This morning I woke up early !

…. just because I heard voices, coming up ( our bedroom is at the 6th floor!) from the road in front of our building….. No one was shouting and the cars were quiet ( no hands on the horns!), but in the silence of the early morning ( Saturday, a lot before 7am!), the voices of the passengers ( no one was hurt! phew!) from a stuck bus ( the road is under construction) were really clear….. sigh…..

….. luckily the bus was freed and the passengers were able to get back on it! What I really enjoyed of all that ? I was amazed by the colourful "capulanes" (the wraps that women put on their heads, around their hips or on their shoulders) : so eye-catching!!! ;oD
 xxxx Alessandra

Architectural walking tour : Art Deco in Maputo

Last week ( it was Wednesday morning), a friend of mine and I joined a walking tour ( Maputo a pe with Jane Flood) : the subject of the day was Art Deco in Maputo.
You can read a lot about this architectural style ( start here and if interested just google a bit more!) and our tour guide was so well informed, that was a pleasure to follow her! I was amazed by the amount of buildings to look at ( such a pity that a big lot are in critical conditions), but because of the nice chatting with Jane, I just took few pictures ( who, me??? Unbelievable!!!!) !!!
I've seen more than that, and I'll go back on my footsteps (I hope soon!) to report properly about this amazing architectural period!!!

xxxx Happy Weekend, Alessandra

Museu Nacional de Geologia de Maputo (MNG)

On Tuesday, I had another cultural visit!

This museum is open daily ( except Mondays), with different opening hours and its building was intended to accommodate a synagogue when edificated.
The MNG presents two sections, geological and industrial.
The geological section has different collections : mineralogy (precious stones), stratigraphy (rocks divided in formations and relative geological eras) and minerals of economical interest.
In the first room, you have some informations about the history of our Earth and a little collection of fossils from Mozambique, while in the second room you find maps about the geology of this country.
In the third room ( divided into 5 sections), you can see the macro & micro characteristics of some rocks; crystallography with some didactic models; identification properties of minerals and a dark window where are put some minerals with natural radioactivity, that you can observe when you with on an ultraviolet lamp!
In the fourth room, instead, there is a collection of minerals from Mozambique and in the fifth one you find rocks and minerals that have some interest in the industrial sector.
(more informations in this article, in portoguese : here)

After paying the ticket, even here, I was allowed to take some pictures…. Enjoy the visit!!!!

xxxx Alessandra