A (Few) Day(s) at the Beach

I missed out on summer. Well, not exactly—I certainly experienced all the humidity that a DC July has to offer, but there was not a ton of relaxation to be had. As myself and too many of my friends have experience, unemployment does not equal relaxation. Yes, you have all this “free time” but also feel like you should be constantly making efforts to land a job (although some people can get past this, and I admire that to a point!). Nevertheless, there were a few days of funemployment and trips to NY to see friends, but there was also anxiety, unpacking, interviewing, and repacking. So when I had the opportunity to tag along on a beach weekend—I jumped at the chance.

We were planning to head to Xai Xai, a chill resort spot on the Mozambique coast a few hours north of Maputo. But upheaval around Maputo put a giant kink in that plan. It very abrupt to hear of the riots, although apparently tension has been building there as the bread prices have risen dramatically. Whenever family and friends worry about my being in Africa and asking whether I feel safe, I truthfully answer that much of the time I really do. Yes, it’s important to be aware and on your guard, but it’s often not nearly as unsafe as the general perceptions or media often lead people to believe or fear the unfamiliar. But I will say that I sometimes sense a precariousness, as a result of many dire social and economic circumstances brewing, that when the tension mounts and nerves snap, it seems to spread more easily and rapidly. Apparently police fired into the crowd of onlookers and from then on the city was on tight lockdown. In fact, one Swazi expat was in Maputo for a work conference that week, and confirmed that the city was on lockdown.

Instead, we took a 4-5 hours drive down to the South African coast with no problems (although that country continues to have issues as well, and by that I mean massive nationwide strikes). Thanks to yet another expat connection, we stayed at a large house owned by a friend of many attendees just a short drive from the beach, and a short walk from main street. We spent the weekend on the beach, game driving, and feasting on seafood—certainly a perfectly acceptable “backup” vacation.





In fact, a couple people from the group even went out fishing the last morning, so we had a braai complete with fresh fish upon our return to landlocked Swaziland!