27/03/10

I have noticed that a lot of products in Mozambique have Thai writing on them, toiletries, candy, non-perishable food items, etc. Was wandering around Maputo yesterday when I stopped in a shop and saw a strangely familiar-looking sequined elephant. “hey that bag is from Thailand, my mom is from Thailand!” It took the salesperson a second to process what this crazy white person was blabbering at her, but after a moment she smiled and said “yes it is, actually everything in this store is from Thailand.” And I looked more carefully at the strangely familiar skirts, shirts, and bags and realized she was right. Strange, who knew?
In the afternoon Alice and I headed to Xipamanine, the famously huge and crowded shopping area in Maputo, rife with pickpockets and cat-calling men. Taking very little with us and tucking out zipped bags tightly under our arms, we endured two hours of men cat-calling, kissing at us, and sometimes even reaching out and touching us. And it was well worth it. Everything in the world is sold there: kitchen stuff, clothes, shoes, and then the best section: the curandeiro (witch doctor) section. Calves feet, chicken feet, monkey feet, cow tails, ostrich heads, ostrich eggs, some unidentified jaws, snake skins, animal hides, bones, teeth, etc. It was incredible.