Eyes Wide Open...

I spent the past two days writing, re-writing and deliberating on what kind of blog to post this time... the material was un-worthy of posting, and I was having incredible writer's block... I decided I wouldn't post until we got to Dar Es Salaam in a couple of days, but this morning when I was sitting quietly listening to Lukas' ipod I started writing... of which may sound a little cliche, but I'm going to post it anyway.

'I have fallen in love many times in Africa - with the countries, the communities, the people, the animals, and its landscapes. I walk softly on the red dirt, and let it cover my feet - the soft glow of the pre-dusk sun glows upon my skin, and I smile because of the beauty that surrounds me in this moment, and many just like it.

Beauty in Africa can not be defined by a pretty girl in a magazine. Beauty is in the simplicity of life, the people one meets, the smiles one receives, the dreams and hopes of communities, and the love that is widely spread across the Continent.

A passion in me has been ignited, this passion is Africa... and to describe it is impossible. I feel happiness in the simple things in which I have never known... I smile often, and laugh more. I will share a few moments/descriptions with you:

- A local old man with a beautifully carved walking stick, and beautiful blue eyes stops me in the street and talks to me with so much enthusiasm I feel honoured... he talks of the World, Malawi, and the pride for his father who went to war.

- The voices of youths in the church singing and dancing

- The face of a child lighting up when you share some of your food with them.

- Brutal honesty from people as they share their stories with you

- The laughter you share with someone, even when neither of you can understand each others words

I am so grateful for the oppurtunity I have been given to travel through parts of Africa, and the people I've had the imense pleasure of meeting. I can't help thinking I wish I had come to Africa a few years ago... perhaps my eyes would have been opened sooner to the more important things in life. '

A picture tells a thousand words...

Traveling to Cape McClear on local transport... Bart, Amilia, Lucas and I

Leonie and Tim - was great to catch up again!!

Tim trying his hand in a local dug-out canoe... very hard!

Local tailors that set themselves up in the street - Blantyre

Hash House Harriers Run with Sam and Rick

Ilala Ferry

Another shot from the ferry

Relaxing in "First Class"

Disembarking at 5am... half-asleep!! Lucas, Bart and I

All Aboard....

Note - I will add images to this later when internet connection allows.

I awoke to the sound of raucous laughter and glasses clinking together, I turned my head a little to the right and witnessed the sight of around 20 local men crowded around a small wooden bar a mere 2 metres from where I lay. You may wonder why I had been asleep in such a place in the first place – I can assure you it was not on account of me passing out, or anything slightly alcohol related. I was on board the 'Ilala Ferry', and where I lay on a vinyl mattress, a few metres from a rowdy bar was somehow considered first class! I can also inform you that this first class luxury also set me back around $110 (aussie).

This ferry was sailing on Lake Malawi, and was transporting us from Monkey Bay, to Nkhata Bay – the trip was to také 2 nights. The ferry consisted of 4 classes - 3^rd class, 2^nd class, first class – deck class, and cabin class. As the ferry was much more expensive than we anticipated we opted for one first class – deck ticket, and one second class ticket with the intention to také shifts and swap between.

I spent around 3 hours total in second class... and that was more than enough for me. Second class was situated on the bottom deck, along with third class. It consisted of a room at one end of the ferry around 3 metres wide, and 8 metres long. The room is basically a sauna, with the iron walls keeping the heat and humidity tightly sealed in. As I lay on the vinyl benches provided I was reminded of the chairs we used to have at school where your skin would stick to the vinyl in summer, and you would basically have to peel yourself off it.

We discover not long into the trip that security is slack, and we can both be on the deck class without causing too much hassle. I also contribute this to the fact that we act every meal in the first class resturaunt that only had 2 other legitimate customers.

The first night we sleep soundly on our vinyl mattress, rented for 3 aussie dollars. The second, not so well on account of being 2 metres from a bar. This is also because at the beginning of the trip there was probably around 40 people on the entire ferry, and by the 2^nd night there were hundreds. I couldnt sleep the second night, so wandered around the ferry and witnessed some entertaining sights... the bargaining power of the ferry security (a security guard allowed her on first class for a certain payment, which didn't involve money or goods), and hundreds of locals crammed into second and third class... imagine a throng of bodies, in underwear sleeping, snoring, sweating (I said a silent thank-you that I had gotten out of sleeping down here).

Our ferry arrived at Nkhata Bay at 3:30am, we awoke and continued to sleep until 5:00am before packing up and disembarking. The ferry was to head north after here, but we found out this wouldn't be happening due to a fuel shortage... it runs on diesel, and there is a huge fuel shortage here... and it costs around $2.50 a litre.The ferry was also delayed 5 hours in Monkey Bay before we departed as we were waiting for a fuel tanker to provide us with diesel.

In all the ferry was a great experience (apart from being expensive, badly run, and pretty run-down)... the days were filled with card games, sleeping, eating, reading, and gazing upon Lake Malawi (Although I tried hard I didn't spot any hippos or crocs!) Nkhata Bay is our home for the moment... we have a few days of relaxing before doing some scuba diving here in the Lake (I'm hoping it's alot calmer than the ocean!). Also, an exciting suprise yesterday – we met up with Leonie who we had been travelling with previously, so it has been fun swapping stories and catchng up again. From here, we head north to Tanzania with Lucas and Bart (A couple of guys we are travelling with), and prepare for the mighty Killimanjaro.

10 things about Mozambique...

1. Ruins: Mozambique was once under Portuguese rule, so the Portuguese built beautiful buildings throughout Mozambique. Especially on Ilha De Mocambique, which had a stone town full of old ruins... the building below was a church on a pennisula in Mozambique (had to take a dhow boat from Ilha De Mocambique)2. Transport: We travelled by many means in Mozambique... the last two were perhaps the most novel - Train (See below) and bicycle (you had to get a ride on the back of a bike from Mozambique into Malawi! - the guys had to carry our packs and all on the bikes... felt so sorry for them (UNTIL they tried to rip us off majorly... and suceeded)

Other means we travelled by were boat, trucks, utes and buses. There are two types of buses in Mozambique... your common 'Chapas' - run down mini-buses in which they cram as many into as possible, on which you are usually stuck in one position for times of upto 10 hours... bring on the DVT!!! They are serious hell sometimes... and also not for the faint hearted, as most of them are driven by 19 year old maniacs.

The other option are the BIG buses... we welcomed these with big grins as we thought they would be a nice break from 'Chapas' - how wrong we were! The first attempt left us being driven into some dodgy side street by these 4 18 year olds running it, they then locked the bus (with us in it) and left it to go to a bar!!! It was a huge storm outside and only us and one other guy on this huge bus... it was quite scary. Eventually someone came out and said the bus would continue, but the driver was rotten drunk... uhhhh no thanks. Tim and I promptly left... and walked though the pitch black in these local streets... saturated and when I didn't think it could get any worse a car went past and sprayed muddy, shitty, filthy water all over us.... and yes IN MY MOUTH!! Our second big bus adventure was the next morning after a sleep in a local guesthouse... it took around 13 hours... it was hot and disgusting. Oh and I got left behind in some town!! I got out to go to the toilet (you have little choice but to go behind fences or whatever you can find in the main streets), and was mid-pee when I look around and the bus is driving off!!! I finished, pulled up my pants (10 locals staring at me) and started sprinting down the road screaming STOP... I seriously thought I was a goner... I had no money on me or anything!! The whole town was running with me laughing and thinking it was a great time... eventually just out of town the bus stopped... and the whole bus laughing at me... except Tim who had run to the front of the bus screaming at them to stop also... I now hold on to go to the toilet!!

3. Weather: Mozambique can be unbearably hot and humid one minute... and producing tropical storms the next. The photo below was taken in Nampula from our hotel window... of the 3 nights we were there... a HUGE storm came through each evening and flooded everything.

Humidity was a killer... I think I have lost 5kgs due to sweating alone!!

4. Beaches: The beaches in Mozambique are "bloody beautiful" - they are the ideal place to kick back and relax... although watch out when walking on the sand... IT BURNS!! I have never walked on such hot sand in my life... every time was like walking on burning red coals... the locals thought it was quite hillarious watching us go along the sand screaming "ow ow ow ow ow ffffkkkkkkkkkk". Also the sea life is amazing... through snorkelling and diving we have seen wonderful coral, fish etc

5. Roads: The roads in Mozambique need massive work... one word can sum them up pretty well - POTHOLES (is that one or two words? I seem to have lost all literacy skills) they are everywhere, and I have numerous bumps on my head from smacking the top of the mini-buses when hitting the potholes. The government are slowly working with a Chinese company to fix some of the roads. I'd safely say half the roads in Mozambique are just dirt and mud!!

6. Food: The food in Mozambique was generally pretty good... although sometimes it could be hard to find a meal! I got a little sick of chicken, chips and rice.... but I was cured of this sickness when we hit the beaches or islands... as seafood quickly filled my tummy!!! Did I mention FULL lobsters for 4 aussie dollars?! Ate like a king!

7. Electricity: The electricity could not be relied upon... as it was frequently cutting out (Especially in storms)... Mozambique has the Cahorra Bassa damn which is the 5th largest in the World (We didn't end up visiting this due to plan changes) - so it creates a hell of a lot of electricity... unfourtunately, the Mozambiquan government sells the majority of this to South Africa... leaving LITTLE for themselves... go figure...

8. Mosquitos: I feel I need to pledge my life to finding a way to exterminate every last mosquito on this planet... they are vermin carrying PESTS!! I hate them... and no matter how much deet or protection I use they feed on me nightly... I'm just awaiting malaria to hit.

9. Mountains: See last blog-Penhalonga.... the mountains in Mozambique were beautiful and a relief as no mosquitoes hung around up that high!!

10. People: The people of Mozambique were mostly friendly and welcoming... they have had some hard times, but have stuck through it and are working hard to build their country up. We met some lovely locals who were always willing to help us out with whatever we needed. As in most countries... watch out for the rip-off merchants... tourists are their favourite targets!!!

Note: We didn't end up heading into Malawi straight away like I mentioned in the last blog... we headed west and up the coast of Mozambique and then across the country to enter Malawi (this was due to Visa issues entering Tanzania from Mozam), we are now in Blantyre, Malawi :)

Penhalonga

Penhalonga is a region that is spread over Western Mozambique, and Zimbabwe - the border seperates it into two sections. The region was once as one, but was seperated in 1891 by an Anglo~Portugese treaty. Even though there is border seperating Penhalonga into two parts, the people of both sides still live together in harmony.
The area of Penhalonga we stayed in was the village of Motombombwe, which was set amoungst the mountains around 20km from the town of Manica. The Shona people inhabit the area of Penhalonga, they are very friendly, generous, and welcoming - they respect the land they live on and farm maize, and corn in the area.
Leonie, Tim and I stayed at a guesthouse called ´Casa Motombombwe´, a house which Gift Mashiri and his father built together. The house is only a month old and has 2 bedrooms (one a loft room), bathroom, living room, and wonderfully equipped kitchen (with fridge and freezer!). The house had running water and electricity (a real luxury in this area!).
We caught a Chapas (mini-bus taxi used by locals) to Manica, then met Gift and caught a ride in the back of a very full ute tray, upon reaching Penhalonga we still had a 40min walk (uphill with our bags) to the house... the sweat and exhaustion was well worth it when we reached the house and saw the views for the first time!
The house sits at the top of a mountain range, and looks down upon the village of Motombombwe. The houses of Motombombwe usually consist of a round hut building (used for kitchen, and sleeping for children), a square building raised off the ground (adults sleeping), and other smaller storage buildings.
We stayed 2 nights, and during this time we experienced some tradtional cooking courtesy of Gift, who prepared a fire and cooked us corn on the cob, and also cooked us ´Pup´ (traditional Maize dish).
During the days we did some hiking (much needed to boost our likelihood of reaching the summit of killi!), we visited the Quinta Da Fronteira (botanical gardens in the middle of nowhere), waterfalls, and hiked up to the Zimbabwean border which was quite amazing... it´s only used for locals (around 10 cross a day) and they cross with huge bags of rice etc on their heads... mind you it´s like a 10k hike... so they thought we were quite strange doing it for leisure. The area is surrounded with Eucalyptus trees, and as we were hiking a large storm came through... well Aussies know what happens in this situation... as we were passing one corner, Tim and I heard a loud creaking noise and looked at each other... 50m up the road we looked around and a HUGE gum was falling through the forrest right where we had walked... quite the scary occasion (but exciting all the same!)
On the last day we were lucky to witness an amazing sunrise which sadly coincided with Leonie leaving us :( It was great meeting and travelling with Leonie, and we can´t wait to catch up with the Dutchy again!!
We are in Chimoio at the moment... moving onto Songo tomorrow to see Cahora Bassa dam (5th largest in the World)
... ´til next time Gadget!
PS. Still no spell-check!

Sickly Scuba Stint...

Note: This blog was written a few days ago, we just got to a place with good internet - so only posting it now.

What: Open Water PADI Course

Where: Tofo, Mozambique

When: Jan, 2010

Why: to breathe under the sea!

Obstacle 1

Accom: Fatima's Nest Backpackers
The night before Leonie (a lovely Dutch girl we are travelling with) and I were to start our PADI course at 8AM turned out to be the MASSIVE party night at Fatima's... we were awake until 3:30AM with music blaring into our room (it felt like the speakers were against the door). Although we would have liked to join them, the prospect of doing scuba theory all day with a hangover was less than appealing.

Obstacle 2

Food Poisoning, Water Poisoning, or just plain Mozambiquan poisoning.

On day one of the PADI course I came down with a horrible stomach bug... in class I had to keep running to the toilet to throw up, and I felt like I had a temperature of 'boiling point!'

That night I was so sick Tim and another friend we met, Ben had to put me to bed!! Not a good start!

Obstacle 3

Poisoning Cont...

Chaustrophobia - on the second day we had to start pool dives and I was met with overwhelming panic attacks about drowning in either the Tofo Scuba pool, or the Inidian Ocean. After 3 scrambles to the surface for fresh air, I managed to conquer the fear enough to continue with the dives (at least outwardly) - meanwhile in my mind I was still imagining every worst scenario possible, including shark attacks. I kept thinking of that PSYCHO man who left his wife to drown at the bottom of the ocean whilst diving... cruel cruel man!

Obstacle 4

SEA SICK!!!!

I have never experienced sea sickness in my life, but if it was going to happen - it was going to happen now. Leonie and I kit up to go on our first two open water dives... we hop in the speedboat and cruise out to "Clownfish Reef", as the anchor hits the sand - I start to vomit... and I am rendered absolutley senseless and have to pull out of dive 1 and lie on the floor of the boat wishing to be anywhere but there. I kept thinking if I ever get back to land I'm getting the first fing flight home - clearly that didn't happen (going home that is). I was still sick for dive 2, so the boat took me into land and dropped me a 100m from shore - Marlena (one of the dive staff) had to accompany me through the waves to land... I feel SO SORRY for her!! I was clawing all over her to keep me afloat, vomiting and being dunked by the waves... as the manager waited on the beach for us (probably thinking something serious had happened to me). A lovely South African guy (Mike) we met in Tofo came to my rescue with anti-nausea tablets... I owe him my first million!

Obstacle 5

Sea Sickness Cont...

Poisoning ceased - so has my ability to eat anything other than bread, rice and cereal (without milk that is). I manage to complete the Open Water dives 1 and 2 (a day behind my group) whilst vomiting in between on the boat and in the water (grosssss)

SUNBURN!!

Malaria Tablets + Tofo Sun = BURN BABY BURN

I am burnt all over, and I was lathered with sunscreen all day!! The malaria tablets make my skin a magnet for UV Rays. Mike, my new found savior came to the resuce AGAIN with 'burnaid' - tea tree oil and water mixture which soothes the skin... I owe him my second million now also.... as my hands were so burnt I couldn't even pick up a fork or pen for more then 10 seconds!

Obstacle 6

????????????

Tomorrow are my last two dives and then I'm qualified... at what cost you might be thinking?? Well, every inch of my dignity, my faith in luck, and my sanity!

Tonight is also Wednesday (another huge party night at Fatima's) so there will be no sleep again, and I have to dive at 8AM.

I fear what lays in store for me tomorrow, as I think Neptune (that god of the ocean or water) is trying to tell me NEVER to enter his domain again. As I sip on my glass bottle coke (my only happiness right now) I prepare for anything the ocean has to throw at me:

- A plauge of Jellyfish

- Jaws starring Jess

- Death of the Little Aussie Mermaid

Well....

I managed not to die... I was sea sick still and vomiting all over the place... there wasn't a plague of Jellyfish, but I DID swim through what seemed like a plague during my 50m ocean swim, and got stung all over my face... I nearly cried at that moment!!

Luckily, I made it to shore safe... and passed my PADI course (let me tell you I have NO desire to dive in the next month or so!!!)

At the moment Tim and I are in Vilankulos, and today we spent the day on a local Dhow - which is a traditional sailing boat.... they took us out to one of the islands where we went snorkelling (no sea sickness!!!) and they cooked us a lunch of fish and crabs - deliciouso!! (they speak Portugese here, so it's quite a struggle holding convo!!)

We have decided to head inland tomorrow and leave on a bus for Chimmoi at 4:30AM tomorrow... apparantly we have to be there at 3:30AM (RIDICULOUS!!!!)

PS. Sorry for spelling!!! Spell check isn't working ;)

'Invictus' Visa's...

The sound of my thongs slapping against the wet, muddy footpath irritated me with each step I took... and I wasn't stepping - I was running, running to get to the Mozambique Consulate before it closed, and locked my Mozambique Visa behind its doors.

Our day had begun at 8am, we had to apply for and pick up our visa's all in one day if we were to catch our bus to Maputo, Mozambique the next morning. It was basically a logistical nightmare to begin with... we had to call the consulate at 8:30am, get the price, and their account details off them so we could deposit the cost of the Visa's in their bank account (why they don't accept payment at the consulate I do NOT know!), then we had to get passport photos, physically go to the consulate and fill out forms in Portuguese translated into broken English, pay more money for the forms themselves, hand-over our passports, and kill 4 hours before they would be ready.

I was keen to see a movie to waste time, so we headed for the Rosebank Mall and purchased 2 tickets to Invictus (a suitable movie considering we were in Sth Africa) - we were late for this and missed the first 10 mins... luckily Clint Eastwood didn't make the plot too tricky to follow! I managed to concentrate during the movie and enjoyed the air conditioned comfort (considering we had walked an hour in the heat to get to the consulate that morning) - a great quote from the film, which is a little off topic - "I am the master of my fate, and the captain of my soul"

Post-movie we did some shopping for dinner and lunch the next day... upon exiting the mall we were met with TORRENTIAL rain, lightening, thunder and flooded footpaths... we had an hour to get to the consulate before it closed and we needed to get moving... we put all our valuables in a plastic bag and headed into the rain (We were saturated within 30 seconds).

An opportunity for a shortcut was suggested, and so it was taken... 40 minutes later of walking through rain and random residential streets it dawned upon us that we were in fact walking in the OPPOSITE direction to the consulate... I may have nearly cried if it wasn't for the ball of delirious anger boiling in my stomach!!

We had no choice... no cabs were available, and we had NO IDEA which bus to get, and from where - we had to get there on foot! I took the lead with my thongs slapping away (kicking up mud all over my skirt... yes I had to run in a skirt). Tim decided to risk it and took off his thongs completely - let me tell you, I was in NO WAY going to risk AIDS from a needle prick!! The only thing keeping me running was thinking of the story of "Invictus" and the struggles others in the past had experienced... surely I could stand this short run in the rain if others have fought through much worse!? Also I had offloaded the shopping and backpack to Tim to give me a greater advantage of making the distance hahaha!

20mins and 3kms later, we arrived at the door of the consulate looking like drowned rats - I straightened up and tried to casually stroll in like nothing was wrong (I looked like I had been swimming by this stage). "Ohhhh you are luccckkyy I was just about to lock up!" says the receptionist - Tim slams our receipts on the counter, and our Visa's are retrieved from a safe... relief flows freely through my mind.

As we left the consulate, Tim realised his backpack had swung open when we were running... leaving a trail of food behind (needless to say it wasn't there when we retraced our steps). Living on a budget had translated to donating food to the locals of Joburg!

Refusing to walk one step further we hailed a cab and negotiated a fair price... as we drove back to the hostel I couldn't help thinking "this is not the type of trip I envisaged"... but looking back on it now, I figure the struggles we endure make the victories sweeter (just like in 'Invictus').

In other news... I'm damn well looking forward to sitting on my butt for a 9 hour bus drive to Maputo tomorrow!! Bring on the seafood and beaches!!!