Ilha de Moçambique

After the conference, we figured we'd better take advantage of being
in Nampula, since who knew when we'd be there again. We decided to
seize the moment and changed our plane tickets to have a couples days
to visit Ilha de Moçambique, Mozambique's sole World Heritage site.
The miniature island served as the Portuguese capital for the first
300 years of their rule over the country, and thus is jam-packed with
palaces, fortresses, churches and winding streets lined with cracking,
chipping stone houses. Given the island's historic importance in
Indian Ocean trade, it still reflects a melange of Arab, Indian,
Chinese, and African cultures and peoples. You can also see the ocean
from pretty much anywhere on the island since it's only 500 meters at
its widest. We loved swimming in the ocean, which neither of us had
done since site visits in November , since we are prohibitted from
swimming in the marshy ponds and streams at our site due to the nasty,
flesh-eating parasites found in Africa's fresh water. It was extremely
hot and humid on the island. Our continuous sweating made us extra
grateful for our cool mountain climate back at site (the sweating was
especially continuous in Luc's case). One of our volunteers lives on
the island, so we saw her school (with ocean views), cooked squid with
her, and slept out under the stars on straw mats on her lawn (escaping
the suffocating heat indoors). These are the kinds of alluring
activities available in Mozambique for any potential visitors!