Your focus determines your reality

Last Sunday: Trying to hitch a ride out of Tete city with my friend Patricia. Patricia is on the road trying to flag down a car and im hiding off the side of the road...

We just recieved a short ride but we still have about five or six hours of traveling back to Chimio. Tomorrow im going to head out to climb the highest mountain in Mozambique. It is a day hike to the base of the mountain than a day hike up and down. So ill be off the grid for three days...

Ok so my travel days are my new designated blog writting time. Enjoy the random updates. Just scored our last and very comfy ride. We had been chillin with some local kids the last hour or so. We were jammin and playing in the tree. This ride now makes it well worth the wait.

Last night we stayed at a volunteers house in Tete and went dancing at this club. It was a private party and this eighteen year old kid got us in. It was ok. One of my friends was so drunk, she reminded me of my cousin Amanda. Haha, she was elbowing guys on the dance floor and just out of control. It reminded me of being back home. Waiting for all my drunk friends so we could go home.

Before going to Arielle's site in Tete we hiked up to these rock paintings outside of Chimoio. It was a nice easy hike. There is this "old witch" that you are suppose to pay before going. People here believe in voodoo, ghost, and stuff like that. Even the people that are well educated. Some locals told us if we didn't stop and pay her she would put a curse on us and change our sex. So we snuck by her. On the way down we intended to stop and pay because we figured she would probably use the money in the community and not on drugs and booze. But we didn't cross her path on the way down and we needed to get back before dark. So we pulled a fast one on the old witch.

TODAY: Random highlights over the past few days. Our chapa broke down going to Tete. So we hitched a ride. Our ride was so awesome. It was comfy, fast, they bought us lunch, and even went out of their way and took us all the way to Arielle's house because it was getting dark. I was hanging out with a fun group of girls all week before hitting the mountains. They remind me of all my crazy cousins in Cali. Seen some hippos in a river. Seen this crazy homemade electric guitar and amp. Played TI's "Whateve you like" for a crowd of people in Tete. Ate Mexican food twice.

The last three days i was hiking in the Chimanimani mountain range. It was just what i needed. It had been too long since i had been hiking up and down through the mountains. I went up to Mt Binga, its the highest point in Mozambique. I met a Canadian, Phillip, on my way to the park. That worked out great because he had a two man tent and i had nothing to provide shelter. Phillip has been traveling Asia and Africa for almost a year. He was an interesting person to hike with. I carried his pack about half the time to earn my stay in his "home". Today was a long day, still traveling in a truck. Yesterday was a very strenuos day of hiking. So im due for some rest. Hopefully this weekend on the beach i'll catch up. There are probably some cool things i missed but im tired and it is hard to see because this truck and road are really bumpy. Peace love and do good things

Jimmy