Cheers All!

What a week! This is going to be a LONG one, consider yourself forewarned. I got back to South Africa, from Mozambique, on Sunday. I spent Saturday night in Durban with Shannon and the rest of my traveling buddies and then got back to Pietermaritzburg the next afternoon. My own bed has never felt so nice, despite the heat and humidity here. Hello African summer, I've been told that we can expect the storms soon.

My vacation (or vac as the South Africans say) started 2 Fridays ago with a 6 hour or so bus ride to Jo'Burg. I was meant to be on the same bus as Shannon, and my other traveling buddies (Clara, Lindsey, the Megans (Meg M and meg H), Vanessa, and April) who are all living in Durban. Pietermaritzburg is on the bus route from Durbs to Jo'Burg. Our bus was leaving at 11 pm, and I was waiting for the call from Shan saying they were on there way before I headed to the bus station (everything here is notorious fro running late and I didn't want to wait at the station alone at night). But then I got a frantic call from Shan saying that there were 2 buses leaving Durban for Jo'Burg that night, one stopping in "Maritzburg and one not, I was on one and they were on the other, there's was late and mine was on time. So not only was I unexpectedly on an over night bus to Jo'burg by myself, there was a good chance I could miss it! I got to the station as my bus was preparing to leave and just made it on. I made it to Jo'Burg at about 5:30 am and had to wait at Park Station for the girls until 7am - I was so excited and relieved when they finally made it. As much as I try to blend in, I stick out here like a sore thumb, and I am fully aware of how vulnerable I am - especially when I am alone in an unfamiliar place and even more so when that place is Jo'burg, a city notorious (even here) for it high rate of violent crime. Our next bus, headed to Maputo, Mozambique's capitol, was due to leave at 8 am, but actually left at 8:40 - on time by South African standards.

Out bus was a "luxury" bus, complete with reclining seats, sweltering stale air, no air conditioning or windows that opened, a clogged toilet with no toiled paper, and mysterious bug that invaded our seats half way there - we screamed (an embarrassing scene) and moved seats. What can you do? Other than the bugs, the ride was uneventful - except for the border crossing. To enter Mozambique as an American, you have to have a visa. The other girls had gotten visas from the American consulate in Durban. I wasn't able to since I have class 5 days a week and the consulate isn't open on the weekends. You can buy a visa at the border, but it's a hassle and a half. I had to wait in a separate line from everyone else, meaning that I had to walk alone to the other side of the border crossing, to a small immigration office, filled with frustrated people, stale air, and an all too human smell. The man incharge of the bus told me to go strait to the counter, skipping the que, and ask for my paper work; which I tried to do, pissing several people off in the process. I was yelled at by a very angry South African woman, and told off and called a B*tch (both in English and Portuguese) by a Mozambican man, only to find that I was in the wrong line. I held it together and managed not to cry. Everything was compounded by the language barrier - they speak Portuguese in Mozambique. After being sent to 3 different lines, the man from the bus finally found me and was able to help me get my visa. I met back up with the girls, and we walked a cross the border. I was so out of it at this point, that as the guard was checking my passport, I was almost hit by a bus - the guard yelled in Portuguese and pulled me out of the way, I think I almost gave Shannon a heart attack. The border town was depressing, as borders tend to be (Tijuana - case in point): lost of children begging and trying to sell stuff, rows and rows of lean-to shanty houses over barren hills.

Mozambique is considered a high risk malarial area, so we were all covered in deet (which is really only safe to use if your trip is on the shorter side, other wise you should use regular bug repellent and hope for the best) and on anti malaria pills the whole time. Most hostels will supply mosquito nets, but some (like the Base) don't, so it is a good idea to bring your own - which I did, along with some citronella spray (you can make your own with citronella oil and water in a spray bottle) to use on your clothes and bed. Despite all this, there is only so much you can do, and I still got eaten alive. Fingers crossed my pills are effective ...

We got into Maputo at 6:30pm (ish), just as the sun was setting, and walked to our hostel, The Base. Walking the few blocks was no easy feat in the dark and with whole chunks of the sidewalk missing. Mozambique just came out of a civil war in the mid 1990's ... and there is evidence of it everywhere. After checking in we walked to Mimos, a nearby restaurant, (avoiding the persistent locals trying to sell us things like wood carvings, and the homeless children asking for money - so sad) and ate a long dinner before calling it a night. The next day we got an early start and set off to explore the city.

Maputo is an interesting place. It must have been amazing in its hay day - beautiful, colorful art deco style buildings, tree lined streets, but now it is falling apart. Like I mentioned, whole chunks of the sidewalk are just gone, there are cars and buses without windshields, everything is in disrepair and shabby, whole buildings are abandoned and looked bombed out, homeless children run around with out shoes in torn clothes, what happened to there parents? who will take care of them? what kind of adults will this life turn them into? It was at once beautiful, interesting, and gut wrenching. We saw a young boy begging in the street, he was holding a stick leading around an elderly man who was holding the other end, the man didn't have eyes. I cried. We bought them food. We walked all over that city, we saw the cathedral, city hall, went through the market, saw an old Portuguese fort, went to the contemporary art and revolution museums, and saw a couple renewing their wedding vows in the park on their 50th anniversary. We looked into the park because we heard singing, the wedding party saw us and called up over to be in their wedding photos! I had my arm around the bride, so random, I'm still not sure why they invited us in, but it was really fun. Bartering at the market was also an experience. I love markets! I love the sights, the smells, the hectic atmosphere and complicated alleys of vendor stalls. 1 Met (the local currency) is equal to 3.5 rand (there are about 7 rand in $1), so the exchange rate was really good. Needless to say, we were all pretty pooped by the end of the day. We went out for Indian food for dinner. Afterwards, the rest of our ground hit the hay, and Shan, Meg M and I went to this random out door bar with some peace corps people who were also staying at the base. The nightlife in Maputo is not, as they say, hopping - the bar was basically some chairs on a patio in front of what looked like a deli in a random alley - needless to say, we didn't stay very long.

The next morning we got up early again and headed down to the harbor where we were catching a ferry to Inhaca Island. There are several islands off the coast of Mozambique, Inhaca and Portuguese Islands are the 2 main ones off the coast of Maputo. Our "ferry" was not what we expected - you know a huge cruse like ship with cars in the hull that lumbers slowly and smoothly over the water - what we were in was more like a large, shallow, motor boat with rows of seats and a covered deck. The ride was almost 2 hours long, and the water was REALLY choppy, our little boat was thrown all over the place while water sloshed over the sides. I would have been really nervous, except that I was a bit seasick and otherwise occupied. I was sitting between Shan and Linds; Shan is EXTREMELY phobic of waves and Linds was really really sick. So I had one arm around Shan, trying to reassure her that we weren't going to die, and the other arm over Linds who was lying in my lad trying not to throw up on my feet. The other girls weren't doing much better. We were all so happy when the island finally came into view. It was beautiful and wild looking, a two toned ribbon of reddish sand and dark green jungle stretching out between the deep blue of the sea and the paler blue of the sky. The tide was extremely low, our ferry stopped a good distance from the shore, then we hopped into speed boats who took us as far in as was safe, then we waded the rest of the way. Because of the low tide, fishing boats were strewn all over the sand like beached wales. The island isn't very big. There is one resort and a surrounding village. We wandered through the village and ate seafood at Restorante Lucas. We wandered around some more, gave some sweet coconut cookies to the local kids, who then posed like kung-fu masters for pictures, before stretching out on the sand for the rest of the afternoon. The ride back was much better. We sat up on the bow of the boats, with it's owner and a few other people. It was a lot smoother and we all relaxed, and spent the ride back laughing and talking.

The next day we got up really early, we had to leave our hostel at 5:30am to get to the bus station with enough time to purchase tickets and catch our Olivera bus north to Tofu. When we got to the station it was complete pandemonium. As soon as we pulled up, local men opened the cab and grabbed our bags, without our asking for help (they expected tips). We stood in line, so with the bags while a few went in a bought the tickets. When it came time to board, another man grabbed my bag (despite my loud and repeated protests) and "helped" me put it in the luggage space below the bus. They charged me an extra 100 Mts for the bag, and then the man expected a 50 met tip. I'm glad Shan was there - my head was spinning - and she gave the man 15 or 20 mts and told him that was all we had. He wasn't happy, but neither were we. Our bus looked like an about-to-break-down-school-bus from the 1970's. It was crowded, and most of the seats weren't even bolted down, at least the windows opened making the 9 hour ride bearable. We all slept most of the way, and got in to Tofu at 4 ish that afternoon. From the station we took a 20 min mini bus ride to Bamboozi, our hostel. Our mini bus flew down the sometimes paved, sometimes dirt or sand road - throwing us all over, there were no seat bets of course. But when we finally made it to Bamboozi, it was literally like arriving in the promised land after spending years wandering through the dessert.

Tofu is paradise. Our hostel was like a mini village, consisting of reed and palm from huts, palm fon covered wooden walkways, a restaurant/ bar on a sandy cliff over looking the most amazing beach I have ever seen, and showers that were heated by fire! The whole place runs off of a generator that shuts off after midnight, so from then on there is NO electricity, not even a light in the hut. There was no dirt or pavement anywhere, meaning that there was sand and coconut trees everywhere. We stayed in our own hut (Safari Hut 2), complete with sandy mattresses, mosquito nets, geckos, a rat, and a bat. We were lucky to get blankets, and there were no pillows. I used the same towel on the beach as I did after my showers. Still, I felt like it was one of the most luxurious places I've ever been.

As soon as we were checked in, we changed and got ourselves to the beach. The ocean has never felt so good - just what I needed after the bus, and, as a bonus, the Indian ocean is unbelievably clear and warm! That night we had food and drinks at Bamboozi's bar. The food wasn't amazing, but the atmosphere was really fun and laid back. There were people there from all over the world, and a lot of international students on spring break. After a while we decided to wander down the beach to Fatimas, another backpackers, and check out the bar there. The atmosphere was pretty much the same, international students on spring break - generally a good time was had by all. We walked back to Bamboozi along the beach. It was so nice to listen to the surf and look up at the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. The night sky is really different down here, the stars seemed closer, brighter, and more alive. I'll never forget how the palm trees looked silhouetted against those stars.

The next day we allowed ourselves to sleep in, and then spent the day laying on the beach. I journaled while others read, napped, or "studied." There were little local boys all over the sand. Some playing soccer, but most were selling either bags of coco bread or biscuits, or were selling shell jewelry. Some of the jewelry was already made, but if you had a special request they would make it for you on the spot. A bunch of us requested long single shell necklaces (a trend Shan started). They are very persistent. The same boys came up to us every day, the all ask "Sister, what's your name?" and then introduce themselves as well. It was really cute, but got a bit old. We even had a few who decided just to sit on our towels with us for a while. Later that afternoon we wondered further down the beach to the out door market in Tofu. And then took our time walking back to Bamboozi as the sun was setting. We were facing East, so t was strange to be at the beach at sunset, and not see the sun dip down into the ocean. That night we went back to Bamboozi's bar for dinner (pizza buffet), and music. Towards the end of the night, Shan and Meg M even got up and sang a bit with the musician. It was so funny, they sang a song they had made up about Mosquito nets - had to be there I guess. At the end of the night, some of the girls went back to our hut, while Clara, the Megans and I decided to go swimming, it was so liberating. It was so nice. I'm in love with the Indian ocean - it seems to be warm ALL the time, or at least every time I've been in it. After that we called it a night, we had to be up at ready at 6 the next morning for horseback riding.

Despite being groggy - horseback riding was amazing. I rode on a beautiful Bay called Ancona. Our guide was a German man who said he left the crazy Euro city life for a simpler existence at the beach with his family - not a bad move. We went riding down the beach, which was breathtaking in the morning sun, the sea glittered as our horses trotted through the shallow surf. Then we went up the sand dunes and wandered through the palm trees by feilds and villages. We saw children playing in front of their huts, who all shouted at us in a language we couldn't understand, a few knew English and then it was the customary "sister, what's your name?" We saw men building and women working, washing clothes, or walking with huge bundles on their heads (everyone does this here - I even saw a woman with her suitcase balanced on her head in the Jo'Burg bus station). Poverty is definitely everywhere in Mozambique, but the small huts, and the people who live in them, didn't seem as desperate in Tofu, as they had in Maputo. People seemed poor, but happy. It just felt like a different lifestyle that seem to fit in with their tropical surroundings. As a Nick, a man in one of my art classes at Varsity (south African for University) said, its amazing how creative and ingenious people become when they are literally working with nothing. Once we got back, our guide asked if we'd tried the coconuts yet. We hadn't, so he asked a man in Portuguese to get us some. We expected him to grab some off the ground or something. But he grabbed a machete and just shimmied up a tree like it was nothing! He whacked some off and then prepared them for us. Coconuts are amazing - all you need in one neat little delicious package. He cut the tops off and made gourds so we could drink the milk, and the split them in half so the we could did out the meat with spoons made from the cut coconut tops. So delicious, fresh coconut tastes nothing like the dried coconut and processed coconut milk we get in the states. The taste is sweet, but fresher and lighter - basically, better. I'm allergic to horses, so by this time I was ready to take some meds and a long shower.

Shan, Linds and I spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the beach while the other girls went on and "ocean safari" to snorkel with wale sharks. The when the tide is low, the beach seems huge. It stretched out flat and endless to my left and right, in front of me the turquoise Indian ocean rolled out toward Madagascar and then to Indonesia beyond, behind me, the sand cliffs sloped up wards toward our backpackers and the little villages surrounding Tofu. Lying there it was really easy to just succumb to the idea that I was in some remote paradise, separate from the rest of the world, then a woman would walk by with a bundle of reeds on her head, or a group of men with their fishing spears would appear down the beach, reminding me of exactly where I was - Africa. That evening, we walked back to the market and then had long dinner at an atmospheric French-Mozambican restaurant. But most of us were feeling kinda sick, so it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been. Some of the girls were still nauseous from the sea sickness they got on the snorkel trip, and I think I caught a minor stomach bug. Later walking back to Bamboozi, I experienced my dinner again when I threw it up on the beach. I think 6 out of 8 of us threw up that day.

The next morning, Friday, we had to leave paradise, and start the 2 day journey back to Durban. We checked out at 10, so the we would have time to take a mini bus to the Olivera bus station and catch our 11 am bus to Maputo. Our mini bus was late (of course) so we were all totally stressed, the 11 am bus was the last one of the day, so if we missed it we were pretty much s.o.l. But once we got going we all relaxed. The mini bus drives are crazy, so we were more concerned about our luggage falling off the top, then one of the guys working on the mini bus (a friend of the driver maybe) put on this silly straw hat and started dancing - then we all started singing alone to the cheesy American R & B. We made our bus, and this time they only charged us 50 Mets a bag. It was also less crowded which made the ride way more comfortable, even if not all of our seats were bolted down. We got back to Maputo and the Base backpackers late that night, went to sleep, and got up early to catch out Panthera Azul "luxury" bus back to Durban.

Since we didn't have to go through Jo'burg this time, the ride home was considerable shorter. We took a different route, so we went from Mozambique, through Swaziland, and back to South Africa (three countries in one day - not bad). The irritating part was that we had to go through immigration (and the accompanying lines) twice, instead of just once. Pulse it was sweltering, and the buses windows didn't open. In any case, we made it back to Durban around 5 that evening. We went out that night in Durban, celebrating out safe return and nicely wrapping up to our spring break adventures; and then I went back to 'Maritzburg, exhausted but satisfied, the following afternoon. I slept most of Sunday, and now classes are going at full force once more. We only have five more weeks of instruction, so that gives us some time to formulate the rest of our traveling plans.

Anyway, I hope everyone is keeping well.

Lauren