mozambique! better late than never?

Okay so I definitely just stopped blogging, once I got back from Mozambique everything got really crazy and I was basically never even home and when I was it was to sleep or take a bath or something, I even stopped running? So crazy. So here's what I was up to in my last month starting with traveling...

Mozambique: So much fun! It was a little bit crazy and the most un-planned trip I've ever embarked on but overall it was a complete success. I traveled with three of my girlfriends, Farley (my roommate), Sarah and Laura; We had some difficulty actually getting across the border and had to buy new bus tickets and spend a last-minute night at a backpacker's in Joburg but we met some great people along the way and eventually made it to Maputo. We went to dinner at a fantastic seafood restaraunt on the water where Farley and I almost died choking from coughing and laughing on our prawns...so embarrassing. After a night in the capital we left for our so called "island" of Punto d'Ouro, which isn't actually an island. We took a quick ferry across the water then took a minibus for 4 hours until we got to the beach.

The minibus was hilarious. All four of us were crammed into the back seat (there were 18-20 other people in the van?) and then Laura started to feel sick and wanted to sit up front...so instead of having a random person come squash with us we bought "another seat" and just sat 3 in the back...everyone in the van found this really entertaining, one woman specifically thought it was funny and whenever we stopped and another person got on and tried to get in the back she explained to them in Portuguese what we had done and then laughed, she was great though she told the driver where we needed to go and gave us a big smile when she left. our drive was essentially 4 hours over dirt roads through "lush" landscapes...Sarah gave me a benodryl before we started driving because my allergies were bothering me and oh my gosh did that medicine hit me. The ride was so bumpy but I still managed to pass out, I would wake up every once and a while when we hit a huge bump and my head hit the car roof but otherwise I was out and determined to sleep...Farley said I looked like I died.

When we finally got to the beach it was essentially paradise. We stayed in this simple chalets that were actually one the beach, maybe 50 meters from the water? So I fell asleep each night to the sound of waves crashing outside and woke up every morning to the beautiful sunrise it was absolutely perfect. The island was essentially dead because it wasn't tourist season anymore and we actually joked that we were the only ones staying there. We spent all day lounging on the beach, reading, swimming or exploring the market and nearby stores. We bought fresh bread, veggies and coconuts everyday from the market "in town" (10 minute walk to informal housing) and then ate out each night at a different restaurant. Sadly, the seafood was not fresh (even though we were on the water!) and most fruit was out of season but we survived :) We learned some Portuguese form our waiters and made friends with people at this restaurant we hung out at each night after dinner. I ran on the beach every morning and night and befriended this stray dogs that a local surf shop looked after, they were so cute they actually ran with me and then slept next to my beach towel during the day. Since the beach was pretty empty we never partied or stayed out late, there was no one to party with? Instead we went to sleep when the sun went down and woke up early when it rose. It was a perfect relaxing (not to mention detoxing) vacation and I loved every single minute. I also got some cool souvenirs from the craft market and befriended some of the local tradespeople.

Laura and Sarah had to leave our trip early to get home in time to take exams so Farley and I spent one extra day at the beach then went back to Maputo and stayed a night in the capital. One our mini van ride back our bus actually got stuck and everyone had to get out of the van and push it. A truck driving the opposite direction saw us, stopped and got out and helped, it was really funny. I wanted to take a pictures but thought that might be inappropriate? Once we got to Maputo we went straight to Fatima's unpacked, and explored. We bought fresh Pao and vegetables off the street then went back to rest before dinner. We got dinner at this fantastic Indian restaraunt and then got directions from our waiter to this Jazz bar that was supposed to be "hopping" on Thursday nights. We walked 30 minutes to the bar-which was so nice to do! only to be told there was an expensive cover, and the bar was empty so there was no way we were going. We gave up and walked across the street to get milkshakes and call it a night. After eating we tried to hail a cab on the street but there literally were no cabs, neither of us had airtime so we couldn't call anyone, we were essentially stuck. Our waiter tried to help us and then some random people that were also eating at this cafe offered to drive us home.

Mozambique is really different in that crime essentially is not a huge problem there, we noticed that everyone was really friendly and helpful and it seemed to be a genuine country. That being said we agreed and got into these people's car. After driving a little they asked if we wanted to get drinks with them-all these people were middle-aged, and could have been our parents ages with the exception of one woman who looked to be around thirty? We agreed because the rest of the night had been a fail and we didn't want to give up yet. We went to this sleek cafe and they ordered us glasses of wine, after talking for a few minutes we realized these people were members of high society, they all held very respectable jobs, were educated and traveled around Africa (one even to the US!) One of the men actually worked for the UN and had previously worked for the World Bank, talk about weird but awesome? They insisted that their younger friend take us out so that we could see Maputo and we didn't really have a choice so we tagged along. This woman was so much fun but also kind of crazy. She took us to two incredibly posh, upscale, expensive bars (Ice and some other place...) and we eventually lost her, definitely by accident, and walked home around 4 AM. It was the craziest, most random night ever but is one of those things that you could never imagine happening but love to stories about once it does? It was so bizarre.

The next day Farley and I kind of woke up in shock reminiscing everything that happened the night before. We eventually wandered in town to shop for crafts and find breakfast. We explored the capital, which was really fun, it was beautiful, perfect weather and lots of art to look at and the people were also really friendly. Eventually we went back to Fatima's, packed up our stuff enjoyed one last Pao veggie sandwich and fruit salad (all of which we bought off the street!) and then said goodbye and got on our bus to go back to South Africa.

We made it home safely, no crazy stories but it was still fun. We did wait around the Joburg bus terminal (so sketchy!) for almost an hour while our cab driver drove to some backpacker's confused about where we were, such a failure. It was freezing too, maybe 40 degrees? And i was in shorts and a teeshirt...I forgot it was winter and colder in South Africa.

Overall though the trip was so great and I'm really glad I got to see this beautiful country. If I had the choice I would definitely do the Peace Corp there, so hopefully one day I'll get to return :)

Cheers,
H


-------wrote this at some point in june:


SCARIEST THING OF MY ENTIRE LIFE! GREAT WHITE SHARKS!!!

You know its bad when you go to write in your blog and realise you can’t remember your password (let alone your email address/username) that you usually sign in with…needless to say I think this will be my last post for a while.

I promised myself I’d write about my last few weeks abroad and then I’ll finish a completely new post as a farewell because
I’ve been home for exactly a month now and have definitely had time to reflect on all that…

So basically after Mozambique most of my friends were also finished with exams so we spent the last week and a half hanging out 24-7, exploring Cape Town and trying to fit in any last-minute touristy stuff before people started heading home on June 5th. In the last week that my best friends and I were all still together we went out every night of the week: Tuesday was karaoke at Dizzys, Wednesday Stones (obviously) Thursday was hemisphere and Long Street and then Friday was our final finale on Long Street. We also went to Old Biscuit Saturday morning and spent countless afternoons throughout the week wandering green Market Square. We got high tea at the Mt. Nelson Hotel (absolutely gorgeous and the food was fantastic, later that day we were all loopy and convinced we were high off the tea leaves or something because we drank so much…) Then after Old Biscuit on Saturday Suzanne, Elle and I went in town to find this Africa necklace we all wante…unsuccessful we met our friends for dinner at the Bombay Bicylce Club for one last farewell dinner before taking Stacey to the airport. We were all prepared to sob saying goodbye but instead of tears we blasted Freshlyground in the parking lot and danced like crazy and then laughing helped Stacey with her luggage and said goodbye before she went through security. After the airport we went to hangout with some of our friends who were leaving the next day then called it a semi-early night (midnightish?) because we had to get up super early the next morning…

Sunday we went CAGE DIVING! AGHH CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I actually still can’t believe that I did it. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I am absolutely terrified of sharks. All semester I refused to go into the water that was higher than my knees/not clear because one week before we arrive abroad a man was literally “mauled” in waist-deep water. Cape Town is literally where shark week is filmed; it has one of the largest amounts of great whites in the world and they swim miles from the shore, it’s absolutely terrifying. Still, my friends were all doing cage diving so I got drug along thinking I’d either feel so empowered
and brave I’d never fear sharks again… or just have a heart attack in the cage and never go swimming in the ocean again…totally worth the risk

So anyway, we got picked up at 4:30 Sunday morning to take a van 2 hours to Gansbaai, which is located a 20 minute boat ride from Dyer Island…an area with one of the largest great white populations in the world! It’s hard to describe how diving actually worked but basically we took the boat out into the ocean (and could still see the shore when we docked!) and then put on wet-suites and split into groups. Five people could go into the cage at one time, I opted out on the first round still unsure whether I actually wanted to get wet so my friends got ready to jump in and I climbed on the top deck to watch for fins. This might have actually been a horrible idea because when the first shark swam up past the cage I screamed and grabbed whoever was standing next to me on the dock because IT WAS HUGE. I told my friends I didn’t think I could do it and sat down on a bench in the center of the boat. I still thought it was possible for one of the sharks to actually tip our boat or at least flop by the side and gobble someone up…I know so dumb. After two sharks circled the boat a few times there was a lull and then I spotted one, BEFORE ANYONE ELSE. This scared me the most because I thought if the expert researchers didn’t see this shark how would they know if we’re safe when we go in and out of the cage, they could easily miss a shark and it could eat someone, I was terrified. Still, when it came time to switch the groups my friends told me I had to do it, and that it was not scary at all so I believed them.

To get into the cage one has to climb from the side of the boat down a ladder into this narrow cage (sort of like a dog cage but much larger…) it was wire but with holes/gaps in it so we were actually in the water. The cage sits on the surface so and is about 8 feet deep. We were all given a pair of goggles and basically you wait at the top of the cage and when someone sees a shark you take a deep breath and push from the top of the cage to the bottom and take a look at the shark as it swims by/at the cage. It was actually really really cool. When the first shark swam by I didn’t think I just took a deep breath and listened to the instructions to “get down!” I saw the shark, probably screamed underwater but couldn’t stop watching it, I stayed underwater until I couldn’t stand it anymore, I needed air. I don’t know if it was that I was so paranoid I wanted to be able to watch the shark at all times or if I just became mystified by its agile swimming…either way I was hooked. I had basically become an adrenaline junkie. It terrified me that I was in the water with sharks all around me but I didn’t want to get out of the cage. I remember at one point that I realized I could turn around in the cage and behind me was just open water (I though it was the boat but realized the boat couldn’t be that deep) I totally freaked out and told my friends that the sharks could have been watching us the entire time! Luckily the people in the cage with me listened to my paranoid scenarios where I nervously listed everything that could go wrong while in the cage, one of my friends even coached me a little, probably to get me to stop talking…but still it helped to have someone telling me exactly what to do the first couple times and keep my mind of the sharks.
I stayed in the cage for what I thought was hours, but in all was maybe a half hour? The water eventually got really cold and some other people changed their mind and decided they wanted to get in and take a peak so I opted to get out of the cage so they could try. This was maybe the scariest part of the entire day. There were 3 great whites within the vicinity of the boat and I was told to climb out. When the cage is opened you basically sit on the top of it to slowly climb out and swing over the side of the boat-well while climbing out all that I could think of was those clips on shark week where the great white literally leaps out of the water to grab a seal on a rock or something…and I couldn’t help but think that could be me! I was so scared I climbed as fast as I could up the side of the cage and literally hopped over the side of the boat and ran to the middle of the deck and sat down speechless and out of breath. I changed out of my wet suite and into some drier clothes and then went ot find my friends who were all ready to tell me I did great :) because they’re awesome and really supportive.
The boat started to get rocky and our shark team instructors told us we had to return to shore because the water was too rough it wasn’t safe, I was totally okay with this so we all took seats inside the boat and got ready for the crazy, bumpy ride back (luckily none of us got sick!) so that was it. I did it. I saw great white sharks literally inches from my face and I didn’t get eaten or pass out!!! I still have nightmares, actually at least once a week and basically anytime that I’m in the water I’m terrified (even just swimming laps in a pool reminds me of great whites…) I know I’m crazy but still absolutely no regrets, I’m so glad that I tried it!

Cheers!
H