Capulanas, Crafts and Cashews

I arranged to meet a friend from Belgium at the popular Saturday craft markets in downtown Maputo. In our text message exchange sorting out the when and where, we agreed to pick up some capulanas before heading on to the nearby markets. I purposely skipped breakfast at home to enjoy sampling “capulanas” as agreed. It was only after arriving at the capulana shop (first picture) that I realised that capulanas are actually traditional Mozambican fabrics, not some sort of food item as I was expecting… ‘capulana’ - ‘cappuccino’ sounds similar enough I had thought! Thankfully our next stop was the central market.

From visual observation alone it is not difficult to deduce that cashew nuts are big in Mozambique. At Maputo’s central market there are cashew nut stalls aplenty. Cashew nut vendors lure the unsuspecting with the offer of free taste tests knowing quite well that a small nibble is enough to make anyone acquiesce. The picture below is of one cashew nut stall complete with grinning vendor. The bags of cashews in the picture sell for 100 meticais a bag, the equivalent of four Australian dollars.

Here are a stack of juicy pineapples.

The Saturday craft markets are the place to go to stock up on gifts for friends back home. Batiks are very popular and sellers neatly peg their batik artworks on thin lines of rope tied tautly between tree branches as you can see in the picture. By the time I had done my rounds of the market I’d wizened up to the bargaining game and also determined that enquiring after price, when not serious about a purchase, makes you feel cruel and heartless as you walk away. Here’s a picture of me in front of a colourful bag stall at the markets.

The central market, capulana shop and craft markets are all within a 5 minute walk from one another.

After the markets we went to Maputo Shopping Centre also in downtown. The Maputo Shopping Centre is one of the few malls in Mozambique and, to be honest, it wouldn’t be the first place I’d run to upon arriving in town. It has a few brand name stores which I’m told are overpriced. Interestingly, many people in Maputo cross the border to Nelspruit in South Africa to do their shopping to take advantage of the cheaper prices.