Day 299 / 64

Date: 5 February 2023
Sleeping location: Tete Palm Hotel, Tete, Mozambique
Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 22 / 18434 / 3597
Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 100 / 157700 / 39700
Days’ budget spent: 4-5
Day in three words: Living it up

In the morning I felt a bit bad about the contretemps the previous evening, and if I saw the owner I planned to apologise and offer to split the difference, but he wasn't around and my 1200 was accepted cheerfully by the other guy. I’m still unsure if this was a grift or just plain incompetence.  

After setting off I headed along flat roads through semi-urban areas towards Tete. The sign welcoming me to the city had a picture of a massive coal field, which appears to be a big part of the economy of the local area. Coal clearly doesn't quite have the same public image profile here as it does in Europe. The day before I had come through the sticks and it had felt broadly the same as Malawi, but here there was clearly more wealth, more industry, more commerce. I went via a big Shoprite, which was a total delight and I bought loads of treats and snacks the like of which I hadn’t seen for a while*. Outside was a nice cafe where I whiled away an hour or so with a tasty omelette and some decent coffee.

My destination for the day was a hotel that was, by the standards of the trip, gloriously decadent. As part of the e-visa process I’d had to book accommodation and there were only about five bookable hotels along my route. A few of these were $50 or so a night but rated 5 to 6 out of 10, which seemed like a waste of $50, so instead I decided to get a place for $90, rated 9+ out of 10, and extract as much luxury as I could from it. I rolled up at noon and was shown immediately to a room with a big comfy bed with crisp sheets, AC, a fridge, a piping hot rainfall shower…luxury beyond my wildest dreams (of the past two months). Outside was a pool with shady tables under trees and a pleasant breeze. I spent the rest of the day relaxing maximally, alternating between the pool and the room, blogging, watching tv including the rugby using ACTUAL WIFI and eating loads of food. In the evening I had a pleasant call with James back in the UK and ate a big tasty fish. If life was like this all the time it would be stultifying, but my word it was good for a day.

*Although one of these appeared to be some kind of delicious turnover but was in fact just a triangle of puff pastry with nothing in it. 

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