Week 11 (nearly 3 weeks ago now; I can’t believe I’ve now been here for nearly 14 weeks!):
I finally made it to the spa on the Thursday after my birthday. It was lovely, bar the fact that the facial was done by a man, something I am never sure about! My feet were impossibly clean for about a day afterwards. I think it’s the cleanest they have been and will ever be whilst in Maputo!
On Friday we went to my first metal concert, not something I thought I would experience in Mozambique. The band, MONA, are great and the sight of Jan and Nick head banging together was amusing if nothing else.
The wedding on Saturday was surprisingly similar to a western wedding. Out of the 250 guests, Nick, Ricardo and I were the only 3 white people present and we were seated at one of the most central tables. I felt a little out of place! Weddings in Mozambique last for 2-3 days which judging by the bride and groom’s slightly sombre faces, must be an exhausting experience. The bride and groom had already been together for 16 years; it’s much more common than I would have thought for couples to live together with children for years. I can understand in terms of the expense of a wedding but I assumed it would be more traditional. The wedding, in true Mozambican fashion, started a few hours late and unfortunately, we had to leave by 6pm, so it meant we missed a lot of the more traditional aspects of the wedding. The children were all going to sing and dance which would have been good to see as they were all adorable. Nick and Ricardo’s first attempt at a wedding cake was brilliant. It looked great and keeping a 3 tier cake upright in this humidity is a lesson in engineering!
On Saturday evening, I had my first experience of seedy, downtown Maputo. At night, Baixa becomes full of prostitutes and sleazy, old Portuguese men! It’s really sad to see as the girls are so young. We were there because there is one nice bar, Gypsy’s, albeit it is next to a dodgy strip club! Conveniently located next to the financial district, in one street you have a strip club, a ‘hotel’, a bar and another strip club! We were in a big group, with lots of boys, so I felt slightly less nervous. We were approached on the way out by one of the most convincing transvestites I’ve ever seen, not that I have seen many! He looked better in skinny jeans than any girl I know, so it was rather unnerving when he opened his mouth! One of the men with a girl was the spitting image of Captain Birdseye, although not the jolly Captain we all know and love! It starts to get light a lot earlier now and coming home at 6am, when it’s already hot and the sun is shining is a strange experience.
Week 12:
I left for Joburg on Thursday. I left at 7am and arrived around 5pm. I had upgraded myself onto the Greyhound bus which had slightly bigger seats and a toilet. I got used to good bus travel in South America and although 10 hours isn’t that long a time, I wanted to feel as far from a chapa as possible! Luckily the woman next to me moved, which meant I had 2 seats to myself.
It was so lovely to see Kate after almost 4 years! I met her boyfriend Kyle for the first time and he’s lovely too, as are his family, who we stayed with. It was amazing how although I had come from Mozambique, to visit Kate in her new home in Johannesburg, after 4 years, it could have just as easily been Tiverton or Cheriton Fitzpane, in terms of how normal it felt and how we settled back into all the old gossip and in jokes.
Kyle’s mum breeds miniature Dachshunds and they have 33! I unknowingly left my flip flops outside by the pool, unaware of the devastation that 33 small dogs can cause in a short space of time! RIP Brazilian Havaianas.
We went to DisChem, a South African Boots, on Friday. Kate asked me what I needed; I had no idea! I haven’t had that much choice for 3 months! My day was made on the discovery of dry shampoo! With only cold water, I don’t know what I would do without it! The same thing happened in Pick ‘n’ Pay...I could happily have bought...and eaten everything! The diet of cheese toasties, chips and rice is catching up with me; a thorough detox starts now!
We left the house twice on Saturday; firstly, to go to Wimpy and secondly, to go to Subway!
On the Sunday we visited the Lion Park just outside of Joburg. We arrived just after feeding time and it was amazing to see the lions so close; you could hear them tearing off the meat! The best part was seeing the cheetahs, as we hadn’t seen any in Kruger. We also got to play with 4 baby lions, the smallest of which was very angry at having been woken up and moved away from his brothers. It’s the dilemma; do I really want to pester these wild animals...? Yes, I really want to stroke a baby lion!! We also fed a giraffe which was amazing. He had a long, rough tongue and was not shy in slobbering all over us!
The bus on the way home was the regular Citilink bus and I was wedged in between 2 large Mozambican mummas which made for a rather cosy journey. The journey was fine, bar the border stop. The border doesn’t open until 6am and so we waited on the South African side for an hour, and then queued for another good hour, and then waited, yet again, on the Mozambican side.
Driving back into Maputo was comforting, that feeling you get when you are nearly home!
Week 13:
Everyone at ACOORD tends to eat together, whereas I normally go and have lunch with Nasti, as I don’t have any way of bringing food with me. On Tuesday, Celeste presented me with, along with everyone else, a tub of salad for my lunch. It was a really small thing but that’s the kind of thing that makes me glad that I’m doing what I’m doing.
It’s too hot at the moment in the city! It’s been 35-38OC all week and I am struggling to remain cool, calm and collected. You have a shower and then need another one about 3 minutes later! The children at work on Wednesday were all sweating and so I kept sponging them with cool water as it’s miserable for them. It was too hot to do anything really constructive with them which always frustrates me. Louisa screamed for a good 30 minutes, which the others took as encouragement!
We went to a market in P. Combatentes on Wednesday afternoon which was good; it’s smaller and less intimidating than Xipamanine. I had my best ‘chapa’ ride so far, in the back of a pick-up truck: far less crowded, sweaty and smelly! I bought a baby pink dress which Hanna and Nasti told me looked nice; Jan later informed he liked the dress, but the colour did not suit me, closely followed by, ‘You have yellow nails’ (the cheap nail varnishes have taken their toll). I can always rely on Jan to tell it like it is!
I’m going again on Tuesday with Peggy to stock up on clothes before I go travelling. Matt and I are off next Sunday for about 2 weeks. We are going to head north to Vilankulo, then back down to Tofo and Quissico and Bilene or come back and head south to Ponta D’Ouro. I’m excited for the beach and a holiday. I feel guilty telling people I am going on holiday, as I am sure that lots of people think I have been on holiday for the last 3 months, but it will be nice to get out of the city. Although, saying that, I have so little time left that I am also sad to be missing out on everything at work and at home!
Thursday was yet another public holiday! I persuaded Nick that we should have a BBQ by the pool...I have never seen so much meat in my entire life! 6 racks of ribs, chicken, beef and lamb. Nick conveniently avoided all the preparation! I would make an excellent sous chef...marinating chicken, wrapping chicken in bacon, preparing the dry rub and the BBQ sauce, prepping the ribs and making the salad! We, as we always seem to do, ended the afternoon and began the evening in Teachers’ Bar where we met a lot of the new Peace Corps volunteers. Mid week holidays really throw off my sense of time and I was convinced that Friday was a Sunday.
We went to Macaneta on Sunday which was lovely, with very little resemblance to North Devon this time around! However, just like last time, when I woke up at 6am, it was to grey skies! Nasti was convinced it would get better; Mario and I disagreed but we decided to go anyway. I’ll give Nasti credit this once; it turned out to be a beautiful day. Matt had factor 30, ‘lasts all day’ sun cream...we all applied it more than once but still somehow all managed to achieve a beautiful tomato shade by 5pm, despite the fact that I spent the afternoon in the shade. I shall be applying my own sun cream next time!
I only have 4 weeks left! I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone! I’m going to be so sad to leave everyone I’ve met. I know that I’ll meet people in Honduras, but I’ve met so many lovely people here, I just want to take them all with me! I’m excited for Honduras, but I’m worried that I will instinctively compare everything, from my host family, to my project, the city and the people! It’s also going to be hard to have to switch from Portuguese to Spanish! Innocencia, at ACOORD, asked me if I wanted to stay and I said yes, but that I couldn’t. She said it was easy; I simply had to marry a Mozambican. She proceeded to pull one of the members into the office and ask him if he wanted to marry me!
Don’t worry Mum/James, I am coming home, unmarried, but I will definitely be coming back as soon as I can! I really love it here. I suppose it is better to leave, wanting to return, than stay and long to go home, as I do miss everyone and it will be lovely to be at home for Christmas!
I’ll try and upload some pictures later, as this was an essay and a half.
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