In Maputo

My flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa (Jo'burg) was uneventful, although long (> 15 hrs!). Three meals, three movies, and three good naps made the time pass. Since I arrived after 6 PM, too late to get a connection to Mozambique, I had an overnight layover in a hotel near the airport. Grabbed a quick bite to eat and a Castle beer in the hotel bar while watching cricket (still don't understand the game). Short flight this morning to Maputo. All bags arrived safely (including the ones checked through from Atlanta, which likely spent the night in the airport), no problems with immigration or customs, was met by a friendly CDC Driver and made it to the CDC office for a brief visit with the country director just before they closed at noon for the weekend.

In comparing Maputo to Accra, Ghana, the other major African city I have visited: Maputo is smaller and more compact, but much the same in terms of crazy traffic, road construction projects, people walking everywhere, and ever-present guys hawking assorted stuff.

I'm spending the first week living in US Embassy-supplied housing with my host Peter, his friends Dina and Junior, and their 3-month old son, William. Good food and pleasant conversation around the dinner table.

Plan for tomorrow is to get out around town a bit, get my bearings, see some sights, and buy some provisions.

Boa noite,
Steve

Final preparations

It's my last night in Decatur, and I'm getting ready for my 3-month adventure in Mozambique. I'm not really looking forward to 33+ hours of travel, but I am excited about the prospect of doing something completely different for the next 3 months. Primarily, I'm looking forward to doing more public health instead of talking about public health, or even worse, talking about what's preventing us from doing public health.

Anyway, I'll use this blog to post pictures from my trip and provide updates on some of the more interesting things I encounter along the way. Your comments, questions, and suggestions appreciated.

Steve