It's 2011! Another year has come and gone- passed in a blink of an eye. From being a senior at LMU, graduating in May, then moving to Swaziland in June- life has been moving with the speed of a bullet but thankfully, has finally started slowing down. I couldn't have asked for a better 1st Christmas away from home. I've never spent a Christmas away from the ocean (with some of the most memorable Christmas mornings on a dawn patrol surfing with my dad and close friends) and so now was not the time to end the tradition. 3 friends and I went to Mozambique for a week. We left for Maputo on December 22 and met up with a friend, a local of Mozambique. While hostels are always fun, there is truly nothing like staying with native of the land. It gives you a whole other perspective and adventure. She too us to a fantastic seafood restaurant and acted as our tour guide of the city. Though we were all ready to be in bed by 8pm, our new friends were eager to show us a good time. It was here that I fell head over heels for Mozambique. This country combines everything I love so much from around the world: The Portuguese influence, European architecture, African tradition, Latin/Spanish dancing, Portuguese language (Spanish acceptable), Reggae music, and an Island way of life. The rest of the week was spent in Tofo, on the beach soaking up the sun. I was determined to see a whale shark which I unfortunately didn't, but I went on a dive and saw a Manta Ray "cleaning station". It was incredible. Manta Rays were on the reefs being cleaned (or so I was told). They looked peaceful just hanging out on the ocean floor. The other highlight Was our own personal chef. We met a guy who was a chef at a 5 star restaurant in Cape Town. He was sick of the demands of his job, visited Tofo on vacation and never left. We loved his cooking so much that we returned on Christmas day and convinced him to take us to the fish market. There we watched as he scolded the fishermen for catching cray fish/lobster that were either pregnant or undersized (still young)- which goes against laws set forth in America which ensures the species survival- and sadly the fishermen didn't care as they could easily find another buyer. Then we watched as he spent 20 minutes arguing for a fish, saying "when you were 2 I've been a chef for 20 years!" We lost the fish-but we had prawns, calamari, crayfish, and much more. It was heavenly. We left Tofo on December 27th and headed back to Maputo. This is where we experienced big city African transportation at it's finest. As soon as the chapas (vans-what Swazis call khumbis) came, people sprinted towards them. I got caught in the mad dash and was physically being moved without actually moving. My friends weren't going to make it on and so I fought hard to get out of the crowd. We saw another chapa coming and so we sprinted to it. As we got on a man tried to sit down on a seat but the conductor said no and squeezed 4 more people into that spot. Let me explain that they fit as many people as possible. There'd be butts hanging out the windows (sometimes 2 butts out of 1) and if there's too many people the doors remain open and the people hang onto the outside of the vehicle. There is no such thing as a comfortable ride in Africa, but at least in Swaziland there is a "maximum capacity". I LOVE YOU Swaz for that. It was during the 1st rat race that my phone was stolen. As much as that sucked I am so thankful it wasn't my wallet, passport, or ipod all of which would be significantly harder to replace. When we returned to Swaz, we weren't ready to give up our vacation and so we hung out at a hotel and swam in their pool, then stayed with some amazing volunteers. I returned to site for 2 days then left to celebrate New Years Eve in the capital city! While everyone had goals for finding a midnight kiss, my goal was simple: to NOT fall asleep before 10pm. I failed. New Years Eve was fun but traveling from my site is exhausting in and of itself. That morning I had waited 2 hours for transport, finally got a khumbi as trucks weren't running because cops were out, then the khumbi got stuck in mud. We got out and hiked through the mud and waited for something else to come. Aother khumbi came, then dropped us off and called a cattle truck. The cattle truck took us to town where it too 2 more khumbis to reach my final destination. Life is rural Africa never dull. On January 1st before heading back to site we got to see the movie Life As We Know It, because Swaziland now has a movie theatre!!! whoohoo!
All in all it was a fabulous vacation. It made me realize that placing an Island Girl in the middle of Africa- with no water sources near by- was a bad decision. I desperately wish I was placed in Mozambique but since that won't change I can say without doubt that I will return, for the culture, the people, and the ocean. I've also realized that I need the ocean so trips every 4-6 months NEEDS to happen. This is going to be a long and challenging 2 years. 6 months down, 20 more to go!!
