This was the first week of school and i was up at Mozambique Island. It was beautiful there! We have a conference in Maputo next week, Monday. Then i will finally return to Mabalane and get back into the groove of my simple mato, rural, life. I have been wondering around the northern parts of Mozambique since the end of the year.
It's a different world up here, there are mountains and it's more like a jungle. Up north is beautiful but traveling is so difficult. The roads and transportation is crazy. Traveling one hundred miles could be a three to twelve hour journey. I cant complain anymore about the road to Mabalane, i'd have been happy to take that route up here.
At first i was not too impressed with the north. But it has grown on me. Gurue was my favorite place. It is a beautiful clean town. With rolling hills full of tea farms and two big mountains. I camped out at the top of this waterfall. It was so awesome, i wanted to stay longer but i already made plans to go to Malawi with my friends Drew and Audi. We stayed in this cabin on the Malawi side of Lake Malawi, also very beautiful. There was a hippo camped out in the lake about a football field away from our cabin. Pemba and Ibo Island were nothing special, nothing compared to the beaches in Inhambane. But Mozambique Island can compete with any beach i've been too. There is that old Portuguese town feel, with Mozambique huts and houses, sandy beaches, clear water, and not that expensive. It's a dream island for a poor Peace Corps volunteer. There also is this fort that looks like an old castle with the cannons all along the tops of the walls. I even swam in this tank (it's an underground cement dome) that collects all the rain water runoff from the roofs, but don't tell anyone i'm pretty sure i wasn't supposed to. I made my friend Jama's site in Cuamba my home base for a week or so. I was able to chill, read, wash my laundry, and decide my next moves. I left Cuamba for good on train to Nampula to go to Ilha de Mozambique. The train is famous for the great views along the way and the locals running along the train trying to sell you food. Those were the highlights with a couple random stays with random Mozambicans and many long exhausting travel days along the way. Luckily Mozambicans are extremely friendly.
No camera or photos, only the ones people tag me in on Facebook. But it's like what Alex Supertramp said, it's about the experiences not the photos. And my trip was full of wonderful experiences. So you all should be happy that i'm still living the dream here in Mozambique.
Mom thanks again for the help buying my ticket. We were on the phone over an hour and i was getting frustrated with my mom reading every single link and i had no clue what she was looking at, haha. Then i told my friend, "my mom is driving me crazy". But i didn't cover the phone very well and i hear my mom yelling, "you're driving me crazy too". It was pretty funny.
I left Ilha de Mozambique earlier than expected yesterday because the volunteer i was staying with was evacuated due to cyclone warnings . We scored a sweet ride hitch hiking, which was a pleasant suprise. Half way through the driver starts drilling us with these questions about why America does all these shady things overseas. He knew we didn't have the answers but he was having a lot of fun asking us. But him and his family were very friendly.
I wrote this on my phone about three weeks ago: I'm traveling towards Nampula to go to Ilha de Moçambique (ended up going to Pemba). Forrest and i are in the back of a truck. We just stopped to pick up this little girl, who is maybe seven or eight, her mother talked to the driver and then just tossed her in back of the truck with us, five random men. Something we would never see in the US. That is a big difference here from back home. I don't know why parents are so afraid of people stealing there children. I'm reading this book which had an interesting idea about why tribes don't have crimes and all these problems our civilizations do. But here it is very common to see a five year old watching a three and two year old for hours. Children have so much more freedom and responsibility. In Vilinculus these three little girls were swimming and they came over to hung out with Forrest and i while we were floating down the current as the tide dropped. There is no concept of don't play with or talk to strangers. Mozambican kids are so cool, easy going, and fun.
Peace, love, and do good things
Jimmy
