Disclaimer:

The contents of this blog are completely mine and do not reflect any position of the Peace Corps or the U.S. government.



Monday, October 31, 2011

The adventure to, and first days of Reconnect In-Service-Training

So Saturday morning, groggy and dirty because my water had gone out, Zach and I headed to the boat to start our hitch hiking adventure to Maputo for our "Reconnect" conference.  Our first chance to see our fellow Moz 16'rs and get some training and inspiration for the next phase of our service.  I cannot believe that it's been 5 months in country already!

We left pretty late, we were on the boat at 11am and I'm not sure exactly what we were thinking.  But when we got into Maxixe we hoofed it out of town with our giant backpacks, dripping sweat, and caught our first ride in the back of a pick up truck to the junction about 30km away.  We hoofed it past the junction and sat on the side of the road for awhile, eating coconut and trying to catch a ride.  The first car that actually stopped was going the wrong direction, so their good samaritan act saved them a long drive down the wrong road, but left us still out in the sun.  Finally, a south african woman who runs the Zavora lodge, offered us a ride to the Zavora junction and shoved our bags in the back of her tiny car with a bunch of gas tanks and we squeezed into the back seat with her colleague.  Another 50km later, we once again found ourselves on the side of the road and Zach yo-yo'd while I tried to catch us another ride.  About 45 minutes later, another decrepid pick-up truck stopped, driven by an older Mozambican from Sofala with a young woman in the back seat.  We hopped in and he took us another 50km or so, dropping us somewhere past Inharrime.  Almost immediately a big truck stopped with a few Mozambicans in the back and we quickly learned that they were headed all the way to Maputo so we happily climbed in, although I know that Zach was really hoping for a nice comfy SUV.  Luckily the pick up had a mattress in the back and pretty quickly two of the men got out so we got comfy and settled in for a long ride.  A couple hours later, somewhere outside of Xai Xai (shy shy) we unexpectedly pulled off the road and were told that we were dropping off the kid that was in the back with us and then proceeded to drive back up on a bumpy dirt road, knocking  branches off of trees and flicking off the giant ants that fell onto us from above.  We arrived in a small compound where we unloaded a bunch of stuff, young boy included, chatted with the locals and then loaded up a giant bag of mandioca. 30 minutes later we were on our way again.  Once we got into Xai Xai, we once again pulled off the road back into the campo where we stopped and unloaded the Mandioca and our gracious drivers ate some dinner.  On the way out, we scraped a truck and the owner had to be fetched to move the vehicle (no one mentioned the minor fender bender in that process).  Then, finally, we were on our way once again.  Coming out of Xai Xai it was starting to get dark and we were still hours from Maputo, but there was a sliver of a moon and a cool breeze over the Limpopo river valley and a gorgeous red African sunset.  We continued for hours, and at some point I finally just laid down on my back and watched the stars come out, which was gorgeous.  Another hour or so later, it got very cold and both Zach and I curled up into little balls shivering and hoping that we would get there soon.  I tried very hard just to enjoy the sensation of being cold, as I've barely had a moment where I wasn't sweating for the past few weeks, but I must admit, it was a little miserable.  Hours later, we came upon the stadium outside of Maputo, where it just so happened that at that moment all the traffic from a game was getting out, so we found ourselves in the back of a pick up truck, miles outside of Maputo in bumper to bumper traffic surrounded by drunk Mozambicans yelling "MULUNGU!!!! MULUNGU!!!" and laughing and pointing and taunting us.  Another hour or so later, at which point it was around 10pm, we finally came into the city and were looking forward to being dropped at junta (the transportation hub) to find a taxi to city center, where we still had to find a hotel.  At this point, we were both greasy and sweaty and dirty and exhausted and cranky.  When the truck finally stopped, we were nowhere near junta, and instead were on an isolated stretch of road with our hosts instructing us to catch a chapa.  This we just could not do. It was late, people were drunk, we had laptops and cameras and giant backpacks and so we practically begged our hosts to let us pay them to take us into town.  They reluctantly agreed, and took us to VIP Suites, and extremely high end hotel in a dark, deserted neighborhood where we couldn't afford to stay.  We finally convinced them to take us to a main road, and they agreed to drop us at another hotel.  A few minutes later, we pulled up to the Hotel Santa Cruz, where we profusely thanked our new friends, unloaded our bags and went inside to find out that we could get a room for 1,000 mets a night (about $30).  We went to look at a room and spent 10 or so minutes trapped in an elevator that only stopped between the floors, which only escalated (or elevated??  huh?  huh?) our crankiness.  The room was fine, a tiny room with two twin beds 6 flights up with a shared bathroom where a man was taking a bath in the shared bathroom with the door open.  We decided to stay rather than go somewhere else, and went down to the desk to pay.  The clerks were insanely condescending, customer service here is not a common value, but we finally got our key after successfully restraining the desire to punch someone.  Zach found pizza and cake and I peed for the first time in almost 12 hours and then we showered and settled in for sleep after a very very very long day.

In the course of the night, we had a drunken Mozambican yelling outside our door and then Zach got a phone call from the states.  But at least we woke up knowing that we didn't have to travel and had the whole day in Maputo to rest and relax.  After a hike across town with our packs, we checked into our hotel, a much improved, fancy, touristy affair, in the early afternoon and our colleagues started to trickle in.

I can't explain the joy of seeing all these familiar yet long lost faces again!  It's amazing that three months (almost) have passed so quickly and it was surreal to sit out and chat and laugh and catch up and get hugs from very missed friends.  It feels like just yesterday that we were in Kaya Kwanga during staging, wide eyed and nervous and excited, mostly strangers.  It also feels like yesterday that we were in the middle of training, sitting at Morgan's Bar, drinking 2M (doiysh eme) and complaining about the rigorous pace of training and language challenges and host families.  And finally, it feels like yesterday that we were at Hotel Girassol at the end of supervisors conference,  all saying goodbye with tears in our eyes and disbelief and excitement to discover our new communities, jobs and lives all over this big country.

I'm still astounded by the fact that out of the 29 people, I just adore and enjoy almost every single one of them and none of us seem to be able to wipe the smiles off of our faces to be reunited. I'm rooming with Tiffanie for the week, one of my favorite Moz 16'rs, and even though we were exhausted and it was late, we stayed up for a long time laughing and chatting and gossiping and catching up.  When we finally turned out the light, almost instantly a giant thunder and lightning storm started and as soon as that died down, an allergy attack hit and once I finally fell asleep I was plagued by nightmares all night long.  But the lack of sleep didn't affect my enthusiasm or excitement to be here.

Today, we had a delicious breakfast, the joy of what would be a mediocre buffet in the states after months without meat or cheese is indescribable.  Afterwards, we spent the whole day (broken by a lunch where there were cheese cubes.  Giant cheese cubes.  I can't explain the joy!) doing 10 minute presentations about our first months at site, so I got to learn all about what everyone has been up to. Now, I'm waiting for dinner, and for everyone to return from a party and very much looking forward to my week here in Maputo.

That's the news, boa noite todos e ate ja!

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