The last 4 months in a nut shell!!!

December 27^th – April 27^th

        As hard as I try to keep up with my blog I’m finding it harder and harder to sit down and write.   Mangunde, Peace Corps and Mozambique in general keep me so busy that weeks go by without me thinking to record them.   

       I left off at the point where my family arrived in South Africa. At this point, April, it seems as though it was a dream.   My family landed in South Africa on the 26^th of December and we started our brief but wonderful journey though South Africa and Mozambique.   Our trip started with us just hanging out at the hotel in Johannesburg, them a little overwhelmed from traveling and me walking through a cloud of excitement and fatigue ( I had also just traveled a ton).   It was followed with a whirlwind trip through Kruger park (the biggest and most well known Safari destination in South Africa) where we saw Lions, Leopards, Buffalo, Rhinos, and lots of Elephants.   It was quite an experience to see so many wild animals in their natural habitat. 

       After our Safari adventures we headed back to Johannesburg and hopped on a plane heading towards Vilankulos, Mozambique, my parents and brother were about to set foot in the country I had been calling home for the last year and I was heading back to familiar territory.  Once my family and I arrived in Vilankulos I felt an immediate sense of relief.  I know Vilankulos and I know Mozambique and though they speak English in South Africa I am markedly more comfortable speaking Portuguese with Mozambicans than English with South Africans. It was then that I understood the importance of culture over language which allows a person to understand people, learning the language is not half as important as learning the culture.    So there we were in Vilankulos with it’s beautiful beaches, abundant seafood and hot weather.    My family and I spent the next few days there relaxing, taking a small boat out to the islands, and enjoying the ocean breezes. 

       After a few short, but relaxing, days in Vilankulos we rung in the New Year and then we headed north through Mozambique, with Mangunde, my home, as the destination.  It was smooth sailing for the first 4 hours until we finally arrived on the final stretch of 25km dirt road that separates Mangunde from the main highway.   Once on that road it started to rain and the chapa(Bus) veered off suddenly and got stuck in the mud.  We struggled to get the car out of the mud for over an hour in the pouring rain, ,getting soaked to the bone all the while, until finally one of the mission cars drove past and tugged us out with a makeshift tow.   Once in Mangunde we passed the time walking around and seeing the mission.  My family stayed with the local group of sisters who live on the mission and it was an absolutely wonderful experience.    The highlight of their visit to Mangunde was a dinner that we all had at a friend of mine, Alberto’s house.   The dinner included music, dancing, and the killing and eating of a goat (the slaughtering of the goat occurred before we arrived).  The festivities were an experience that I think will stay with my parents and my brother for awhile, and I’m happy they got to meet so many of my Mozambican friends and colleagues.  

    After we all passed a few days in Mangunde we loaded into a mission car and headed to the provincial capital of Sofala (the province I live in) of Beira where my family was scheduled to catch their flight.  Traveling from Mangunde to Beira turned into quite an adventure in and of itself given that a bridge was out and my family and I had to unload our luggage from the car we were in, load up into some canoes, cross the river and then wait in the pouring rain for three hours for another car to come from the mission to pick us up.  It was a stressful and exhausting experience, but my family handled it like champs.    Once in Beira, relieved to have finally made it back, we all went out for some Indian food, and prepared ourselves for our goodbyes.   The next day I helped my family pack up and we all headed to the airport where I say them off.   I was very sad to see them go.

       Once my family left, my vacation officially ended and slowly at first and then with increasing velocity I started to get back into work mode.  Early January was filled with planning for the new school year, figuring out schedules, and starting my work on REDES, the female empowerment group of which I am now the central coordinator.    In the middle of January I also attended a week long mid-service training conference in the capital of Maputo, Where for the first time in a year I saw some of my colleagues that live in the far north of Mozambique.   After the mid-service conference I returned to Mangunde and hit the ground running with a 28 hour in class teaching schedule, extra-curricular activities such as English club, REDES, English and computer classes for professors, as well as all of my responsibilities as the coordinator for the Regions REDES groups.   The last 4 months have seemed to flash by and now the date being April 25^th I can hardly believe that the second trimester has already started and that in a few months I will either be heading home or making plans to stay for a third year here in Mozambique.

     Since it has been so long since I have written many of the smaller happenings from the last few months have already fallen from memory and I have been left with only the craziness of the last few weeks with which to give you.   The last 2 and half weeks have been crazy here in Mangunde and in Mozambique in general.  For me the last few weeks have been filled with the organization and implementation of a conference in Chimoio.  With the help of some other volunteers I set up a workshop for the REDES facilitators (all of the Mozambicans who have and run REDES groups in the three provinces of Tete, Manica, and Sofala).  It was a super success.  Everything ran smoothly and all of the facilitators left the conference content and well informed.  After the conference I headed down south and met up with a bunch of volunteers for a few days in Vilankulos before heading back up to my site in Mangunde.    While all of this was going on there was a week where everyone was on edge due to a small politically motivated skirmish in southern sofala, near where I live.  There was never any danger for me here in Mangunde or for anyone I know, but there were worried looks and a lot of agitated chatter on the subject.  In a country that was at war a little over 20 years ago disagreements between the two main political parties tends to make people nervous.    Once again I was never in any danger, but it was eye opening to see people’s reactions to the events.   

       Now I am back in Mangunde getting ready to start the second trimester.  I have been in Mozambique for almost 19 months, over a year and a half, and still I find myself constantly learning and adapting to the now familiar but perpetually different environment of Mozambique.    It seems to me that the longer I stay in Mozambique the more I miss my family and friends in America, but the less I miss America for the small things like food, TV, and landscapes, my new “normal” after a year and a half is the active isolation of living in a vibrant mission in the middle of nowhere.  At this point I think that when I return to the states whether for a permanent stay or just for a month long visit I will be confronted with the contrary sensations of returning home and entering a foreign country.   

     Thanks for reading my blog!   And Lots of love from Africa!   I would like to send a special shout out to my cousin Corrie who just had a birthday on April 21^st.  Lots of love Cuz.   

PART 2 – Traveling through South Africa!

PART 2 – Traveling through South Africa!

Day 15-December 10^th – I get up at an ungodly hour in the morning, say my good-byes to Mac and Dylan who later that day will catch flights back to America and head off to airport where I’m bound for one of the coolest cities in the Southern Hemisphere, Cape Town South Africa!!

December 10^th – December 16^th – Cape Town!

Cape Town is picturesque city located towards the southernmost point of South Africa.  The city follows the sea coast wrapping around a small mountain chain that creates the dynamic view of seeing ocean and palm trees in one direction and the huge face of Table Mountain in the other.   My time in Cape Town was spent hanging out with a bunch of great volunteers and now returned Peace Corps volunteers, hiking up the mountains, chilling at the beach and eating.  There was lots of eating.  My first day in Cape Town was spent going to the Stellenboch region about 45 minutes outside of the city with Anna, Valarie, and Amanda where we went on a full day wine tour.   (4 fun and animated people + 6 wineries * goat cheese = AWESOME).

For the next few days I found myself hanging out with my good friends Chris and Laurie (yep! Those same two from Mapinhane!), Anna and climbing up Table Mountain and Lions head mountain, going to the beach and in general just relaxing and letting each day take me to the next adventure.

December 17^th -19^th Parting ways with my fellow PCVs and hanging out in Wilderness South Africa.

  These next few days were a crazy time for me.   I said good-bye to my friends and my security blanket and headed 7 hours along the coast of South Africa which brought me to the town of Wilderness.  Wilderness is a nice ocean side town which has a rich forest that comes right up to the beach making for a dynamic contrast between the ocean waters and the thick surrounding forest.

I ended up spending 3 days in Wilderness (it was only supposed to be two but there was a hic-up with the ride I was hoping to take).  I passed the time running, canoeing and visiting waterfalls.   The waterfalls in Wilderness were my favorite part of my time there.  The first set of falls I saw were fun because the rocks had formed multiple pools of water that one could go swimming in.  And to top it off there was one area which you could jump from about 4-5 meters into one of the pools formed by the water fall, needless to say I spent my afternoon doing that!   The second water fall I visited was a lot smaller but a lot more fun to get to.  The trail I took literally looked like something out of The lord of the rings.   The forest was thick and in some places overgrown so that it felt like you were going into a cave of leaves.  As you get towards the end of the trail you arrive at a small waterfall deep within a rock formation.   The appeal of this waterfall was there was almost no one on the trail and when I finally arrived, I had the whole waterfall to myself. 

My time in Wilderness was also spent getting to know some fellow travelers.   As funny as it may sound I may have met more people from Germany in my 3 weeks in South Africa then I had at any other time before Peace Corps in my life.  On top of Germans I met people from Switzerland, Lithuania, England, a handful of Americans, and of course a bunch of South Africans.   Apparently December is the tourist month for South Africa, and I was traveling in the peak!

December 20^th – I spent the majority of the day traveling from Wilderness to Port Elizabeth which acted as a Pit stop on my way to Coffee bay.

December 21^st -22^nd – I Left Port Elizabeth, bright and early, in the morning of the 21^st. And I ended up arriving in Coffee Bay in the early afternoon.  Coffee Bay was an interesting place that I am going to have to visit again at some point in my life.  Coffee Bay South Africa got its name because at some point in its history a boat carrying coffee beans shipwrecked off the coast and for a period of time there were coffee beans aplenty on the coast. 

I got to know a few fellow Americans on the bus that brought me in so I ended up spending a good portion of my next day and a half in coffee bay with them.  Some highlights of the trip were watching the sunrise while doing some Yoga with some South African Peace Corps volunteers, watching the sunset over the spectacular set of cliffs that looks over the ocean in Coffee bay, and going to a dinner/cultural dance that they had going on the night I was there.     My time there was short but memorable,  I was sad when I left that I didn’t get more time there.

December 23^rd –December 24^th – Left Coffee bay and made my way over to Durban where I spent Christmas Eve.   On Christmas Eve day Clemens and I (Clemens was a German traveler who decided to join me) walked around the city trying to see as many sites as possible.   We went to a huge market where we ended up trying bunny chow, bunny chow is a large piece of bread with the center pulled out filled with an Indian curry,    and it was SO GOOD.  I have a deep love of Indian food and Durban having the highest population of Indians outside of India itself, was a number 1 food destination for me.   After the market we visited the botanical gardens, passed by the huge soccer stadium in Durban and then passed the rest of the afternoon on the beach.  Durban was only a one day stop but I’m happy I was able to pass some time there, though the whole time I was there I was starting to get really excited about my family who were going to arrive on December 26^th.

December 25^th -  I spent the whole day traveling from Durban to Johannesburg.  Not the best way to pass Christmas Day but I was holding out for my family to come on the 26^th.   I ended up grabbing dinner with a mismatch group of travelers,  a couple from Uruguay, a Frenchman, and a Canadian.  Half of the meal was in Spanish, some was in French, and the rest was in English, it was a whirlwind of languages.

December 26^th – My family touches down in South Africa!!!!!!   I meet them excitedly at the Airport and we travel to the hotel we would be staying in.    My father, mother, and brother all arrived safe and sound and I couldn’t have been more excited, though maybe a little nervous at the prospect of being their guide through South Africa and Mozambique.   The Skvarchs made it to Africa!!!

To be continued….

November, December, January and all the way to February!

-It’s been almost 4 months since the last time that I wrote a blog!!   Sorry for the long break I was so busy wrapping up the 2012 school year, traveling all around Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa, having my family visit and starting the 2013 school year that it just dawned on me the other day that I should post another blog.  So here goes!

The Agenda

-Finishing up the 2012 school year (includes a brief trip down to Namaacha where I welcomed in the new training group).

-TRAVEL: Starting in Mangunde and traveling through Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa and back.

-The Skvarch’s travel through Africa!!!

-Mid-service and settling back into Mangunde life with a new roommate and a new year.

PART 1 

Finishing up 2012

                It’s hard to believe that 2012 and my first year in Peace Corps have already passed.   It seems like just yesterday I was getting off the plane after a long tiring trip and stepping foot for the first time in Mozambique.

                The year slowly faded away towards the end of the school year as final exams started to wrap up in early November and students started to slowly trickle out of Mangunde.  Mangunde is so incredibly busy during the year that when November rolls around it seems like an odd but peaceful silence permeates all parts of my lost little mission village in Mozambique.

                The school year ended and with it my responsibilities in the community. I hung around Manugnde for about two weeks and helped grade and proctor final exams but soon enough it was the middle of November and I was heading down to Maputo Province, specifically Namaacha, to hang out and impart some Mozambican PCV wisdom on the new Peace Corps trainees who were entering the country.  In mid November I started what would be an almost 2 full months of traveling experience.  I left my site and headed to the capital city of Sofala, Beira to catch a flight down to Maputo.    Beira is the second largest city in Mozambique, busy, congested, not particularly clean, and Peace-Corps-Volunteer-less.  This put staying there a bit on the inconvenient side.  Anyways, after my flight got moved and I spent 9 hours waiting in the Beira airport I finally managed to get on an airplane head down to Maputo (arriving around 1pm). Needless to say the moment I got to the hotel room (an absolutely FABULOUS room equipped with both a FLUSHING TOILET and a HEATED SHOWER)  I passed out.  I woke up the next morning with and, in the company of two fellow Moz 17ers,  made my way to Namaacha. 

                The following week was filled with meeting almost 70 new Peace Corps Volunteers, attending a bunch of practice classes to give everyone feedback, and being overwhelmed with the nostalgia of being in Namaacha.  Namaacha is the place I lived when I first arrived to Mozambique and after a year of living in this country the whole town seemed so startlingly familiar and different that it took me a few days just to find the ground. The whole week in Namaacha was a wonderful experience where I got to check myself and to see how far I had actually come in just a single year’s time, not to mention I got to meet my then soon to be roommate Jonathan Lesko!

TRAVEL:

Well… this is going to be a crazy ride

Day 0(Around November 28^th) -  I find myself back in Mangunde for a brief period of time after having spent a week in Maputo visiting the new soon to be Peace corps volunteers.  I was only able to stop for a day or two to make a whirlwind of arrangements, say some good-byes and do some laundry by hand.  It’s amazing how much you can get done in a day when you put your mind to it.

Day 1 –  I leave Mangunde and travel all the way to Vilankulos about 5 hours south and manage to shoot into the city for just an hour’s time to try and make travel arrangements for my family.  So I just got done traveling for 5 hours.   I was hungry and tired and running around Vilankulos, only to find out that EVERYTHING but a few bunk beds had been booked for New years when my family was supposed to get in.  I make the booking for the bunk beds, pray that they will give us  fans, and that my mother won’t kill me,  and as quickly as I got into Vilankulos I caught a Chapa out to try and get to Mapinhane where two of my friends live.  I arrived at Chris and Laurie’s just a few minutes before dusk and was happy to find myself with friends after a stressful day of traveling and bad news.

Day 2 -  I say my good-byes to Chris and Laurie and tell them I will see them in Capetown and then I head south towards Inhambane city.   Traveling is smoothing sailing from here on out and I make it to Maxixe early in the day.  To get to Inhambane city one has to travel for about a half an hour in a boat taxi from the mainland of Maxixe through a small channel to reach Inhambane city.   Maxixe and Inhambane City are located towards the southern end of Mozambique and seem to be overflowing with coconut and palm trees and of course the general relaxed beach atmosphere you find when you can smell ocean water and eat fresh fish on a daily basis.    I make it into Inhambane city, see briefly a friend who lives there and then meet up with the 4 other people I will be traveling with for the next 2 weeks. The big five as we liked to call ourselves were my friends Mac and Dylan from Sofala as well as Ariel and Leah from the northern province of Nampula.  We all then made our way to the beautiful beaches of Tofo where we would spend the next few days.

Day 3,4,5 – BEAUTIFUL beaches, Swimming, and Scuba diving for the first time.  Scuba diving is a BLAST  and I think it is something I will continue to do in the future. :-D…. on a not so awesome note… I left my camera on the bus that brought us to the beach… bad timing.

Day 6 – The big five load up and we head on down the coast to stay in the gorgeous lagoon town of Quissico.  In Quissico the five of us stayed with a, super friendly and chill, volunteer named Tony, who was calling Quissico her home for her two years of service.  I don’t generally get jealous of Peace Corps sites but I do have to say that Quissico is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life.  Starting in the small town of Inharimme about 30 miles up the coast you will find a series of 7 lagoons, Quissico being the 4^th or 5^th one down.  The town is located on a hill next to the lagoons, which means that just 2 or 3 minutes walk from the center of town you get a view that will take your breath away.  Imagine being able to see 3 or 4 baby blue lakes all in a row surrounded by coconut tree forests and the Indian Ocean just beyond the small strip of land that keeps the lagoon separate from the ocean. That’s Quissico.

Day 7 – We leave Quissico and head to the capital!

Day 8-9 10-  We find ourselves in the midst of the swearing in ceremony for the new volunteers, saying good bye to volunteers who are in the process of COS(Close of Service), and fellow travelers.   The 5 of us stayed with a few American CDC (Center for Disease Control) workers who were AMAZING hosts that gave us all beds, a few meals, and some great conversation.

Day 11- we leave Maputo and leave Mozambique!!!!   We left Mozambique and headed into uncharted territories!  We took a trip through Namaacha and headed over into the Kingdom of Swaziland (One of the only Monarchies left on the planet).   We traveled to small town of Siteki in Swaziland where we stated at a wonderful little backpackers, enjoyed the cooler night air (It’s a fair bit more mountainous in Swaziland then in Mozambique), and made some wonderful egg sandwiches for dinner.

Day-12- We leave Siteki and head over to Lobamba Swaziland, but first we have a pit stop in Hlane Royal National park to go on our first GAME DRIVE!!!!   We arrived in the park and went on a 2 hour game drive through the Safari of Swaziland we managed to see baboons, a bunch of Giraffes up close and personal, a few elephants in the distance and some huge rhinos. 

Day 13- After a restful evening in Lobamba Swaziland we woke up the next day and decided that we wanted to go white water rafting.  So we did!  We took a few rafts out to the local rapids and spent the morning meandering, shouting, yelling, laughing, and splashing our way down the Mbuluzane river.  The highlight of this day was when Mac and I went down one of the huge rapids together.  We were both pumped and super excited for the rapid and our goal was to not have either one of us fall out.  We get into the rapid and it’s tossing and turning us all around but we keep on paddling and finish strong, or so I think.  I turn around excitedly once we get passed the rapid about to congratulate Mac only to realize an instant later that him floating away down the river.   White water rafting in Swaziland!!! So much fun!!! A special shout out to Leah who was my awesome rafting partner for the majority of the day!

Day 14- We all get up and the group splits in two.  Ariel and Leah and back to Maputo to grab some stuff they left there and prepare for their journey home, and Dylan, Mac, and I cross boarders and head into South Africa. 

Now, when Mac, Dylan and I got to Swaziland we were all surprised at the level of development as compared to Mozambique, but when we got to South Africa it was like walking into a whole new world.  There are shopping malls, stores, cars, and a whole hell of a lot of white people, it was all very overwhelming and slightly uncomfortable at first, but hey we had just walked into the most developed country on African continent south of the Sahara.

We arrived in South Africa and ended up staying the night with a friend of a friend’s parents who live in South Africa which Mac set up.  We were warmly welcomed and well received by the South African family and were happy to eat all of the delicious cookies, sausages and treats they offered us.

To be continued......

Stay tuned in the next few days I'll post PART 2 of my Traveling adventures through South Africa and Mozambique!