To view my children, that'll be, 1 metical, a papaya, and some flour please

We slept surprisingly well (but not that great) considering there were 3 of us on a twin bed, until about 5:30am when we got up to try to find a ride to Chiponde.  We got in an open back chapa, aka a pick-up truck, fairly quickly and it filled with about 30 other people, their luggage and we ended up basically hugging boxes of fish and bags of onions for the next few hours.  On our trip, I got to see several monkeys along the road and when we finally got to Chiponde we got through customs and then made our way to the Mozambican side. 

Most comfortable way to travel...

Here the same man that was there the time before, remembered us and we told him, “See we told you we would be back.”  We joked with them for a little bit, then I was asked for a half American half Mozambican baby by one of the younger men working there and then we were on our way.  Right outside of the office, as we were walking by, one of the big trucks transporting goods from Malawi to other places asked us if we were going to Cuamba and when we said yes, they told us to climb in.  We got in the back on top of sacks of cabbage and potatoes.  

My new Mae, the one furthest from the camera

Several other people were picked up and we made a lot of friends and had a lot of stares on the trip home.  I made friends with this old woman who ended up saying she was our Mae and when ever we would stop and several children would just stare at us and we would be joking around with them, she would say in the local language, “These are my children, you need to give me flour to look at them.”  It became a very big joke and at one point we stopped and there were a lot of teenage boys and men standing there staring at us.  We were talking to them and she arranged a lobolo (dowry) of 1 metical and 1 papaya for Tania and I to marry these two guys.   I guess that’s all we were worth to her.  She received the metical but is still waiting for the papaya… so I think only I am officially (by lobolo rules) promised as of now. 

one of the smallest crowds of kids we attracted along the way

We finally arrived in Cuamba after probably the most comfortable ride I have ever had in Mozambique that wasn’t in a private car.  I could move around as I pleased and the sacks of cabbage/potatoes provided a nice bed to lay on and rest if you found just the right spot.  I have to say although one of the reasons I went to Malawi was to go on a safari and see some animals, even though we didn’t get to do that, I would not change our trip for anything and I still can’t believe what became of our trip.  There is always next time…

Are they leaving for good, good? (Day 5 of our Malawian Adventure)

One of our Chechewa teachers...

 The next day we woke up, had another delicious breakfast and chatted with Grandfather a little more.  As he sat there eating gummy worms, he asked his grandson, “Are they leaving for good good?”  Its official, we are always welcome at that house and I hope we can make it back to visit sometime.  Then it was time for us to head to Blantyre.

 Up until this point, most of the trip I had spent sitting in the front of the trip, but for the ride back I decided to sit in the bed of the truck, so I would have an even better view of Malawi’s scenery.  Two of Roy’s workers were coming along to help Roy with some work in Blantyre so they were sitting in the back with us. Tania and I continued our Chechewa lessons with them.  That day they were extremely chatty and full of helpful phrases for us to learn in Chechewa.

 Roy took us to get us a chapa back to the border town Chiponde, not before meeting his stepfather to complete the family meetings.  We agreed on 3000 kwacha from Blantyre to Chiponde and got in for the trip. 

Our lodging for the evening... and yes it says free bleakfast...

                When we reached the cross-roads town, Mangochi, the driver said he wasn’t going any further and dropped us off at pick-up truck he said would take us to Chiponde.  By this point it was dark out and we weren’t sure if we really wanted to continue or not, we knew we would either end up staying in Mangochi or in Chiponde and leaving tomorrow morning for Cuamba either way, we just weren’t sure where we would end up staying.  The driver then demanded that we pay the 3000 Kw.  We said we had agreed on that price all the way to Chiponde.  He said we didn’t agree on it with him and it is 3000 to Mangochi.  We got in another argument and ended up talking with the police again.  This time, they sided with the driver.  We finally agreed to pay 3000 if the driver would take us to somewhere safe to stay.  The police said he knew this guy and he would drive us to a several different places, until we found one that had space, one that we liked and that was a decent price.  We said ok, and crossed the bridge back into Mangochi, went to the first place, which was full and then to the second place which had rooms ranging from 1500-3000 kwacha.  We said that would work and paid the driver went in to the hostel to decide which room we wanted. 

Enjoying our dinner in our luxury room

         We ended up staying in the cheapest one for 1500, (or 500 kwacha each).   If you do the math for each of us that is about 41 metical, or approximately $1.39.  For this price we got a room with a twin bed, a mosquito net, a flushing toilet, a bucket of water, a broken fan, and energy.  This is a lot for all that and more than I’ve ever seen for so cheap in Mozambique.  By this point, we may have been a little delirious, but we found the fact that we were paying less than $1.50 for this room hilarious. 

We had our dinner of bread and peanut butter on the bed while recounting all the stories from our trip and once again asking the question of our travels, “What is happening on this trip and where are we?”. 

Green everywhere! (Day 4 of our adventure in Malawi)

 The next day we woke up and met Grandfather.  He is this cute, old, half Indian half Malawian man who welcomed us into his family and home.  He kept saying to each of us, “Most welcome, Madam, your most welcome”.  We chatted with him, took some bucket baths, they insisted that we give our dirty clothes to their workers to wash while we were on our next adventure of the day, so we complied and finally had some delicious breakfast.   Roy came in and started the day with his usual sentence, “Today we are going to… o so what do you want to do today?”  By this point we had surrendered all control of the trip to him and returned the same questions, “so, what are we going to do?”  He informed us that we were going to go up the other side of the mountain to where there were tea fields and a beautiful dam that the tea plantations use for hydroelectricity. 

We set out on the drive, and this might be one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever taken. 

Tea fields and Mountains

The road we were driving on.... best views ever

More tea

Best color of green... am I right

Tea everywhere we looked

The Three of us at the dam

We were surrounded by tea fields on every side, and for those of you, who have never seen tea fields, they are the most beautiful color of green ever and to top it off, it was surrounded by mountains, too.  Then we started to drive up the mountains and the view continued to be of more mountains, tea, and beautiful trees.  We arrived at the part where we could no longer drive and then continued on a 45-minute hike up to the dam.  We sat at the dam for a while and then walked a little further up to another little pond.  Again I think I could have sat there for days.

By the dam

The Hike up

                We finally got back to Grandfather’s house and he scolded us because it was around 3pm and it had been 6 hours since we had last eaten.  We did not go hungry by any means at any point of this trip.  When we returned the cook had prepared us a traditional Malawian meal, which was very similar to Mozambican food.  Nsima (xima), Chinese cabbage (basically the same thing as couve), pumpkin leaves, and chicken for us.  Once again, it was delicious.  We sat around talking and it was prayer time for the grandfather, the family is Muslim.  I am not a religious person but I love learning about religions and watching religious traditions so this was very interestings for me.  We got to watch him as he did the ceremonious ritual of washing before he went to the other room to do his prayers (he washed his hands, feet, and head a special way).  We could also hear him doing his prayers and even though I could not understand him at all, it was a very beautiful sound to hear the kind of song like prayers he we doing. 

At that point, Roy suggested we go walk around to see more of Malonje but the three of us were exhausted so he told us to take a nap and he was going to go to his plot of land to do a little work.  So we laid down on the couches and took a nap until we were woken up by some of his family members who lived there (there were probably about eight or so people living there) and we played some cards with the little kids until he returned.  We then left to go get a small dinner and some drinks, had some debates and then decided we were all still exhausted and returned home to get a good night’s sleep.  

Bricks and Mountains

Tania and I before getting in the truck on this great adventure!

The next day we all got up and headed to Malonje, not before getting some delicious donuts on our way out of town.  The drive took about 45 minutes to reach the edge of Malonje and we went straight to Roy’s plot of land.  Let me just say from the start, from the moment we got to Malonje, I agree with Roy, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  His plot of land is at the base of a mountain and it is so green and just breathe taking. 

We all piled out of the truck and then were shown the bricks and he told us what he was planning for the land and then we got to work.  Even as we were breaking up the dirt and pouring the water in to start to make the mud, he doubted us.  Then we took off our shoes and started stomping around in the mud to make the correct consistency for the bricks (think wet cement consistency). 

Roy's view.... not bad huh!

I think I was falling... but I could have been trying to push her into the mud too!

Making Mud!

Then one of Roy’s workers showed us how to pack the molds and how to flip it over.  We each took turns doing this task and then we tried to figure out a way to be efficient about it.  Tania and Sam packed the molds, I took them and flipped them over and washed them out again while they were packing the other ones.  I was also in charge of digging more dirt to make more mud. 

Working hard.

While we were doing all this, Roy still didn’t think we would finish 300 bricks, but that just made us want to do it more.  After about 2 hours of work, we had made 300 bricks.  Not all were perfect but everyone who was around was very impressed by the quality of our bricks and said most of them would be used. 

Us and the Kids we were entertaining by working.

Some of the better bricks that we put our initials on

The view on our hike

                Next, we all piled into the truck again and he took us on a tour of Malonje.  It is a smaller town but still has quite a bit, it has a golf club (what??? It’s been so long since I’ve seen a golf course) and some fancy hotels, we ate at one of them, and his family seems to be about half the population of the town.  As we were driving, he would point out to me, “this is where my uncle lives and my aunt lives here.  My cousins live in those three houses there”… and so on.  After eating, we drove part way up the mountain on one side to go to some natural pools where the local people often swim.  We would have gone swimming but it was so cold, although Tania did fall in while we were walking across a part that was very shallow.  We sat there for a while and then headed further up the mountain to see the waterfall.  We were able to drive a little further up and then parked the car and had about a 30-minute hike up the mountain.  This place was absolutely beautiful, I think I could have sat there for days and just relaxed.

The waterfall

Walking back down the mountain

  

Our Walk down while the sunset

The pools at sunset

              We headed back down the mountain back to the pools and watched as the sun set.  Absolutely amazing!  On our way down, we stopped to buy some things made from Malonje cedar.  I got a nice little keepsake box, which smells AMAZING, and termites apparently won’t go near the stuff.  I think I could live in a house made of this stuff; it is so soothing and just makes me relax.  We grabbed some dinner and then he took us to one of the bars in town for a few more drinks.  We had decided that it was too late to head back to Blantyre and we ended up staying at his grandfather’s house.  But before we went home we were at the bar and we met some of his friends.  One man, Riaz, we were talking to about Mozambique.  His ex-wife is Mozambican and turns out, he knew some people in Cuamba that he wants to introduce us too someday.  He also owns a bunch of land in Malawi and from what I got, somewhere he is opening up a game reserve, or something along those lines.  So during our conversation he started to ask us a question, then stopped and said, “Wait are you two democrats or republicans?  Cause if you are democratic I’m not going to even bother asking you this next question.”  Tania’s and my response was the same… just ask, we won’t be offended.  He ended up saying that if we came to visit his game reserve thing we could shoot guns, we looked at each other and were like… “OK!”
          Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go this trip but we got his email and are in the works of planning another trip to shoot some guns with this guy, although I made it very clear, I didn’t want to shoot any animals, just targets with all sorts of different guns that he has.  After watching the last few minutes of the USA vs. Portugal game of the world cup, we headed back to Roy’s grandfather’s house to finally go to bed.

Wedding Parade and Wedding Crashers (Malawi Day 2)

Pizza and Coffee.... YUM!

Day two of our adventure started with us waking up and taking advantage of the hot showers.   Let’s just say that when a peace corps volunteer has the option of a warm shower, we are going to take as many long showers as we can.  We got ready and then headed out to explore Blantyre.  We found a place to get breakfast but when we looked at the menu, we saw pizza so we ordered two to split and figured by the time they were ready it would be 11 and an appropriate time to have pizza. 

Malawian President and his new bride

While we were eating, Roy called to see what our plans were and we told him we were eating and then we wanted to go see a movie at the theatre we had heard about and that we had decided to take him up on his tour of Malanje.  He told us to call him in the afternoon after we saw the movie and he would come get us.  We finished eating then decided to walk around a little and try to figure out where the mall/theatre were.  Everyone was just standing along the road waiting and we noticed a lot of police lining the road.  We stopped and asked someone what was happening.  Turns out the new President of Malawi and just gotten married and he and his new wife were driving around the city and were on their way by.  Added bonus of the trip, seeing the Malawian President and all his wedding guests and new wife parading down the street in their vehicles with their security.   We continued to walk around for a little bit and then decided it was getting late and we would call Roy to see if he still wanted to come get us.  He said he was on his way and would be at our hostel in about 45 minutes, so we decided to go back and take a short nap. 

Roy, Tania and I at the haunted bar

                When we woke up, he still wasn’t there, so we asked the people at the Hostel where the mall was and they informed us that the theatre was closed and then gave us directions.  We started to walk there and Roy drove by and picked us up.  We said we never made it to the mall and didn’t see a movie, so he insisted that he take us there, and he dropped us off to shop for about an hour while he went to visit his mother who lives in Blantyre.  We went to a bookstore, Shoprite (a large grocery store) and a Game (Think Walmart type store).  Hello culture shock… I was very overwhelmed with everything around me.  After that, we got some coffee and a quick snack while we waited for Roy to return for us.  When he did, we decided it was too late to go to Malonje and see the mountains because it would be dark by the time we got there, so the four of us decided to go out and get a drink and see more of Blantyre. 

Wedding reception

                He ended up taking us to a residential area where there is an old house that no one lives in now because people say it is haunted.  So instead of tearing it down or having a continuous flow of people living there and moving out, they turned it into a bar.  It was a beautiful old house and an even cooler bar.  We had a few beers, watched some football (soccer), and made a few plans for tomorrow for him to drive us to Malonje, to see his plot of land and the mountains.  He informed us that they were making bricks (out of mud) for the wall around his land and it had been raining a lot.  His guard didn’t cover them in time so he lost about 800 bricks, we decided that we would offer to help him make some more since he had been driving us around and showing us Malawi.  We promised to make 100 bricks each for 300 bricks total… let’s just say he didn’t believe us.  While we were sitting there, he mentioned that his mother was at a wedding reception of some family friends and when we asked why he wasn’t there he said because he was with us.  He then asked if we would want to go and of course we said, YES!!  So he called a few friends to make sure it’d be ok if we came, especially considering we weren’t dressed for a fancy wedding and when we got the ok, off we went to crash a Malawian-Greek Orthodox wedding reception.   This reception was in the middle of a park with several beautiful white tents set up to create a great reception area.  We got there, met some of Roy’s friends and family, and then all of a sudden Tania and I see some of the Greek guys from the night before. 

Note my clothes and note the other guests... hello underdressed :)

Both groups of people look at each other and are like, “What are you doing here?”, granted they were dressed up like they were supposed to be there and we, well we were in jeans and t-shirts, so I think it was a little stranger for us to be there.  We spent the night dancing and making many new friends, what a random and small world it is.  I guess now I can cross crash a wedding off my things to do in life.

The Plan and Day 1 (Malawi Trip, Part 1)

After the end of the first semester at the IFP, the school has a two-week break.  Sam and I decided it was time to take a trip and get out of Cuamba.  We had originally planned to travel through Malawi and then through the central region of Mozambique but due to time, we decided just to stick with Malawi.  Our friend Tania, who is also at an IFP, had the same break and we ended up meeting up with her in Malawi too, so there was the added bonus of seeing one of my best friends from training… my good old vizinha (neighbor) from Namaacha. Once we decided just to stick to Malawi, we made a plan to head to Blantyre to meet up with Tania, get some food, and see a movie (the only movie theatre remotely close by).  Next, we would head back the way we came to Zomba, where we heard it was beautiful and they have a gorgeous plateau we could go to the top of and then we would spend two days in Liwonde at a Safari camp seeing some animals.  Our trip ended up completely different and I think we only did about two or three of the previously mentioned things.  Most of you reading this probably know that I am not much of a planner and this trip fit my personality completely. Because so much happened, I’m going to split the posts up so you are not overwhelmed with information and awesomeness. So let’s get started at the beginning…

Sam and I left Cuamba on Friday, June 20.  We got to the chapa paragem around 5:15 and were the first ones in the chapa so we got the front seat!  Let me just explain to you that for someone with long legs this is probably the best thing that can happen other than getting a ride in a personal car where there are small amounts of people in it.  We left around 6:30 am after the chapa was nice and full of people and had a very comfortable (at least for me) ride to Mandimba the border town in Mozambique.  We met a friend of our colleague who helped us exchange money at a reasonable rate and arranged a bike boleia to take us from the town to the border and then from the border to Chiponde, the border town on the Malawi side.  From where we were dropped off in Mandimba to the town of Chiponde is just across the border but it is still about 15k and too far to walk, so we needed a ride.  It was very strange sitting on the back of a bike while we were going up and down hills the whole way.  Let me just say, this guy had some serious leg muscles to be able to manage that.  We got our passports stamped on the Mozambican side, not before we were asked several times if we would be coming back to Mozambique.  The border patrol guy kept telling us that we couldn’t find a namarar (boyfriend) in Malawi and fugir (flee) and never return to Mozambique or the US government and the Peace Corps in Maputo would be calling him and asking where we were.  After assuring him that we promised to come back, he stamped our passports and wished us a good trip.  We continued the bike boleia to the Malawi side, got our passports stamped and negotiated a price for a chapa to a crossroads town called Mangochi. 

               

This chapa was a little different from the ones we were used to in Mozambique, it was basically your typical minivan.  Cushy seats, lots of room, windows that opened and music.  Although they did continue to cram people in the back on the floor in the front and four people to a seat, it was still one of the most comfortable rides I’ve ever had since being in this region.  We switched over to another larger chapa and arranged to pay 2800 kwacha to take us the rest of the way to Blantyre.  We arrived in just outside of Blantyre at about 5pm and asked the driver where our hostel was and if we could walk to it.  He said we couldn’t walk but they could take us for 150 kwacha so we agreed and got back in the chapa.  We took a bunch of roads (that felt like it was out of the way), picked up another full chapa of people to drop off and then they got out and as we got close to where we were staying, they asked us to pay.  So we handed them the 150 each and he said no, we agreed on 1500 kwacha, and we had a big argument with them about how we had not agreed on that and that was a ridiculous price.  The normal price for in town chapas in 150 and that is what everyone else paid so that is what we would pay.  Their response was, then let’s go talk to the police, and we responded, ok let’s go.  We found a police officer that was on the street, Sam and the one man got out to talk with them, and I stayed in the car with our stuff and the driver.  What I saw was the man talking to the police, then Sam, then the police officer scolding the worker, so I felt pretty confident that it would turn out ok for us.  When they returned the police officer was with them and rode with us to the hostel.  Sam and I were a little frustrated with the last part of our trip; we were tired from the full day of traveling and just wanted some food and a drink.

When we got to our room, Tania had just arrived about 10 minutes before us and we decided to get some food at the hostel and get some drinks there too.  We had some delicious food, a hamburger, a chicken club wrap, nachos, and lasagna, and ate it family style, (i.e. we each ordered something and split it three ways).

We then decided to continue catching up at the bar of the hostel and got a few more drinks.  We ended up meeting a Malawian/British man named Roy and his cousin, Foxy.  Turns out Roy had gone to University in the Indiana and Alabama for about five years total and then got his masters in Britain and has lived there for about the last ten years.  He was just back visiting his family and doing a little work on a plot of land he owns.  We talked to these guys and they were teaching us, mainly Tania, Chechewa (the local language of Malawi and some parts of Mozambique.  The area Tania lives in, this is the main local language).  Sam was exhausted from our day of travel and went to bed and Tania and I stayed and talked with them for a little longer.  We told them our plans to go to Zomba, because we heard it was beautiful and they said it was but they said their hometown was much prettier and we had to go visit.  They kept assuring us that it was not only because they were from there, it was really one of the best places in Malawi.  Roy offered to come back and get us, take us around Malonje (his hometown), and then bring us back to Blantyre the same day.  We said we had to talk to Sam and think about it but got his number and said we would talk to him tomorrow.  They eventually left and we stayed and continued to catch up.  Eventually, when we were heading to our room, there was one other table left full of people and they called us over.  We had another few drinks with them and found out that the four guys were from Greece, one of the girls was Turkish, and the other girl was British.  Tania and I eventually went to bed around 3am.  That was the end of Day 1 of our trip.

Reunited

The road to Montepuez

After the end of the trimester at the Secondary school, it was time for our first official conference for Peace Corps since being at site.  Most groups have this conference after three months at site but we had it after five.  The reason it was changed for our group was because of the last elections the school schedules were pushed back a few weeks and so we had to wait until the first break at the secondary schools.  Sam and I still had classes at the IFP but we were able to leave work for our students and to head to Nampula for this conference.  We decided it was time for a little trip before this conference too and because of the train schedule, we had to go a little early anyway.  So we took the train to Nampula, stayed one night there then caught a bus to the province of Cabo Delgado.  Once there, we took a nice cushy chapa to Montepuez to see our first 21ers (my group of volunteers) since Christmas, and stay at a fellow Iowan’s home.  We hung out at Jeanette’s house and explored Montepuez for a few days, and more volunteers ended up coming to visit too on their way to Nampula, in the end there were eight of us traveling from Montepuez to the conference. It was great to see some of our group.  It’s so strange, we spend 10 weeks together getting to know each other and being extremely close during training and then they split us up and send us all over the country to our new homes, and for Sam and I, we are the only ones in Niassa and it is very hard to get anywhere and see people. 

Role playing some reading techniques

                Our group traveling from Montepuez was the first group to reach Nampula and the hotel.  We all went to our rooms and took advantage of the hot showers.  Then we went to get some food and more people started to show up throughout the day.  It was so great to see everyone from the North again.  I honestly forgot how much fun all these people are since we never see each other.  Our conference started the next day and we had sessions all day about what we had been doing at site over the past 5 months, troubles and successes, integration, teaching practices, and a little about secondary projects.  I wasn’t expecting to get a lot out of this conference, in all honesty, but it actually was great.  I got some good ideas for my classes as well as heard about some great projects some people are working on.  It was also great to hear that we all are going through the same sort of difficulties and talk about how we are dealing with them.  Usually we all put on a happy face when talking about site, but we were able to share our doubts and problems and see that we may not be the only ones going through these things, everyone is. 

Sam's picture of the bridge over to the Island

                After the conference, there was a gathering of many of the northern volunteers at Ilha de Moçambique. Our entire group got a chapa to Ilha and made the short trip from Nampula where we met many of the other volunteers spread throughout the northern region.  It’s always great to meet new

Most of the Northern 21ers at Ilha de Mozambique

volunteers and hang out.  One day a few of us went over to the island and took a tour of the old fort on the island.  It was beautiful and I will definitely have to make it back someday and explore the island a little more, when I have some more time.

At  Fort São Sebastião

 Fort São Sebastião

 Fort São Sebastião

 Fort São Sebastião

 Fort São Sebastião

 Fort São Sebastião

 Inside Fort São Sebastião

Me outside of  Fort São Sebastião

After that, we got a ride back to Nampula with a friend in his rented chapa, so we had plenty of room because there were only seven people in the entire chapa instead of the usual 17, and then I caught the train back to my home sweet home, Cuamba.