Once again, I have been terrible at keeping my blog updated. Eish.
After taking my LSAT and receiving our “best in the province” award, I chilled around the village for a week. I was really focused on finishing up my personal statement and finessing my plan of action for submitting my applications. Late October saw me and 2 of my coworkers head to Pretoria/ Sandton for a workshop. The US Embassy in Pretoria graciously granted my organization US$20,000 to create a bakery from YOUR tax dollars (this is PEPFAR at work!). This is going to be a great community upliftment program in my village if it’s done well, which I have no doubt that it will be. We learned about budgeting and record keeping, and one day we had a great training about gardening. It was really interesting to hear the South Africans shock when told that they shouldn’t kill bees, snakes, cats, and owls. (There is a LOT of fear of these animals in the village) When told that because they kill these animals they have problems with rats, everyone looked like they had been hit by a bus. I had to quietly chuckle to myself, as I had been telling my coworkers for nearly two years now that cats (including kittens) were not something to be terrified about. The community grants team, two amazing American ladies, were so nice to myself and the other PCV who attended the training. They hooked us up with our own rooms, and I showered with the water on as hot as possible about three times daily! It was so nice not to have to bath in 3 litres of water!
After the conference, it was off to Mozambique! Myself, two other volunteers, and two South African friends all went to Maputo (the capital), and to Tofo (the beach) for a nice holiday. It was a lot of grueling travel; of the 8 days of the trip, we were up at 5 AM four of them. Pretoria to Maputo was about 8 hours in a Kia Picante, which belonged to one of the South Africans. Think clown car, plus bags. This was supposed to be the easy part, what with South Africa’s nice roads. But of course less than 200 km’s outside of Pretoria we got a flat. Ugh. So we lost a few hours changing it, and finding a tyre repair center to patch it up for us at 7 AM. Maputo to Tofo was supposedly pretty rough road conditions. Although it is only about 500 km’s up the coast from Maputo, we still planned for it to take the whole day. Amazingly, we didn’t have any problems until just past Xai Xai. Suddenly the tar road just…ended…But the dirt road was well packed and despite the large number of trucks we still made good time. What made it miserable was the oppressive heat and lack of air con in the packed car. One of my college roommates best friends is in the Peace Corps in Mozambique, and she made reservations for us an absolutely amazing lodge right on the beach in Tofo. She met up with us in Inhambane and took us around, to show us the ropes. A 6th person in the clown car was disastrous, but luckily it was only about a 30 minute drive.
Tofo was amazing. You could see the beach from our porch! Within 15 minutes of arriving and checking in, we were all down in the water, riding the waves, and splashing away like crazy. It was heavenly! A couple of times that first night I woke up confused…”What is that sound?” Then I would realize it was the crash of the surf and go back to sleep happy. Tofo is super touristy…but not in the built up American way. No holiday inn etc, and thank god for that! Our first full day there we just lazed about, and swam so so much! Our second day we swam in the morning, and then walked to Tofo Scuba because we had all decided to try our luck with animal viewing, but this time in the Ocean. Tofo has one of the only “resident” populations of whale sharks in the world, with roughly 300 individuals regularly spotted along that coast. The world-wide population of whale sharks is only thought to be +/-1000, so it truly was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Although it is a shark, the largest one in the world at that, the whale sharks feeds on plankton and other tiny creatures and doesn’t pose any sort of risk to humans. Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in and the waves got monstrous. So we didn’t spot any whale sharks, even though the boat just before us (THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON) had seen 3 sharks and a giant manta ray!! A few people did get seasick though. That morning a few fisherman had come literally to our doorstep and sold us a bunch of prawns (think shrimp). That evening we cooked up a bunch of prawns and potatoes using some stuff we had purchased in the local market (I know I wasn’t the only PCV from South Africa who was really excited to see real live markets again!), and had ourselves a fabulous dinner. The electricity went out shortly after that, so the other PCV’s and I walked down the beach a bit. The difference in tide levels was really high, probably close to 80-100ft.
The next morning 3 of us decided to try our luck with the whale sharks again…they gave us half off a second try since we didn’t see them the day before. This time we were in luck!! The first shark they spotted, everyone lunged off the boat, I was so nervous/ excited that I wasn’t breathing, despite the snorkel in my mouth. I couldnt see this supposedly giant thing anywhere, so I pulled my face out of the water to look at the guide (who was still in the boat), saw where he was pointing, and put my head back into the water. And then…HOLY SHIT! IT WAS COMING RIGHT AT ME! Right under me!! I tried to swim backwards, but it was a diver free-for-all, so I was a bit stuck/ in shock. It passed by uneventfully, and then I remember to swim after it. It went down shortly after, then it was back on the boat. For the next hour and a half we were jumping in and out of that boat (what a work out! My abs are still a bit sore!), and saw about 6 or 7 different sharks. There was another time when I got surprised by a shark right under me, and when I got back on the boat the guide had a good chuckle at my expense. But it was soo worth it! I am so happy that I went the second time. Between the whale sharks and the great whites earlier this year, I think 2010 will forever been known as the year of the shark!
The next day was the dreaded trip back to Maputo. Luckily the day was cloudy and so the drive wasn’t quite so miserable. We ended up wandering all over Maputo, half exploring, half looking for a decent restaurant that met our budget and wasn’t a South African chain. We ended up getting some pizza and beer (AHAHA so American), but it was so good. By 10PM we were all asleep. I know I definitely needed that sleep after all the sun sand fun! The next morning (early of course), we went and took a wee tour of the city. Saw a building designed by Eiffel (of the Eiffel tower), a pretty church, and then went to the Central Market. The Market was a great mix of touristy stuff and produce. So not every one in there was a touristy d-bag like us. We made a few purchases, but I had been really excited to pick up some African fabric, which is really difficult to find (read nonexistent) in South Africa. I had spotted a shop across the street, so we headed back over there, and let me tell you, it sorta felt like heaven! I was really overwhelmed by all the beautiful colors and designs, and restrained myself to only 2 pieces. I am really excited to get them made into some really amazing skirts! We walked back to the backpacker and lounged about through the heat of the day, then it was off along the coast to the fish market. All I can say is wow, it was super overwhelming! Before we even crossed the STREET to get into the market we were each being accosted by guys wanting to take us to their fish restaurant. We wandered through the fish market proper with every kind of fish/ crab/ mussel/ crayfish ever caught sitting out on wooden tables. We didnt loiter long, because we were getting hassled quite a bit, so we went and sat at a table and ordered crab, prawns, barracuda, and calamari along with some beers rice and chips (french fries). It was a really great last meal, and we were all super full and not in the mood to walk the hour back to the backpacker so we caught a chapa (Mozambique’s version of the South African taxi) back towards the lodge. It was amazingly cheap, especially compared to South African transport prices (South African taxis are pretty much all unionized…jerks).
Mozambique was an adventure in languages. As they were colonized by the Portuguese, the main language spoken is still Portuguese. Portuguese is alluringly similar to Spanish so that when you read it you think you might know how to say it. But wow the accent is a lot different. I tried as best I could with my restaurant Spanish…but I think Anne’s comment of “um, I think he pronounced it the exact opposite of how you pronounced it” sums up my attempts pretty well! All in all we got along decently well, the biggest issue was ordering tap water…we would ask for agua, and get bottled water. But all in all, that really isnt that big of an issue! It was a really great trip, and I would love to go back!
As for my applications. I submitted my first application (to University of Illinois) while at the hotel for the Embassy training, and submitted all ten (I rearranged things and only applied to ten) prior to leaving for Mozambique. In theory I should start hearing back within the next two weeks (aka I will have a pit in my stomach for the next two weeks), and should hear back from U of Illinois by around December 15th! Hope for the best for me, cause if I don’t get in anywhere, I am moving to Mozambique for 3 months and getting my master dive certification and you may never see me again. ;)
