September 3, 2012
It seems like every post starts with an apology for not posting more often. I think
by now you probably understand I'm busy here and send them as often
as I find the time. So instead of asking for your forgiveness I'll
just say I know you're all busy too (school just started for some and
fall is upon you) but if you find the time on this Labor Day or just
need a distraction here is a nice long update on my crazy adventures
in Peace Corps.
The past few months since my last
update have seemed to go by even faster (if that's possible) than the
previous stretches between my updates. A large part of that owes to
my having spent nearly the entire month of July out of the country.
We had our two week break from school between the first and second
trimesters and I managed to finish my grades and leave early as well
as miss nearly the entire first week of this semester due to terrible
travel luck on my return, but we'll get to that later.
While school and the things I've done
there like continue my computer club and have another local and
regional science fair have been fun, I'd really like to share the
details of my trip with you all, because at times I wished any one of
you could have been with me to share in the adventure. When planning
this trip I knew it would be my last big adventure in Southern
Africa. I knew I wanted to see things I hadn't before including wild
animals, bordering countries to Mozambique, and the world famous
Victoria Falls. I finally found groups of people doing each of these
things and managed to cobble together a trip where I would be
traveling at different times with 15 different fellow PCVs in four
countries over three weeks. Whew.
My trip started with a three day trek
to the border of Mozambique with Malawi in the northern city of
Mandimba where my friend Kyla lives. A group of 9 of us met up there
and the next day we crossed into Malawi to arrive at Cape McClear, a
tiny town on the southern end of Lake Malawi. My favorite part of
that leg of the trip had to be the bicycle taxis we took to the
border from town and then to the Malawi town on the other side of the
border. We stayed for three nights of fun, food, shopping and yes,
I'll admit, drinking. We let off steam built up from the last
semester of teaching and met lots of other expatriates as well. We
had volunteers from all different groups and sectors (volunteers now
arrive in two groups a year, one education, one health, as well as
some volunteers who stay for extra time leading there to be currently
5 'groups' represented in Moz).
My favorite part of the Cape McClear
section of my trip was not the drinking or making new friends, though
both were thoroughly enjoyable. My favorite part was a boat trip I
went on with two other volunteers and one of their friends who was
visiting from the States. We spent an afternoon going out and around
an island in the Lake and seeing fish eagles and other wildlife as
well as a snorkeling session where I saw fish in all kinds of
dazzling colors ranging from bright yellows to metallic purples. Our
guide on the boat told us the names of the fish eagles, including
Shakespeare, blue tooth and cherry haha. We then returned to the main
land where the guide and his friend cooked us a dinner from a fish we
bought from fisherman still in the boat on the way back. It was
delicious and we ate it while being entertained by a band of local
boys with homemade instruments.
The next morning we all went out
separate ways and a fellow PCV named Julia and I continued on to
Zambia for SAFARI. The funniest part of that leg of the trip was
that the Zambian visitors visa cost $50, which had to be paid in
cash, in US dollars. Needless to say I did not have $50 with me and
so my friend and I had to exchange Malawian currency for a $100 bill
(which I haven't seen in literally years) that one of the money
changers had on hand for us tourists who don't know how things work.
Thankfully both Malawi and Zambia's national languages are English
(actually all of the countries bordering Moz have English as their
national language) so that made negotiating a little easier. We
finally made it to the safari camp, arriving in the back of a pickup
truck full of sacks of cabbage.
The next three days were spent enjoying
the beautiful safari camp called Flat Dogs (a nickname for crocodiles
here) inside the South Luangwa National Park. We saw tons of wildlife
both while on game drives and even near our cottage seeing as the
camp was actually inside the national park and hippos, elephants, and
monkeys were frequently gallivanting around like they owned the
place. There's nothing quite like walking home from dinner and
turning a corner to find a huge hippo or elephant in your path.
Guides from the camp walk the guests everywhere after dark and make
sure you stay far enough away not to bother/enrage the animals, but
it's still pretty intense.
We went on two game drives (four hour
guided tours in open trucks with 6 people or fewer), one in the
morning starting at 6 and one in the evening starting at 4 and going
past sunset because many of the carnivores only come out at night. In
the total 8 hours we spent driving around the park we saw: elephants,
hippos, giraffes, zebras, lions, water buffalo, hyenas, baboons,
monkeys, warthogs, porcupines, mongoose, giant eagle owls, and
countless other birds, not to mention many different kinds of
antelope including water buck, reed buck, impala, and puku. It was an
absolutely amazing experience to see all the animals in their natural
habitat and I need to give a shout out at this point to my sister and
new brother-in-law without whose help this trip would not have been
financially possible for me. THANK YOU!
The final leg of my trip was also in
Zambia. First I met up with three other PCVs in the capitol, Lusaka,
and then we traveled together from there to Livingstone on the border
of Zimbabwe to see Victoria falls, the largest waterfall in the
world. On the way to Lusaka I got a ride with a really nice guy who
worked for the government and played old American country music over
and over. Nothing I really knew but one I remember was called “My
Tennessee Mountain Home'. It made me wonder what the artist would
think if they knew their music was popular in Zambia. Surreal. So we
made it to Livingstone and while we were only there for three days we
managed to see the falls, eat some great Mexican food, get attacked
by a baboon, go on a sunset booze cruise on the Zambezi river, and
while my friend Emily bungee jumped off the bridge by the fall that
connects Zambia with Zimbabwe I zip-lined from one side of the bridge
to the other with my friend Stephanie.
Then we made the slow and arduous
journey back to site passing through Tete province in Mozambique,
then Manica, Sofala, Zambezia, and finally back to my province,
Nampula all the while stopping to see friends on the way. Overall the
trip was 3 weeks long and I would not have traded it for anything
despite the rough travel. I had an absolutely amazing time and wish
more than anything I had a better internet connection so I could send
you all pictures. I do promise to post them once I am back in the
States in just two months!!!
Now I'm off for my last mini-adventure
in Mozambique, our close of service conference followed by a few days
at a beach called Tofu in southern Moz. I'll be back in about a week
and hope my inbox will be full of updates on all of you, my fabulous
family and friends!
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