bits of my weekend

Early Saturday morning a group of friends decided to go on an adventure. Our destination - the island called Xefina.  It is rich with natural beauty and quite desolate with the exception of a few shanties and the occassional visitor (like us).

Xefina island is visible from Maputo city, but it takes a boat to get there. From the beach we hired a fishing boat to transport us to our destination.

Here we are, piled in and all smiles at the start of our weekend adventure.

This little boy was also a passenger on our hired vessel. He was so cute I couldn't resist taking a photo.

This is our captain. He had a bit of trouble managing the boat at the beginning. A fellow passenger asked him in Portuguese if he knew how to operate this vessel. I think she said, "is this even your boat?" Turns out it wasn't, it is his uncle's. He was obviously a sea man in training. This fact added a bit of risk to the already planned adventure. A local pregnant momma helped this young man right the vessel and get us on our way. The depths of strength and knowledge of Mozambican women never ceases to amaze me.

When we reached the beach, as with every beach that I have seen in Mozambique, the scenery was beautiful! We set up camp ready to enjoy a wonderful Saturday of rest and relaxation.

At some point in the past this was part of a fort when colonized by the Portuguese. The ruins appeared to wash up on shore. It was fun to explore and imagine what it must have been like back in the day.

We were the only ones there as far as the eye could see.

The sounds of the ocean waves. The blue of the sea and sky. Sunshine on my skin. These are the things I will remember fondly about Mozambique...very fondly.

I hear on Saturday that some of my friends in the US experienced the first snow of this winter season. That is hard for me to imagine. Soon, that will be my reality.

What did you do this weekend?

Just Sheri, enjoying a few days of sunshine with friends before returning to cold America