Week of discovery

We have now been in Mozambique about eight months (is that all???).  We have long believed that Quelimane simply was so far off the beaten path that some things just couldn't be found here.  Not entirely so, we have come to find.  Herewith are some "discoveries" of the week passed. 



When Elder Maynez didn't respond to his malaria treatment and began writhing in pain, we started making calls in the middle of the night and discovered a little private hospital that was surprisingly clean and competent.  We checked in at about 4 in the morning and had him figured out before too many hours passed.  Food poisoning. Still, it was good to know that there is somewhere besides the large primitive  public hospital to use if the need arises.

Who would have thought that there would be a dry cleaning establishment in Quelimane.  It was the last thing we expected.  But the place was surprisingly nice (nice being a very relative term).  Our going away gift to Elders Peterson and McCullough this week was a clean suit in which to travel home. 



 We discovered a real tailor shop (shared with a beauty salon of course) with a guy who can actually do what is needed.  We have gone through about six others who cannot sew a straight seam, but we found this guy who was able to do some fairly serious alterations to a wedding dress (wedding coming in a couple of weeks).  So impressed were we that Debbie has taken granddaughter projects to him now.

We discovered a bakery (paderia) vastly superior to the one by our home. It does a small roll that has actual substance instead of air.  If you hit it at the right time, they can be had hot from the oven.  Debbie is sporting here her latest haircut which rivals mine for length.  In the background is one of the omnipresent inbred mongrels of Quelimane--all of whom look largely the same.

This place is not much to look at but it is a genuinely competent mechanic shop which specializes in Nissans. We found it this week and had a desperately needed alignment done, fluids changed, and a horrible mysterious rattle tracked down and fixed.

We have discovered that our empregada or housekeeper, Pasqua, likes to squeeze juice to take a load off her feet.  We have been feasting on fresh orange juice this week.  What an absolute delight it is.  The Mozambican custom is to peel the orange before squeezing it.  Doesn't make much sense to me but they swear it works out better and provides more juice.

We also discovered this week that crocodiles, especially those who haven't eaten in months have an appetite for chicken.  No elders limbs were lost in the course of this discovery.