have spices
13:54traditionally going back to other Portuguese colonies
13:57to Southeast Asia
13:58Latin America
13:59all Arab influence as well
14:00this is a very different cuisine than you'd find elsewhere in Africa
14:04a pretty extravagant spread by most standards
14:07and for people living in the interior
14:09completely out of reach
14:11is there as much fish as you need?
14:14is there enough fish for everybody?
14:16if you go then along the coast
14:17there is still enough fish for everybody
14:19a problem is the transport then you know
14:21because it's hot?
14:22yeah because it's hot
14:23and you need refrigerated trucks
14:24you need refrigerated trucks
14:25that's pushing up the price
14:26and then the people in the interior
14:28already cannot pay for it anymore
14:29right
14:30Zira is cooking for me and a few of her friends
14:35as well as Carlos and Hubert
14:39who came here 10 years ago on vacation
14:41and never left
14:42I was looking at some people going with me through Namibia
14:45but there was nobody who wants to go to Namibia
14:47only people that wanted to go to Mozambique
14:49so let's go to Mozambique
14:52the meal plays out like an overview of Mozambique's culinary history
14:56that sauce
14:57I'm telling you
14:58some good
15:00crab curry
15:01maybe the country's most famous fusion dish
15:03fresh local crabs stewed with chili, lemon, garlic, cardamom, coriander
15:09flavors that came here via the spice route from India
15:12and became essential components of local cuisine
15:15wow
15:16that's good huh
15:17coconut milk in there
15:18that is never missing
15:20never missing
15:21everything
15:22in addition to the abundant use of coconut milk
15:24it's the beloved local hot pepper Piri Piri
15:27that makes these dishes uniquely Mozambican
15:31calamari
15:32squid
15:33mmm
15:34wow
15:35that's pretty awesome
15:36calamari
15:37or lulas
15:38battered and fried
15:39no doubt that this
15:40like tempura
15:41was a Portuguese innovation
15:43what kind of fish is this?
15:45this is a serewa
15:46and
15:47peixe vermilio
15:48yeah
15:49the fish is cleaned and scored
15:50rubbed with salt, pepper, lemon juice and garlic butter
15:54then grilled over charcoal
15:58fish stew with manioc
16:00yeah
16:01sardine
16:02sardines
16:03and to top it off
16:04wow look at that
16:05wow
16:06we need another table
16:07Mozambique's famous giant crayfish
16:10basted and grilled
16:12my god that thing's enormous
16:14is this normal?
16:15uh yeah
16:16so there were a lot of these
16:18yeah a lot of these
16:19awesome
16:20alright well
16:21attack
16:22this fish is awesome
16:23really good
16:24yeah
16:25mmm
16:26spend enough time on the island
16:30and the rest of Africa can feel
16:32like a different continent
16:34Ilia de Mozambique
16:36a ruin really
16:38a shell of its former glory
16:41a crumbling monument to a colony built on the backs of the occupied and enslaved
16:54once storybook mansions, promenades, decaying, beautiful, but sad
17:01what will this island look like in 20 years?
17:04it's a spectacularly beautiful island
17:06there are very few places in the world that look like this
17:08if they open up this really for tourism that can boom very much
17:13so if people could get here cheaper
17:15if there were enough hotel rooms
17:17that would change things?
17:19it would change it very much
17:20maybe too much
17:21we have 18,000 people living on the island
17:23and um
17:2418,000 quite poor people
17:27right
17:28so if you bring in a lot of tourists
17:30they will employ a few
17:32but quite a bit
17:34we'll not get nothing
17:35and we'll get a bit desperate
17:36right
17:37if tourists come
17:40where will all the people living on the island
17:42most in dire and decidedly untouristy conditions
17:45where will they go?
17:47they'll have to be relocated of course
17:50seen as inconvenient to the common good
17:53Carlos what is this place?
17:59this place is called the slave garden
18:02this was used to trade the slave
18:05what built this island it must be remembered
18:08were slaves, gold and ivory
18:11most of the beautiful buildings here
18:13you know all of this was built with blood
18:16blood
18:17yes
18:18warehouses like this one
18:19were the last time
18:20nearly a million Mozambicans
18:22would see their homeland
18:24that is the end
18:26you know when you get there
18:28bye bye
18:29and then you get to the ship
18:31and then gone
18:33never ever see anybody here
18:37or be in this place anymore
18:39through the slavery years
18:42as many as a million people
18:44were essentially kidnapped
18:46and sold
18:47that's a lot of people
18:48right
18:49it has been estimated
18:52that for every one human being
18:54sold into slavery
18:56that another four died in raids
18:58on their villages
18:59or during the long marches to the coast
19:04how do you feel standing here?
19:06well before you come to this place
19:08you think
19:09ah it's been so many years ago
19:11it's history
19:13but the minute you work here
19:15I think you can
19:16you can feel the pain
19:22the people here are very nice
19:23they're very warm hearted
19:24yeah
19:25this is not a country
19:26filled with angry young men
19:27pissed off about getting screwed over
19:29year after year after year
19:30like a lot of other places
19:32like inner city America
19:34yeah
19:35why?
19:36it's a very difficult question
19:38for me to answer
19:39because I am
19:41from here
19:43and
19:44it's normal for us
19:45that's unusual
19:47yeah
19:48there are countries in Europe
19:49where people are still
19:50pissed at their neighbor
19:51about a battle that happened
19:52500 years ago
19:53yeah
19:54here slavery
19:55colonialism
19:56civil war
19:57these are really recent
19:58yeah
19:59but we are here today
20:00and
20:01we are all
20:02together
20:09though slavery officially ended
20:11with the close of the 19th century
20:13the Portuguese would continue to rule
20:15through an apartheid like system
20:17that was little better
20:19Mozambicans were often packed off
20:21to force labor on farms
20:23and in mines
20:24and things would only get worse
20:27before they got better
20:28no reservation
20:33Mozambique is big
20:39real big
20:41I got a sense of that
20:42on the thousand kilometer flight south
20:44along the coast
20:45in a prop plane to the port city of Beira
20:47it's a place that shows its history
20:54the scars are everywhere
21:04how the Makuri ended up beached in front of Beira's old lighthouse
21:08there's no definitive answer
21:10it's just there
21:12Oh
21:13I like barnacles and rust as much as the next guy
21:14but I'm not here to look at Rex anyway
21:24I'm here because this is where some of the best of the local favorite is made
21:29Oh
21:31nice
21:32puri puri chicken
21:35arguably the national dish
21:37you find it all over
21:39restaurants, street corners, beach shacks like this one
21:41shacks like this one. Ah, lovely, thank you. The famous Piri Piri chicken.
21:48Ooh, that has some heat to it. Mmm, really tasty. Sand, salt air, the sound of waves
21:57in the distance, the smells of grilling poultry and spice over charcoal. Nice breeze off the
22:03water. Once again, that is damn good. Why is the food so good here? It makes it easier
22:10to imagine the vacation wonderland, for white people anyway, that Vera once was.
22:15If I was not beholden to the goddess television, I probably would have spent my
22:20morning laying on that beach, guzzling with local beer. Have a nice piece of chicken.
22:28Enjoy this moment of zen. But I digress. The chicken. They continuously baste that
22:36bread-grilling chicken with the Piri Piri. Whoa, man. That Piri Piri sauce is awesome.
22:44Tangy, slightly tart, elements of citrus. It's really funny, I noticed, whenever they put the
22:50famous Piri Piri sauce, like, on the table, they totally out like it's pure cocaine. And
22:56there's never more than a tiny little bit in there. They don't trust you with a lot of it.
23:00What is this precious substance? Peanut oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, tomato. But it's
23:06the Piri Piri pepper that gives the stuff its trademark burn. I don't want to hold on to
23:11this spicy chicken, then go take a leak later. That could hurt.
23:15Would someone have a tissue, perhaps, or a nappy? I'm just a greasy mess here. I know I can
23:23wipe my hands on my french fries. Ah, thank you. I'm telling you, man, was that chicken good.
23:31Oh, it's Portuguese bread. The tip of the hat to the old country and their former oppressors.
23:39It's funny. That's what the occupiers leave behind. And if today were any other day, history
23:45would be a little easier to forget. But today is September 25th, day of the armed forces in
23:56Mozambique. A day set aside to honor the struggle for freedom from oppression.
24:01Today commemorates the beginning of the war of conflict with the Portuguese. Colonialism,
24:19not against Portugal. It's against colonialism, the regime. Portuguese people, there are people
24:24like this. There's a flower-laying ceremony. A military band plays rousing anthems on instruments
24:39that seem to have survived the war. A little worse for wear.
24:48Our anthem says, there's a passage there. We swear that nobody will make us
25:08again slips. Domingo has lived in Beira all his life, and he's seen a lot of changes.
25:15We Mozambicans saw that there was no other way than struggling by arms.
25:21For a shockingly nice country, they have a pretty intimidating-looking flag, a shovel crossed
25:27with an AK-47. What is this play about? They are imitating colonial. Colonial times.
25:42Clearly the crowd are enjoying themselves. It's a good time for all. After World War II, while
25:50many European nations were letting go of their colonies, Portugal was only tightening their grip.
25:57But after 500 years of colonial rule, the Mozambicans had had enough.
26:02Mozambicans tried to talk peaceful to colonial Portuguese, but this voice was not heard.
26:11As I understand it, there was a massacre by the Portuguese of 500, 600 people.
26:16Exactly. This date is celebrated to remember this massive killing of people.
26:23The Moeda massacre was the match that lit the fire that soon became a conflagration.
26:30And the war continued for ten years? Ten years.
26:33Well, this was during the dictatorship in Portugal as well, like Salazar years.
26:37Yes, yes, Salazar. Not good times in Portugal either.
26:40Salazar was not in favor of independence of Muslims at all.
26:48But by 1974, Portugal's fascist Salazar regime was in even more trouble at home, weakened by multiple wars.
26:57Following a coup in Lisbon, the whole colonial empire collapsed.
27:03Mozambique was free.
27:06Overnight, the anti-colonial political group Frelimo, a fairly ragtag guerrilla army,
27:12found themselves in charge of a country.
27:15And Frelimo certainly didn't help matters with their Soviet-inspired ideology,
27:19adopting a commune-based system, outlawing religion in what was a very religious country,
27:25and basically doing what young, idealistic, communist-inspired countries always do.
27:30F*** things up really badly.
27:33This is a young nation. So, how's it going? Better every year?
27:37It is a young nation which has been stopped, so to speak.
27:42No roads, no railways.
27:46For the half million or so souls that call there a home,
27:49Day of the Armed Forces is a time to reflect on a great, though fleeting, victory.
27:54A very dark chapter in Mozambican history was about to be written.
28:04No reservations.
28:06What was this like when you were a child? Was this still a hotel?
28:25Oh, yes.
28:26It's a very luxurious hotel. It's Olympic swimming pool.
28:32Relics of Mozambique's dark past are something Domingo lives with every day.
28:37Some people say that this hotel was conceived to be a casino,
28:42but Salazar regime did not allow casinos.
28:46Right.
28:47Welcome to the Grand Hotel.
28:52Currently home to between 2,000 and 3,000 people.
28:56Known as Deslocados.
28:58The Displaced.
29:01In the Grand Halls and Spaces, whole families try and live their lives as best they can.
29:13But it wasn't always this way.
29:17Beira is the country's second largest city and largest port.
29:24A vital transportation link for landlocked Central African countries.
29:30It has seen better days.
29:34Colonial Beira prospered in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s when tankers and freighters scutted in and out of the harbor and offloaded their goods.
29:47For white Rhodesians with money, it was a wonderland.
29:51Somewhere you could easily drive to, take in the sights, relax on the beach.
29:56This was about 1957.
29:58Byron was a wonderful place for us.
30:00We were just the visitors from what was Rhodesia at the time.
30:03The whole place, for me, a great memory. Family holidays.
30:08Everyone came for Demi Johnson wine, prawns and peri-peri chicken.
30:15In 1975, Frelimo, newly in charge of the country, enforced United Nations trade sanctions against the nearly universally despised Rhodesia.
30:26The port foundered.
30:2810,000 jobs were lost.
30:30And the tourist trade dried up to nothing.
30:33Independence came very quickly to Mozambique.
30:39But maybe there should have been more negotiating between the two, so that you didn't get something like the Grand Hotel, which now is an absolute shambles.
30:50It's quite sad to see, to think back many years ago, how nice it was.
30:56When the Grand Hotel opened in 1955, it was billed as the pride of Africa.
31:05For Byron, it was very grand.
31:08They'd never seen anything like that before.
31:10There was a big portway and the doorman would come and open the door for you and they would carry your luggage in.
31:16It was very luxurious.
31:20It was the top.
31:22But unfortunately, it didn't last long.
31:25The Grand closed its doors as a working hotel in the mid-60s.
31:29There was no money to run the hotel.
31:31The investors pulled out.
31:33That's it.
31:34It failed.
31:35It failed.
31:36Now, people are squatting there.
31:38They have squatters there.
31:40Very basic squatters, too.
31:42By the end of 16 years of civil war, the building had become a magnet for squatters from all over, escaping the conflict and slaughter in the countryside.
31:52A lot of them almost have trees growing out of them and shrubs.
31:55And the swimming pool's derelict.
31:57The whole place is derelict.
31:59And they all have to carry water in and out.
32:012,700 people living there?
32:03More than 3,000 people.
32:063,000?
32:09It's a lot of people.
32:11Village life during the Civil War, with Renamo roaming the land, was increasingly dangerous.
32:16Basically, they ran a campaign of terror against the population.
32:21Rape, murder, dismemberment, mutilation, forced recruitment.
32:34This became village life.
32:41If chaos was the point, Renamo succeeded.
32:50People fleeing from the madness flocked to cities like Bera and to any structures that could shelter them.
32:59Right now, they have no electric.
33:02No electric.
33:03No water.
33:04No plumbing.
33:05Where do they go?
33:06What do they do?
33:07What do they do?
33:08They just do like this.
33:09They just live like this.
33:10No choice.
33:11Homeless people.
33:12And this is home.
33:1320 years after the fighting stopped, they're still here.
33:26They are human beings.
33:29They have human necessities, needs.
33:31Right.
33:32I mean, she's washing her clothes in this water.
33:35This is not good water.
33:37She's washing her clothes in.
33:39But also nothing.
33:40They take baths.
33:42Confetti, E. coli ridden water.
33:45People pissing.
33:46You can see.
33:47You can see.
33:48I can't.
33:49I can't.
33:50I can't.
33:51I can't.
33:52I can't.
33:53I can't.
33:54I can't.
33:55I can't.
33:56I can't.
33:57I can't.
33:58I can't.
33:59There's not a single toilet in that entire structure or electric power and 2,700 people
34:04live in it.
34:05It's enough.
34:06Call it a day.
34:08Nothing more to say.
34:10Hey.
34:11When I...
34:12...
34:18Hey, hello!
34:21No reservations.
34:26This is Maputo, Mozambique's capital and largest city.
34:35you're a young guy you missed all the bad years yes i did you missed in 82 82 so you missed the
34:44civil war you missed the portuguese war i only read it you only read it and though milton is
34:50too young to have seen the bad all days firsthand like all mozambicans he lives with the result of
34:56history here in maputo relics of the past are everywhere but there's an optimism and an
35:02electricity you could actually feel it in the streets because i have something that i i can't
35:09even describe might be in the worst economic situation ever you know but they'll always
35:16make sure that they enjoy themselves and treat the people well
35:19in portuguese times maputo was called the red so marcas and was something of a playground for the
35:39wealthy it is again beginning to attract a moneyed crowd of adventure seekers vacationers
35:51and fans of extraordinary seafood like the legendary lorenzo marquez tiger prawns
35:57today i'm looking for those famous giant prawns yeah those are big
36:07what's going on at the market is always a good indicator of how things are going
36:15that's not to say that everybody can afford what's for sale here but you go you look you get a sense of
36:25what's available what there's a demand for what they're good at what the people who work here
36:30the people here in maputo you know whenever they have a hangover what they always come for plans
36:35either we take the medium ones or the big ones normally they open better than the small ones
36:40all right so generally you buy your fish here you go back there and you pick a restaurant
36:49we choose a place we sit there and then they cook it for us done
36:52out of the many joints here one of milton's favorites is esplanada bellina
37:06we need beer though beautiful the clams are steamed with garlic oh man that looks good
37:17do you smell the garlic i do
37:19and the prawns and holy crap these things are awesome are grilled and basted with butter
37:26that's pretty damn impressive it's beautiful these are enormous and they're like those little
37:33lobsters mmm come around tigre tiger burn wow it's not that's the shima it's like porridge but
37:42thicker a dense starchy mixture called shima a staple made from ground maize very very much like grits
37:50and that's no coincidence in my view you know i've been to africa a few times again and again
37:55i'm eating food reminds me of things that we consider to be american the classic southern
38:03american dish is shrimp and grits this is like fundamental american food
38:08the food here is the best i've had in africa people take a lot of pride in their food here
38:14even if it's a really simple thing they talk to the food whenever they're really my mom whenever
38:19she's cooking she's like oh you're gonna be the best food that i've ever done every day she does
38:24the same you and the food always comes i don't see a lot of angry people here which is which is
38:29surprising to me there's a lot of poverty here you got a really violent up history i mean your
38:35parents lived through it yeah my parents so when you hear the stories and when you read that history
38:40you know what do you think we've come a long way
38:43mozambique's 16-year civil war finally ended with a peace accord in 1992 and the reasonable question
38:52was would after all that neighbor-on-neighbor slaughter all that destruction and murder
38:58would a treaty really end it all or would conflicts linger
39:02incredibly as if someone had turned on a light it did end things though there was scarcely anything
39:21that wasn't broken life slowly returned to abandoned towns communities families the mozambique that you see
39:30when you drive any distance in the country you know you see whole families living in villages with
39:34no water man it's hard it's going to take its time but i mean it's it's happening it's been 20 years
39:43and considering mozambique is doing pretty well come a long way and it's beautiful now
39:49nearly every morning at sunrise lost souls come to maputo's marginal beach to be saved
40:12baptisms performed in the crashing surf
40:28i won't torture the metaphor but you can see something going on here that you don't see elsewhere
40:34in post-conflict developing countries
40:36a cleansing a rebirth of sorts
40:46later when schools and work let out across the city it seems the rest of maputo's nearly 2 million
40:51people head down to the sea so this is where everybody comes in the end of the day especially
40:57on days that is extremely hot everybody just come and chill boyfriends and girlfriends the whole family
41:03cons and they spend the whole day here no better way to round out a trip to mozambique
41:09this is something called magumba and magumba has lots but lots of funny bones a lot of little bones
41:17yeah but it's really tasty grilled fish cold beer gossip and a dip cheers nice one day when i grow up
41:29i want to live by the sea that's my dream
41:36to have any hope of understanding africa in general you have to understand how bad it was in the past
41:48i'm not saying i do but i've tried particularly in mozambique which seems in spite of everything such
41:55a hopeful place the past is still everywhere the future while looking good hasn't been written yet
42:05so i guess the question is what's next
42:17is
42:24you
42:26you
42:28you
42:30you
Comments